Photo by Jim Casada

Once you get high into the mountains, getting down low to avoid alerting trout is helpful. This angler is fishing the headwaters of Howard Creek.

For those willing to take to the backpack trail and who enjoy fishing for trout somewhere back of beyond, South Carolina holds some welcome and comparatively unknown surprises. To be sure, remote streams aren’t everyone’s dream. After all, they involve physical hardships, careful planning, some special technical skills, and more. A reasonable degree of physical fitness is necessary, with a willingness to rely on your feet to get where you need to be figuring prominently in the areas we will be looking at in detail. Likewise, some of the finest trout fishing in the state really requires carrying your home on your back and spending two or three nights (or more) in a backcountry campsite. There’s even a small element of adventure (some would call it danger), because the rugged terrain around the streams pouring into Lake Jocassee and along the Foothills Trail isn’t the place you want to break a leg or have some other type of accident.

But if you relish fish that have never known the walls of a concrete rearing pen, pristine surroundings, the solace of solitude, and what must rank as the state’s finest trout fishing, then pull up a chair and let’s take an invigorating ramble down mountain paths to an angling world that, thankfully, we have not lost.

GETTING THERE
One of the key considerations in fishing remote streams is figuring out the complexities of getting there. This almost always involves hiking or backpacking, which often requires knowledge of how to find trailheads along back roads, and in some cases necessitates careful study of trails. With all of this in mind, it seems appropriate to mention a few sources that should be a part of the paraphernalia, as important as his vest or fly box, for any South Carolina angler who is truly serious about getting back of beyond.

A good starting point, especially helpful with roads, is South Carolina County Maps. Organized on a county-by-county basis, it will show you what you need for the three counties -- Pickens, Oconee and Greenville -- that are home to all of the state’s remote trout fishing. Nicely complementing this book is the South Carolina Atlas & Gazetteer, which shows topo lines and is written with the outdoorsman specifically in mind. Along with these, there are four books written primarily for hikers that you will find invaluable. The Waterfalls of South Carolina, by Benjamin Brooks and Tim Cook, focuses on giving folks guidance to the wonders of waterfalls. Yet, in many cases, the same streams that produce waterfalls are also prime trout territory, and I know of no better way to find some real secrets than through studying the streams where some of the more inaccessible waterfalls are found. Allen DeHart’s Hiking Trails of South Carolina has long been a standard, and it can be a real help. Even more important, because so many of the key trout streams mentioned below cross the Foothills Trail, is Johnny Molloy’s The Foothills Trail. Similar in content, and every bit as useful, is the John Garton and Heyward Douglass Guide to the Foothills Trail. Finally, you will find the Web site FoothillsTrail.org helpful.