The Thompson River is in one of the most remote sections of North Carolina. It starts on the Bearpen Mountain near Highlands NC and flows into Lake Jocassee in South Carolina. This river drops 1750 feet in just over four miles. It has some small tributaries - Mill Creek, Reid Creek and others. There are seven major waterfalls and some minor ones on the Thompson River. None of them are accessible by road.
As with the other streams that flow across the NC/SC state line, this one is stocked with fingerling rainbow and brown trout in South Carolina's waters above Lake Jocassee. This makes it possible for some of them to get up into the Thompson River in North Carolina waters but the fingerlings quickly learn to behave almost identically to wild trout if they survive.
The Thompson is characterized by good pooling, thanks in large part to the numerous and various sized waterfalls along its length. While most of the water is of average descent, every so often you will encounter a waterfall of 4’ to over 50’, which provides great scenery and trout habitat. Be careful around the waterfalls! Other than some deep pools beneath the falls, the Thompson is generally easy to navigate with moderate depth.
Wild brown trout predominate, often lurking underneath rocks and in the sides and tails of the pools. However, large rainbow trout are occasionally caught.
Dry flies are fun to use in the swift water, while streamers and spinners are useful in the pools. The larger brown trout hide under crevices in the rocks and boulders during the day. In this type of water, you are far better off fishing a nymph in all the deep, dark likely places you can find as opposed to fishing a dry fly.
We suggest you fish very early or late during the time the skies are clear. Fishing on low pressure days, when there's good cloud cover, will make the "catching" much easier from this type of stream. The best time to catch a large brown from this stream (or any other similar one) is during the fall spawning season when they lose much of their caution. We are not suggesting you fish for them on their redds but rather redds but rather
prior to the actual spawn.
Thompson, which largely flows through national forest, has numerous places available to backpack camp within close proximity to the river. The Thompson River is remote and rugged, and rewarding in both scenery and fishing quality to those willing to face the challenges of accessing it.
Excerpts taken from Steve Maslar's Ebook "North Carolina Trout Fishing". Also for further reading see the latest trip report blog and the scrapbook photos.
Spring:
Spring is a good time to fish the Thompson. Streamers and midge nymphs will be a good bet for those large browns. Look for the blue quills and the quill gordons to start to hatch in April.
Summer:
Terrestrial patterns and stoneflies are good patterns to try for summer.
Fall:
The fall is a great time to fish for browns that are preparing to spawn. The scenery is most spectacular and the hike is not as exhausting.
Winter:
Fishing is permitted all year but caution would be the order of the day due to the large drop in elevation.
Take NC 281 south from its intersection with US 64 east of Cashiers, NC. At 3.6 miles is Brewer Road, where you can park at your own risk and take the trail that originates there. Important! See http://www.ncwaterfalls.com/thompson1.htm for a description of the trail and how to access the river. The trail appears to be an old logging road, and it reaches the river after a little more than a mile, at which point it crosses the river and follows the Thompson downstream.
Alternatively, continue on NC 281 to where it crosses the Thompson. Also, it is possible to access the Thompson from the Foothills Trail, which can be accessed from the viewing area at the Upper Whitewater Falls (near the border of NC and SC, along NC 281), or from the Bad Creek Project, just off of SC 130 (which is the same road as NC 281, after it crosses the border). Get a map of the Foothills Trail before attempting this, as the journey can be long and/or steep.
Perfect Fly selection of flies are recommended for the most realistic fly patterns.