Headwaters Outfitters

Headwaters Outfitters guides the Davidson River through the winter, once the crowds that fill this stretch of the Pisgah National Forest from May to September have gone and air temperatures sit anywhere from the mid-forties to the sixties. The river is known for its midge and blue-winged olive hatches and both come off well all winter long. A standard Davidson winter rig starts with a size 22 to 24 midge larva in red, olive or brown fished on six, seven or eight X tippet, with parachute black midges, Griffith’s Gnats, RS-2s, parachute Adams and olive comparaduns between sizes 18 and 24 covering the dry water. The trout are browns and rainbows with a few brookies among them, reckoned at roughly 64 browns and 216 rainbows to the acre.