Written by Derek Halsey | Photos by Anthony Harden
Two Western North Carolina Entrepreneurs, David Moore and Brian Guengerich, Fill a Unique Niche in the Sport Fishing World with Rent this Rod.
Western North Carolina is a land of streams and rivers. Flowing down from local mountain peaks, these runs provide exceptional fly fishing opportunities for trout and other game fish. Although we’re in the South, the region’s high altitude mountain rivers are cool enough for the elusive trout in all of its varieties, which prefer colder water temperatures than are usually found in lower climes. Most varieties of the species thrive in water temperatures that range from around 44 to 65 degrees, which is why the waterways of these Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains are revered by sportsmen and sportswomen around the world.
While the popularity of sport fishing has been declining since the early ‘90s, fly fishing is one branch that is on the rise as more and more millennials take to the river or sea and cast their reels. In an article published in The New York Times last October, the headline read, “Fly Fishing Is The New Bird Watching.” Fly fishing is no longer the realm only of bibbed retirees, the article claimed, but a new trend in millennial wellness: “Step aside, goat yoga. The chic way to unwind now is fly fishing.”
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