North Carolina anglers will have to wait until November for the state Wildlife Resources Commission to restock waters with trout for the fall season.
Officials with the Armstrong State Fish Hatchery in Marion estimate they've lost about 70% of trout since June.
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission usually starts stocking waters with the fish for a program called Delayed Harvest in October. But staff say there aren’t enough this year.
Drought and high heat caused water temperatures to rise to the mid-to-high 70s this summer — beyond what the cold-water fish could tolerate.
Mountain Fisheries Supervisor Kin Hodges says the changing climate is making it harder to grow trout. However, the commission is adding infrastructure to withstand flooding like they saw with Helene and high temperatures.
"We're trying to do everything we can to mitigate those impacts so that we can continue to produce fish and keep the sport of trout fishing alive in North Carolina for many generations to come," Hodges says.
It’s still too hot to get a solid count of how many fish they’ll have, but Hodges says they’ll be able to do at least some stocking in November.