For lifelong angler Richard Batiuk no experience is more magical than fly fishing.

“Part artistry, part discovery, fly fishing taps into your senses of sight, smell, touch and hearing. You not only experience the natural world around you, but also the energy transferred from your arm to your fly rod while casting, the subtle feel of fish first taking your fly, the strong tug at the end of your line, and the feeling of wonder as to what fish have I caught and how big is it and are there others still out there ready to be caught,” said Richard Batiuk, chair of the Maryland Fly Fishing Trail Team. 

That’s why playing a key role in creating the Maryland Fly Fishing Trail, the first statewide fly-fishing trail in the United States, was done out of passion as much as it was an opportunity to bring anglers into the state. 

“It was the strong desire to share with others the joy of fly fishing as a way of experiencing the outdoors along with the incredible fly-fishing opportunities which Maryland has to offer everyone. I wanted to welcome a much broader array of Marylanders to come out and join us on a stream, local lake, the Bay, or the ocean to cast their cares away for a few hours," said Batiuk.

 

Angler at Janes Island State Park on the Maryland Fly Fishing Trail. Photo by Richard Batiuk

The 48 designated sites along the Maryland Fly Fishing Trail spans the state’s 23 counties and Baltimore City and invites anglers of all skill levels to try fly-fishing in various types of water making each visit a new experience.

Anglers can target nearly 40 species on the trail from native brook trout in the small streams of Western Maryland to striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay, largemouth bass in the ponds along the Eastern Shore as well as catfish, northern pike, longnose gar, Spanish mackerel, and many others.  

“This experience has also demonstrated time and time again just how unique everyone engaged in fly fishing is when it comes to taking time to share a good place to fish, reaching into their fly box and giving a total stranger a fly that has been working to catch you fish, and being willing to teach others how to become better fly fishers and expand their fly fishing experiences,” said Batiuk.

The Maryland Fly Fishing Trail is one example of the growing popularity of fishing trails in destinations around the United States.  

Some fishing trails focus on specific species like the Michigan Trout Trail and the Alabama Bass Trail. Others cover regions including the six geographically looped waterways on the Oklahoma Fishing Trail, the nine state parks dispersed on the Fish Virginia First Trail and the Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trail in Ohio that gives anglers a chance to compete in a Tour Series on a variety of statewide waters.

Fishing trails are a win-win for helping anglers navigate new waterways and enjoy unique fishing opportunities, for tourism in destinations that recognize fishing as a draw for their regions and for conservation efforts related to habitat restoration, species management and environmental upkeep.

Anglers fly-fishing on the Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Trail. Photo by JCTDA 

Fishing trails – a win for anglers

Fishing trails give anglers a convenient way to navigate new destinations, waterways and fishing opportunities especially in places they may not find on their own. 

Deep within the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina’s Jackson County is the Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Trail. Anglers can fly fish in 15 locations for brook, brown and rainbow trout in the pristine mountain streams anchored by the Tuckasegee River.

For some anglers the fishing trail is more than just a resource for finding new fly-fishing locations on some of the county’s 4,600 miles of waters. Many anglers hit the trail with a goal to fish them all. 

“We often have anglers that come into the Jackson County Chamber & Visitor Center with their WNC Fly Fishing Trail map, who proudly show us where they have checked off all 15 places on the map,” said Julie Spiro Donaldson, executive director of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, and co-founder of the Western North Carolina Fly Fishing Trail. “It is always wonderful to see an angler who has taken the time to make notes about each spot and is excited to share his or her story.” 

Without a trail system for suggestions, most anglers would stick to the most popular spots and not navigate further.  

“While they [anglers] may have known about the Tuck River, many of our anglers have discovered some of our smaller streams, which offer a different experience than large open water fishing. Guests from as far away as New Zealand have enjoyed fishing the Trail,” said Spiro Donaldson.

Pickerel caught on the Eastern Shore on the Maryland Fly Fishing Trail. Photo by Mark Bange

Fishing trails also help narrow the options so anglers can determine the best experiences based on their interests, location, and time of year. The Maryland Fly Fishing Trail was carefully designed with the help of biologists using a set of criteria to select each site making it a year-round fly-fishing destination.

Starting with a list of 400 waterways across the state the Trail team evaluated each location on aspects like the ease of public access, fish species available during most seasons, types of water (freshwater, tidal, cold water, warmwater), availability of watercraft rentals, access to guides, and proximity to local facilities. The options were then narrowed to select the locations listed on the trail today.

“Via the Trail’s website, anglers can start making their choices on where to fish geographically and then based on what type of waters they want to fish: small stream, larger river, pond or lake, tidal embayment, Chesapeake Bay, coastal Bay or even the Atlantic Ocean,” said Batiuk.

Fishing trails offer another advantage to anglers—resources. Easy access to things like maps and trail information enables anglers to spend more time on the water and less time trying to figure out where to go. Most fishing trails offer supplemental resources like water-resistant maps or apps with interactive tools giving quick access to specific trail site information like public access points or fishing restrictions, and local recommendations for nearby restaurants and lodging.

Jane Powell, executive director of Santee Cooper Country, stands in front of a billboard promoting the region’s top fishing opportunities. Photo by Marcia Hallman

Fishing trails – a win for tourism

While the benefits of fishing trails for anglers is obvious, they play a larger role when it comes to tourism and attracting new visitors to destinations around the United States. The tourism draw is not lost on states like South Carolina that has an extensive network of fishing trails encompassing both freshwater and saltwater.

The diversity of fishing opportunities available is key from a tourism standpoint whether that’s being able to promote fly fishing in the backwaters of the Lowcountry, fly casting for trout in the Upstate or catching trophy stripers and catfish in the Midlands appealing to anglers of all skill levels.

One of the biggest draws for fishing and tourism is South Carolina’s largest lake system made up of Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie in the state’s Midland region in Santee Cooper Country. Created between 1939-1941 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal these lakes have become a fishing mecca drawing anglers who are willing to take a road trip for the kind of brag-worthy catches that are known to come from these lakes.

“When lake construction began, trees were removed from Lake Moultrie but World War II broke out and only a portion of Lake Marion had been cleared leaving forests of trees remaining in the lakes,” said Jane Powell, executive director, Santee Cooper Country. “Trees are natural habitat or hiding places for smaller fish to escape. When they are hiding around the trunks of these trees, larger fish, or predatory fish hunt for them around the trunks too. Anglers realize this and know that we have the fish.”

The two lakes are renowned for their populations of largemouth bass, striped bass, smallmouth bass, catfish, crappie, and bream. The Santee Cooper Country tourism department is not shy about promoting it and provides resources to anglers who visit knowing the trickle-down effect for their economy is significant. 

Both the numbers of fish and their impressive sizes make Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie prime for tourism promotion attracting anglers and some of the biggest fishing tournaments in the United States.

“The BASSMASTER Elite Series has now held multiple tournaments on our lake including the most recent one in 2022. Anglers caught close to 100 pounds of Bass in the three-day tournament which is spectacular and says that our Bass population is impressive,” said Powell. “It is also important to note that fish are caught and released during tournaments, which leads to local and out of state anglers visiting to catch their own trophy sized fish. This is why leagues like Crappie USA, Big Kat Tournament, Santee Catfish Brawl, Hobie kayaking tournaments, Fishers of Men and BASSMASTER all love to fish our waters.” 

Katie and Nolan Blizzard with a catch along the Maryland Fly Fishing Trail. Photo by Joe Evans

Destinations that leverage fishing trails on their waterways are betting on the fishing angle to attract not just new visitors today, but future generations of visitors. 

“Over the past 15 years we've seen the sport diversify and we now see many families fishing together, more female anglers enjoying the waters, and our Trail has also become a popular Bachelor/Bachelorette outing,” said Julie Spiro Donaldson referring to the WNC Fly Fishing Trail. “New residents to the area are able to successfully and safely learn about the various fishing opportunities we have here, or in general, gain an appreciation for our amazing and clean rivers and streams.”

Destinations want to get new visitors and new anglers hooked by offering incentives to try the trails without much of a time commitment or financial investment in equipment. One section of the WNC Fly Fishing Trail allows novice anglers to try fly fishing for a fraction of the price and borrow gear from the Jackson County Parks & Recreation Department.

When it comes to fishing and tourism in Maryland, the marketing push targets the seven million fly fishing enthusiasts across the country.

“We wanted to help put Maryland on the map as a destination for fly fishers. We wanted to provide anglers with a great experience in fly fishing by not only providing them information of where to fish, but how to take advantage of fly-fishing guides, fly shops and fishing tackle stores who have a wealth of experience,” said Batiuk. “By providing information on where and from whom anglers can seek guidance and access to the right gear, the Trail directly helps local economies by directing anglers to these local businesses.”

To engage anglers and visitors even more, many fishing trails offer incentives for completing all the stops on the trails like t-shirts, stickers, and awards. Tourism offices know that converting new visitors into new anglers by making fishing trails easy to access and offering a variety of viable fishing experiences is a long-term win for tourism.

Brown trout in North Carolina. Photo by Anietra Hamper

Fishing trails – a win for conservation

One of the key tenants for all the fishing trails is establishing ways to protect the natural environment that the anglers set out to enjoy. Most of the fishing trails have programs in place with conservation in mind to protect their aquatic habitats, natural landscapes and to not put pressure on species in any one waterway.

Habitat restoration is a commitment for South Carolina, especially in Santee Cooper Country, to maintain and preserve delicate aquatic ecosystems for fish to thrive and maintain healthy populations.

“The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Santee Cooper Public Service Authority and Santee Cooper Country partnered to create artificial habitats for fish using donated unusable concrete culverts to be placed at 23 designated sites on the bottom of the lakes,” said Powell. “These specific habitat enhancement structures are located below GPS marked and numbered buoys on both lakes. Local anglers use them and if a new visitor comes to fish our lakes, then they can find these markers and know that fish are there.”

In North Carolina, the active conservation efforts around the WNC Fly Fishing Trail include maintaining the habitats that surround their waters.

“The Chamber organizes a bi-annual litter sweep of North and South River Road, one of the most popular areas on our Trail map. We partner with the Tuckasegee Chapter of Trout Unlimited and clean up litter along the riverbank and roadside. We offer volunteers our 'Don't trash where we splash sticker’ as a friendly reminder to keep our waters and roads clean,” said Spiro Donaldson. 

WNC Fly Fishing Trail monofilament recycling bin. Photo by Nick Breedlove

Another unique effort along the WNC Fly Fishing Trail is the monofilament line recycling receptacles at some of the boat ramps and public accessibility points.

Along the Maryland Fly Fishing Trail, the diversity of fishing locations lessens the pressure on fish in any one waterway. Attracting new anglers onto the water is also important to help them become the future of protecting these natural resources and the fish that rely on the habitats within them.

For Richard Batiuk, fishing trails represent more than just new locations to catch fish. They provide a bigger opportunity to connect people with their outdoor environments and care about the natural world around them.

“To me, fly fishing is not just another sport. It’s a lifetime experience of being outdoors and energizing all your senses…all while trying to fool a coldblooded organism with the brain the size of a bean to look at your homemade fly of natural and artificial ingredients and see it as something good to eat cast after cast after cast,” said Batiuk.