I just returned this weekend from a fly fishing trip for mountain trout in and around Transylvania County, North Carolina. We stayed in a nice Chalet at a place called Down To Earth Cabins outside of Brevard, NC. The weather was cool in the mornings and evenings with the temperatures climbing to around high 70's up into the days, Monday through Wednesday. On Thursday, it started raining (gently) and continued more forcefully on through Friday. The whole southern Appalachian mountain region is in dier straights from lack of rainfall (least amount of recorded rains in the past 60 years), so the gentle rains were a Godsend! 
For those of you that fly fish, and are planning a trip up into that area, I can wholeheartedly reccommend a stop at the Davidson Outfitters (Fly Shop), outside of Brevard, NC. Most of these folks running the shop guide for a living up there and they are especially attuned to the tough conditions that the low water, gin-clear streams conditions have created for us fishermen. From my in depth conversations with two of the guides at the Davidson, we were able to effect a nice time playing catch and release with some hard to come by trout = browns, rainbows, and brookies.
If you do go up there in the next month or so, email me and I will give you some specific patterns to fly fish with and some special places to catch some trout for fun. Catching a "mess of fish" for dinner proved to be a major undertaking for my partner and I. Gene went on the ultralight spinner, using worms and salmon eggs, to catch only 3 sizable trout for our dinner one night.
The rest of the time we spent doing a lot of casting using our 3-wieght or 5-weight outfiits to PhD educated trout, in ultra-clear, low water conditions, and only managed to land a dozen or so - mostly really small "native' trout.Water temps were measured around 57-60 degrees in several of the larger streams (Davidson, Pigeon, French Broad, and Tuckasgee rivers) with very sparse hatches of insects, mostly midge sizes #18-24, in the darker colors like Blue-wing Olives, Blue Duns, Adams, and Caddis. I caught one small "Appalachian" strain brook trout in a headwater brook (that still held enough water to support life) as it ran into a "high" mountain lake. We caught and released quite a few Eastern Brook Trout strains out of the Lower Tuck on small dry flies and wet flies, but I never accomplished catching a bigger brown trout on the streamer fly - water was just too darn low this time.
The daily overcast cloud conditions probably saved us from utter defeat this trip, as the few trout that remained in the larger flows of stream waters were found only in the deeper runs and pools, very seldom in the shallower riffles. On one afternoon, I spied the largest trout of the trip - a big 20" brownie - actively feeding in a knee deep run on the Davidson River. I tried to catch him using a San Juan Worm, but some jerk let his dog run down out of a camp ground and into the pool, spooking the big fish forever.
I actually did not say a mean thing to the guy, although my fishing journal is filled with "nasty language" after the fact. 
The scenery was splendid, accomidations the best, and the food was grand. We were fortunate enough to be invited to a special family affair, a spiritual musical one night event, where each family member sang and played blue grass tunes and gospel songs until midnight.
When the water tables refill, I hope by next spring, I want to go back for some more mountain fishing. Until then, it is time to get back to our salt water adventures, where the redfish and flounder, never mind the trout, await our lures and flies with hungry mouths - I hope.
