Waters · United States
Watauga River (Sugar Grove) fishing report
Updated Tuesday, 25 August 2026 · refreshed automatically through the day
The North Carolina headwaters of the Watauga are a small freestone mountain river, delayed-harvest managed in places — a completely different animal from the big Tennessee tailwater the same river becomes below Wilbur Dam.
Today's report: fair (50/100)
Rainbow Trout is the most promising species on Watauga River (Sugar Grove) today. Water temperature is around 15.2°C and barometric pressure is rising. Gauge WATAUGA RIVER NEAR SUGAR GROVE, NC shows the water level falling (1 cm/24h).
Watauga River (Sugar Grove) water temperature and flow
- Discharge: 1.8 m³/s (64 cfs) — down 5% over 24 hours
- Level trend: falling (1 cm/24h)
Measured at gauge WATAUGA RIVER NEAR SUGAR GROVE, NC · reading 49 min ago. Published by the national hydrological service, not estimated by us.
Best time to fish today
- 08:00–10:00 local time — score 51/100
- 01:00–03:00 local time — score 45/100
- 04:00–06:00 local time — score 45/100
3-day outlook by species
| Species | Tuesday 25 Aug | Wednesday 26 Aug | Thursday 27 Aug |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brown Trout | 46 — fair | 45 — fair | 41 — fair |
| Rainbow Trout | 50 — fair | 45 — fair | 41 — fair |
| Brook trout | 49 — fair | 40 — poor | 42 — fair |
Why this score
Cast & Scan uses a deterministic, published scoring model — no black box. The strongest influences on today's Watauga River (Sugar Grove) rating:
- water temperature: helping (+1)
- pressure trend: helping (+1)
- light: helping (+1)
- river flow: helping (+0.98)
- precipitation: helping (+0.9)
- cloud cover: helping (+0.65)
Forecast computed Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:03:32 GMT · data: Open-Meteo + gauge WATAUGA RIVER NEAR SUGAR GROVE, NC · refreshed automatically through the day · see our published accuracy
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Nearby waters
- French Broad River (Asheville) — North Carolina, USA (98 km away)
- Clinch River (Kyles Ford) — Tennessee, USA (115 km away)
- New River (Thurmond) — West Virginia, USA (202 km away)
- Lake Lanier — Georgia, USA (298 km away)