Asheville Reboot
Asheville Reboot — Stories of Recovery, Resilience & Revival in Western North Carolina
After Hurricane Helene disrupted life in Asheville and the surrounding mountain communities, Asheville Reboot brings you the voices of local business owners, entrepreneurs, and leaders who are rebuilding stronger than ever. Hosted by the team at Engadine Inn & Cabins, each 5–10 minute episode offers a quick, insightful look at how Asheville’s hospitality, tourism, wellness, wedding, fly fishing, and outdoor industries are bouncing back.
Whether you're planning a visit, looking to support local businesses, or just curious about how a region heals and thrives after disaster, Asheville Reboot is your inside look at the comeback story unfolding in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
🎧 New episodes every other week.
🌄 Recorded in partnership with Engadine Inn & Cabins — book your stay at engadineinnandcabins.com and experience the people and places featured on the show.
Asheville Reboot
Fly Fishing Asheville’s Rivers After Hurricane Helene | Mountain Fly Anglers & Engadine Inn
In this episode of Asheville Reboot, host Alex Jarbo sits down with Doug, owner of Mountain Fly Anglers and Mountain Fly Outfitters in Canton, NC. Doug has been guiding fly fishing trips in Western North Carolina since 2007 and now partners with Engadine Inn & Cabins to offer unforgettable fly fishing experiences just outside Asheville.
Doug shares:
- His journey to becoming a fly fishing guide and outfitter.
- How Hurricane Helene impacted local rivers, trout populations, and the Asheville community.
- The recovery efforts he led, including cleanup work with the EPA and restocking native trout.
- Why fly fishing is more popular than ever, and how Mountain Fly Anglers is adapting by exploring new stretches of river.
- What visitors can expect this fall and beyond for fishing tourism in Western NC.
Whether you’re an avid angler or new to the sport, this episode offers insider insight into Asheville fly fishing, the resilience of mountain rivers, and the unique outdoor adventures you’ll find when you stay at Engadine Inn & Cabins.
📍 Learn more & book your fly fishing trip: MountainFlyAnglers.com
📍 Book Your Stay at Engadine: EngadineInnandCabins.com
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🎧 Asheville Reboot Podcast
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Welcome to another episode of Asheville Reboot. I am Alex Jarbo, the owner of Engadine Inn and Cabins. Today we are joined by Doug, the owner of Mountain Fly Anglers, who also runs all of our fly fishing at Engadine Inn and Cabins. So how you doing, man? I'm doing good, man. How are you? Good. We just wanna start with just. Your background and then what exactly Mountain Fly Anglers is?
Doug:Yeah, so, I've been up here since 2007, fly fishing and being a fly fishing guide, being on the rivers a lot. Mountain Fly Anglers is my charter business based outta Asheville, North Carolina. I have a store Mountain Fly Outfitters based here in Canton, North Carolina. How long have you been doing it for? I've been guiding for 15 years. And opened the store two years ago.
Alex Jarbo:We're coming up on the one year of the hurricane. What was that first two, three weeks after the hurricane looked like for you?
Doug:we weren't doing any fishing, that's for sure. we're just really focusing on getting the community back where it needs to be, running supplies. just making sure people had the things they needed and yeah. Trying to supply the area that we're most hard hit and devastated by the hurricane, which was. Pretty expansive in this area. So there was a lot to be done for those first several months after the hurricane. You did some work with the EPA too, right? So what did that look like? I was just guiding them down the rivers that were affected by the hurricane, so they could put a list together of hazmat materials that were still in the water systems. And then I was able to help them do some of that cleanup work too. So that lasted several months.
Alex Jarbo:The North Carolina trout fisheries were pretty affected, right?
Doug:Some of'em were for sure. the trout themselves, like the native or the wild trout that live in the rivers, They seem to have made out fine.
Alex Jarbo:Yeah. what does that look like as it's evolved the last 11 months
Doug:Yeah. I mean the rivers were washed out pretty bad in a lot of areas, but, seems like a good bit of the wild population of fish were able to kind of hold their ground and make their way back into those creeks and streams that they were initially in. We even did some netting and some of the sink holes along rivers and. We're able to put back hundreds and hundreds of fish back into the rivers.
Alex Jarbo:Are you seeing the fish do well in the areas that usually fish?
Doug:Yeah. I've been doing okay on the fish. it's definitely, not just the hurricane's fault, the fly fishing. Itself has become a lot more popular over the last four years. so if anything, we're seeing more of an impact on the fish by the amount of people that are out doing it now. Getting out into the river, but the fish are still there. especially if you know some spots to go where they're not as heavily targeted.
Alex Jarbo:What do you see the next six months, one year, two year both look like for your business and fly fishing in general?
Doug:Already starting to see some of the people coming back, but I would say that our tourism and for the fishing industry for sure. It's by far been the slowest year that I've experienced for people coming here to just, to do anything really. I think a lot of people are still concerned that the rivers are still messed up or dangerous to be in. which there's certain areas that you probably could avoid just because they're still doing a lot of work. But I see a lot of my return clients wanting to come back, fish this fall and I'm still having some new folks that wanna check out this area that are coming. So I think over the next year or so, I think it should stabilize itself back out pretty well and hopefully give it a little time for it to kind of build back up and reset
Alex Jarbo:are you guys doing anything different this year
Doug:you know, we've been just looking at different stretches of river that we haven't necessarily used as much. Trying to just get away from the crowds. It's been like, has been our focus.
Alex Jarbo:Yeah. Which is partially why we did some of the stuff at Engadine as well.
Doug:I think some of that will still be necessary for the next little while and. I think the more people are conserving the outdoors and the pretty places that we have, the better it'll be.
Alex Jarbo:Both you and I have put in an insane amount of work at Engadine, just to get the fishing to where it needed to be at, so where can people find you guys at and, where can people, if people want to swing by the shop or. book a tour with you guys.
Doug:So if you're willing to book a fishing trip, go to mountain fly outfitters.com and Mountain Fly Outfitters in Canton, North Carolina. We're just right down the road from Engadine, so come stay at the cabins and let's go do some fishing.
Alex Jarbo:Yeah, I love it. Yeah, and all that information will be a part of the podcast so you guys can. Link it up and book a tour swing by. Thanks man. Absolutely. Thank you. Appreciate you brother.