Whats in A Name ? The Little River (s) of North Carolina

So you hear they are wearing out the stripers  in the Roanoke River. No problem, easy to find the Roanoke and info on it. What about the Cape Fear?. You heard rumors of some monster catfish being caught out of this river. No problem either, everyone knows the Cape Fear and where it is. So now you hear someone mention the Little river. Crap!! where is the Little River? So the question is,  Whats in a Name?Wow. Everything  if you are a river in North Carolina and your name is the "Little River".  Which Little River? Well there are ONLY   7 Rivers in North Carolina with this name.

Here is a listing of these and I will to the best of my knowledge tell you what I know about them. I won't get specific on spots and access areas as that is best researched with a canoeing book or the NC Atlas  and Gazetteer.  I have fished 4 of the 7 and plan on fishing all of them.

l. The Little River that flows into Albemarle Sound.

This river is 21 miles long. From Albemarle sound to where Halls creek enters is 10 miles. This section averages 1 mile in width.  Noted for good Bass fishing, and bream fishing along with Striped Bass and White perch during certain seasons.  From Halls creek until the origin is 11 miles and this section averages 50' in width and is more noted for pickerel fishing and bream fishing.  Several of the tributaries have excellent fishing for Black Crappie , Chain Pickerel and Bream. Basically this is a small blackwater stream at first, then it broadens out as it reaches the sound.  I have not fished this one.

2. The Little River of the Catawba basin.

This river is truly a  "little" river.  It is a tributary of Jacobs Fork and from where it flows into Jacobs Fork to its origin is only 5 miles. This "river" averages only 6' in width and the fishery mainly consists  of rainbow trout.
I have not fished this river.

3. The Little River of the French Broad basin.

This Little river can be broken down into 3 sections. 1st is from The French Broad river to Cascade Lake. This section is 5  miles  with an avg width of 45'.  The fishery mainly consist of Rock bass, Redbreast , and Smallmouth bass. Looks like a very interesting section.
Cascade lake is aprox 150 acres and has Smallmouths, Largemouths, Rock Bass, Bream and some Rainbow trout.  The section from Cascade Lake to the origin is 11 miles and avgs 25' in width. This reach  has Rainbows and some Brown trout.  This section also looks very interesting. I have also not fished this river.

4. The Little River of the Neuse Basin. 1st one,  as the Neuse Basin has 2 Little Rivers!

I have fished this river. Only once recently and some quite a few years ago. This river is a tributary of the Eno. Its is more known  for one of Durhams water supply lakes, Little River Reservoir.  This Little river joins the Eno 3 miles above its confluence with the Flat(now underwater). It is 10 miles long until the confluence of the North and South forks of the Little, The reservoir is in this stretch. The average width is 33' and the fishery consists mainly of Redbreast, Largemouth and an occasional Roanoke Bass. The North fork goes on for another 12 miles with an avg width of 12' and the South Fork for another 13 miles until its origin with an avg width of 16'.  Both Forks have good fishing for redbreast but that is about it. Access is very limited on this river.
There is one park on this river, a cooperation between Durham and Orange Counties. Here are the links to The Little River Park.
http://www.co.orange.nc.us/RecParks/little_river_park.asp
http://www.enoriver.org/eno/parks/littleriverpark.html

Here are a few pictures of this river.

 










Below is a double on redbreast caught on a tiny torpedo. This is my 3rd double on fish. My first ever was a 4 lb and a 2lb bass on a single lure at Jordan and then several years later a small bass and a white bass on a single lure at Jordan.
Note: I caught another double on Redbreast 6 days later on the Little that flows into the Pee Dee..see below.

5. The 2nd Little River of the Neuse Basin.

I have fished this tributary . This tributary flows into the Neuse near Goldsboro and from there to its origin is 92 miles. It is one of the biggest tributaries of the Neuse (Contentnea creek being the biggest). That being said it is still a small flow and canoeing this river will mean a lot of dragging and portaging. The average width in the lower reach is 70 ' , the middle reach averages 45' in width and the upper 25 ' in width.  The fishery consists of Largemouth Bass, Redbreast, Bream, Shellcracker, Gar, Bowfin, Yellow Perch, Chain Pickerel, and  Hickory and American shad  mainly in the lower reaches during the spring run . Also,  there are a few Roanoke Bass in this river but your odds of catching one are near zero.  Don't count on catching any monsters in this river but it is a nice river .  There are not any impoundments on this river other than a couple of old small mill dams but Raleigh does have an 1100 acre water supply planned for this river set to be completed around 2019. This impoundment would be located just above Hwy 64.  Mitchell Mill State Natural Area is located just above the proposed reservoir. There are way too many bridge crossings to mention here so for info on access please refer to A PADDLERS GUIDE TO EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA by Bob Benner and Tom McCloud.

Here is a picture in the lower reach of this river.

A couple of pics to be added soon>>>>>

6. The Little River of the New River Basin.

This tributary of the New River can be broken down into 3 sections. The first section is 10 miles long with an average width of 75'. This is Smallie and Rock Bass water with a few Trout. The next section is 4 miles with an average width of 26' , This is mainly trout water with some rock bass. The upper section is 3 miles with an average width of 15'. This upper section is all Trout water.  I have caught all 3 kinds of trout in this river and also some river chubs.


7. The Little River of the Yadkin (Pee Dee) River Basin.

This Little river flows into the upper end of Blewett Falls Lake. Mile 25 of the Pee Dee River.  This river is a tad under 60 miles in length.  The lower section has some spots over 100' wide and the middle section averages 70' in width. The upper section averages 30 ' in width. This river is a very nice scenic river to explore but don't count on many lunkers unless you fish one of the mill ponds in the middle section of this river near Troy, NC.  The fishery is a great place for Redbreast sunfish, Some other fishes found here are  Largemouth, Jack, Smallmouths (non -native), Roanoke Bass (non-native) Crappie, gar, and Flathead's.
This river has too many places to mention for access so refer to Bob Benners book for info on that.

Here are a few pics of this stream.

Below is my 4th double ever on fish and my 2nd in 6 days!.  The double 6 days before this one were caught on the Little River of the Eno/Neuse basin...see above

So now do you really  want to fish the Little River?.....oh almost forgot,  There is an Upper Little River and a Lower Little River of the Cape Fear Basin and And Upper Little and Lower Little Rivers of the Catawba Basin...maybe I will do some reporting on the Cape Fear tributaries soon.

Just be glad you don't wish to fish Bear Creek in NC...only 30 bear creeks in NC, or how about Big Branch Creek? only 38 of them in NC! or how bout Laurel Branch?..only 41 Laurel Branches in NC!!!!  or how bout Mill Creek?.....just 60 Mill creeks in NC!!!!.......

The winner if you want to fish a waterway in NC with the most is Long Branch......there are only 74 Long Branch's  in NC.......yes! seventy-four..........

So, Whats in a Name???????????......