South Carolina wild trout streams are restricted to a relatively small sliver of the southern Appalachians in the far northwest end of the state.  To date, we've developed three sources of information about SC fishing.  The Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture dataset (shown below), water quality classification data published by the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, and trout stream maps published by the SC DNR which plot most, if not all, of the wild trout streams classified by the SCDHEC.  Here we'll describe the EBTJV data.  You can find descriptions of the other data in the corresponding pages in the SC Resources Menu in the sidebar.

Source: Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture

The photo above shows the brook trout habitat dataset published by the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, displayed in Google Earth.  Click on the picture to see a larger image.  You can download the complete dataset in KMZ form, which can be used in your own installation of Google Earth.  If you don't use Google Earth (a decision you may wish to reconsider), you can download a detailed map based on an earlier version of this dataset.  Both are available in the "SC-GA Resources" menu in the sidebar.  The color coding in the photo is as follows, in order of best to worst:

• Blue

• Green

• Yellow

• Orange

• Red

The solid brown areas are basins where Brook Trout have been extirpated, though there may still be trout streams supporting Brown and Rainbow trout, which are more heat tolerant.  Areas which aren't coded with any color don't support any trout.  Keep in mind that brook trout can be diminished by other trout species, so some red areas may be excellent wild brown or rainbow water.  But it's almost certain that the yellow and better areas are great places to find wild trout.

Note: these data are coded by drainage.  Not every stream within a drainage will hold trout, though the majority will, especially within the better habitat.

We've also included some stream maps we created for the 2006 version of this site.  Click on "SC-GA Streams - Map" in the Resources menu in the sidebar to see a preview graphic and click map, or simply click on the "Download PDF Map" links in the resource menu.