A 30-year ban on fishing for native brook trout in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been officially lifted.

The ban was prompted by a decline in brook trout — the only native trout to the mountains. Park employees spent 30 years nursing some of the brook trout populations back to healthy numbers. Three years ago, the park questioned whether the brook trout fishing ban was still necessary. As an experiment, the park lifted the ban on a handful of streams to see what would happen. Biologists concluded there was no noticeable impact to the trout population in those streams. That has led to the permanent repeal of the ban across the Great Smokies Park, except in places where active brook trout restoration is occurring.

Newly restored streams will be off limits during and after restoration to allow ample time for recovery. Right now, three streams fall into that category: Bear Creek, Sams Creek, and Indian Flats Prong.

The park will continue to monitor all streams to assess whether a “catch and release” program should be initiated if at any time the populations appear to be at risk.

The brook trout took a major hit during the early 1900s from massive clear-cutting in the Southern Appalachians and the introduction of rainbow and brown trout that edged out the native brookies. By the 1970’s, brook trout had been reduced to 25 percent of its historic range, prompting the fishing ban.

While numbers haven’t exactly recovered wholesale in the park, they haven’t declined further. In some areas where biologists took active steps to weed out the competing brown and rainbow trout and restock brookies, the brookies came back. These findings refuted the 1970’s predictions that brook trout range loss was a systematic and irreversible process.

For up-to-date information on where anglers may legally fish for brook trout and to obtain Park fishing regulations, visit the Park’s Web site at www.nps.gov/grsm or stop in at any Park visitor center or ranger station.