Crappie and catfish tactics are about as easy as things come. Any aluminum johnboat with an outboard motor of some description can put you at the mouth of main-lake coves, where you can anchor up and set out a handful of rods that are tipped with a variety of traditional catfish baits -- chicken livers, night crawlers, cut bait, stink baits -- you name it.

For crappie, concentrate on the deep ends of laydowns on the main lake. Find laydown trees that are close to deep water and fish around the treetops with live crappie minnows set at a variety of depths. The other effective tactic is to locate boat docks or piers that are close to deep water. W. Kerr Scott's shoreline isn't too developed, so hunting for boat docks is a little harder than hunting for laydowns -- but with a 2-pound crappie waiting, it's worth the effort.

Heading north out of town puts you up into the high hills. It's about a 20-minute drive from North Wilkesboro to the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is a great spot to fish for mountain trout during the summer. A handful of excellent streams are within walking distance of the parkway, including Brush, Big Pine and Meadow Fork creeks in Alleghany County and Cranberry Creek in Ashe County. All four streams are heavily stocked with hatchery brown, rainbow and brook trout through June. Regulations on hatchery-supported streams allow for natural bait, with a seven-fish daily creel limit and no size minimum. In addition, Basin and Cove creeks are two very good streams whose headwaters can be accessed from the Doughton Park area of the parkway.

Beyond the parkway lies the New River, one of the world's oldest waterways. It runs through Ashe and Alleghany counties before flowing across the Virginia state line and heading toward the Ohio River and eventually the Gulf of Mexico. On the upper end, it has two really nice fish to offer: smallmouth bass and redeyes or "rock bass."

Smallmouths are the primary target for canoe-bound anglers on the main stem of the New or on the South Fork or North Fork of the river. The South Fork is generally larger and more easily accessible, with many canoe outfitters able to provide floating platforms for fishermen with spinning tackle looking to battle with chunky smallmouths that generally average around a pound but can get much bigger.

And one of North Carolina's real jewels is barely 30 minutes from North Wilkesboro: Stone Mountain State Park, on the northern edge of the county. The park is home to some quality trout waters, including native trout streams like Garden and Widow creeks -- which require fly rods only and barbless flies -- to Bullhead Creek -- a stream where fishermen can sight-cast to 18-inch trout all day long by "renting" a section of stream -- to the East Prong Roaring River, which is in the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission's "delayed-harvest" program.