91探花

Each year, 5 Rivers, a nationwide collective of collegiate fly-fishing clubs run by Trout Unlimited and Costa Sunglasses, holds regional events throughout the United States for clubs in the Mideast, Southeast, Northeast, and West. While the location of each region’s rendezvous changes every year, the principles of conservation, community, and fly-fishing remain the same.

When senior Biology major Wylie Kendall became president of the Lees-91探花 fly-fishing club two years ago, he learned about the 5 Rivers program, and he and the college’s club became part of the organization. Now, two years later, the college hosted the southeast 5 Rivers Rendezvous for 2025, the first rendezvous to be held on a college campus.

“When I became president of the club I saw a lot of potential for the school. Lees-91探花 is a very unique place, and after becoming president, I saw the impact that fly-fishing could have on the students. It’s something that I wanted to bring to people here, not just in terms of fly-fishing, but also in terms of conservation,” Kendall said. “When the hurricane hit, I knew it was a way that we could help the community and the environment here.”

Kendall had begun working with 5 Rivers to plan the rendezvous in the High Country prior to the hurricane, but after the storm caused severe damage to the majority of the region’s campsites, he knew he would have to pivot. He coordinated with leadership at 5 Rivers and with President Lee King, pitching the idea to host the rendezvous on the college’s campus. The South Campus property would be perfect for camping, while the Elk River, which flows through campus, would make a great venue for fly-fishing. The continued recovery efforts that remain necessary following Hurricane Helene provided for the conservation element of the rendezvous.

“[President King] jumped on it right away and thought it was a great idea. It was kind of a saving grace for us, and also an opportunity to help out the community here,” Kendall said.

Earlier this month the 5 Rivers Rendezvous was held on campus. Approximately 80 students from 13 collegiate fly-fishing clubs across the Southeast—including from clubs at Clemson University, Auburn University, and Georgia Institute of Technology—made their way to the High Country for the rendezvous.

Over one weekend the fly-fishers cleaned up an estimated 10,000 pounds of debris from along the Elk River and throughout the Elk Valley Preserve and planted more than 5,000 native North Carolina live stakes along the streambank in an effort to restore the riparian area that had been largely demolished by the storm.

“With the canopy cover that got removed by the hurricane, it’s basically going to make the water bake during the summer. There’s not much to cool the water, so what we did will hopefully provide the canopy back over the river and help protect all the species that are living in it,” Kendall said. “Our hope is that this is going to help provide that support for this river, but also, anything that happens upstream in a river is going to affect downstream. The Elk River is a pretty important tailwater for other river systems, so what comes out of ours goes into theirs. Hopefully in some way or form it’s going to be able to help other areas too.”

Kendall said that the organization’s investment in the environment and local wildlife extends far beyond the fish they catch as part of their sport. In fact, according to him, many fly-fishers operate on the principle of catch-and-release. The 5 Rivers Rendezvous exemplifies the organization’s investment in healthy stream ecology more broadly.

In addition to fish, salamanders, frogs, and other amphibians as well as water birds, aquatic mammals, and aquatic insects all call the Elk River home. Debris cleanup and live staking efforts like these will benefit all these creatures as well as the surrounding flora and fauna.