I fish the area around Asheville 3-4 times a year for the last several years. I think the Davidson is the best stream if you want to have a chance at multiple larger fish in a day within a short drive of the city. The area from Avery Creek upstream to the hatchery is the best section with tons of great water. From Looking Glass creek up to the hatchery is the most popular stretch, it has a lot of hatchery fish mixed in with wild ones. I prefer to stay below Looking Glass because it gets a little less crowded. The fishing in both sections can be tough at times as these fish see a lot of flies over the course of the year and the water tends to be gin clear.
If the Davidson proves unproductive due to pressured fish you can go above the hatchery or go up Looking Glass above the falls or anywhere on Avery and chase wild bows and the occasional brownie. These will be smaller fish, mostly below 10 inches, but they are more willing to take a dry and you should not need to go subsurface. I usually catch plenty of fish on bigger stimulators on all three of these streams. the key is getting your fly to sit still in a pocket long enough to get the attention of fish and there are fish in just about every pocket. The same advice goes for just about every blue line off of the parkway in this area, especially the one with wild trout designations. They are easy to find because there will be little diamond palards on the trees stream side.
I cannot support Beckers choice of guides, i don't care much for that shop as they push their private closed water that is full of pelletheads similar to spring ridge club, but to each his own.
Good luck and expect company if fishing the D. Also, be on the lookout for tubers midday there in the summer. If you choose to fish a smaller blue line watch out for rattlers they are pretty common.
