pjciii
Senior Member
It’s full-fledged fall around here, with a few sprinkles of winter tossed in. We’ve had some morning mountain air bumping the thirties and, after tolerating our August in October, it has felt great! Our fish have enjoyed that cooler weather, too, so our catching is finally on the upswing (personal research…) as our north Georgia lakes and streams cool off. Today (10/26) we’re on the tail end of an inch or two of rainfall, so our larger streams and rivers may need an extra day or two to drop and clear before their best fishing. But fall folks should not shy away from these larger streams for too long. While there is a large relative increase in fall flows (large flow spikes) after big rains, remember the absolute values. In other words, fall (Sept-Oct) is our driest time of the year and baseflows for our streams and rivers are low. Storms often bump up these flows, but an October spike https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/nwis/uv?site_no=02330450
might simply reach as high as normal April flows, with fall streams subsiding quickly.
https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/n...ate=2018-04-30
So don’t simply look at these current flow spikes on the internet, but check the actual values (CFS or gauge height) to see how far up your boots that these streams really are. You might find a few extra fall fishing days that you’ve been missing. Also, the Delayed Harvest Season begins on November 1 for trouting fans, and we have some annual intel below.
Lakes are cooling off and coolwater species like walleye, stripers, hybrids, and even our big spots are finally emerging from the depths of summer thermal refuges. While the fishing will be challenging because fish will scatter over the entire reservoir, a renewed shallow-water bite should bring us back to our favorite lakes. Check out the Capt Mack report and watch the guide reports in Ken’s latest Southern Fishing Report, where you’ll see some shallow patterns re-emerging. And remember, when you hook that big one, square your shoulders!
https://midcurrent.com/2018/10/26/vi...od/#more-31085
Enjoy our latest tricks and treats as we head into Halloween week. Here we go:
· Fall Trout - Stockers
While the “catching” may not be as fast and furious as April and May, when a lot of stocked fish are hitting the water weekly, this is a great time of the year for fishing on the national forest. We have cool, weather, healthy streamflows, and fall foliage to enjoy along with our “hunt” for leftover stockers. The key to fall success is to cover a lot of water in our search for summer survivors and the bonus fall fish stocked two weeks ago.
https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout
Crickets, worms, and spinners might outfish corn and powerbait in many streams, since they were stocked this month with some chunky Buford Hatchery browns instead of the normal rainbows. Streams near Chattahoochee Forest National Hatchery did receive some nice rainbows, so carrying some salmon eggs and powerbait to streams in the Suches region will be a good bet. Lake Burton fans might notice some naïve, eager eleven-inch brown trout attacking their bass lures, too. These recent stockers are a nice catch, but they’re even more fun if released to grow two pounds a year on blueback herring, and then to mount on your wall as a true trophy. Just ask Cam! (see youtube vid)
https://www.facebook.com/ChattOconee...type=3&theater
https://gadnrwrd.maps.arcgis.com/app...5d0d5240a235c3
· Fall Trout - Wild
Dredger wandered north last week in a last-ditch effort at some river bass. Alas, they were suffering from smallie-shock due to the strong cold front and sudden plunge in river temperature to 60 degrees.
But he came prepared with a Plan B. He holstered his 6-weight, ditched his sling pack, drove farther north, and then pulled out his fly vest and 4-weight from the car trunk. There were a bunch of like-minded fans on the lower end of his favorite creek, so he went high. Big pools were few, competitors were nonexistent, pockets were plentiful, and so were the little bows and browns. With his ten-foot Euro rod, he basically tenkara-ed (canepoled) up the creek with a dry/dropper combo of a bushy #14 October caddis on 6X, with a #16 tungsten Euro nymph dropped two feet off the rear on 7X. The light tippet made a difference in the gin-clear, 54-degree waters. He missed more than he nicked, but better than a dozen still came to hand during Plan B’s late afternoon session. None were bigger than 8 inches, but all were spunky, colorful and wild. Few posed long enough for a pic.
He quit just before dark to hunt another quarry, this one with his camera. He struck out on all the usual fields except the very last one. There, at midfield near the park visitors center, stood the home team. In stadium fashion, fans from a dozen states surrounded the field and enjoyed the spectacle. https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/nature/elk.htm
Try a road trip soon. You own that stadium and others like it. It’s called the National Park System.
· Fall Trout – DH Tricks and Treats
Georgia Delayed Harvest trout waters open once again on November 1. As always, we’ll have some fish in each of them by lunchtime on the first. We appreciate the help of Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery staff and key volunteers with local Trout Unlimited chapters in our season-opening efforts to spread out the first crop of stockers. Wanna help? Join a club.
https://www.fws.gov/chattahoocheeforest/
https://goldrushtu.org/
http://georgiatu.org/wordpress/httpg...n-chapter-696/
https://www.facebook.com/gafoothills/
For the first couple weeks after release, these DH fish are naïve and podded up. Try something flashy and/or with movement to attract their attention (small buggers, squirmies, and Pat’s rubberlegs are good). Cover some ground until you find the jackpot, where a Buford Hatchery bucketful has landed. I call this “famine and feast fishing.” Toss a few casts into each pool. If no luck and no lookers, even after a split shot or two to get your fly down, move out of that famine hole and search for the feast hole. If you see or catch one, stick around and pound it. His bucketful of buddies might be right behind him.
Soon, after one or two big rains, high water and hunger will redistribute these first DH stockers throughout the special regulation reaches, and the fishing will be more challenging. Here’s an oldie but a goody for our Toccoa noobs.
https://www.gon.com/fishing/new-tocc...elayed-harvest
Dredger was nice enough to share his early season DH tips with us; they are attached. He said their subscription price is for you to take one kid or trouting newbie with you, find a “feast” address, and stick them in that honey hole. Why share your bounty? You’ll make a fishing friend and conservation ally for life!
might simply reach as high as normal April flows, with fall streams subsiding quickly.
https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/n...ate=2018-04-30
So don’t simply look at these current flow spikes on the internet, but check the actual values (CFS or gauge height) to see how far up your boots that these streams really are. You might find a few extra fall fishing days that you’ve been missing. Also, the Delayed Harvest Season begins on November 1 for trouting fans, and we have some annual intel below.
Lakes are cooling off and coolwater species like walleye, stripers, hybrids, and even our big spots are finally emerging from the depths of summer thermal refuges. While the fishing will be challenging because fish will scatter over the entire reservoir, a renewed shallow-water bite should bring us back to our favorite lakes. Check out the Capt Mack report and watch the guide reports in Ken’s latest Southern Fishing Report, where you’ll see some shallow patterns re-emerging. And remember, when you hook that big one, square your shoulders!
https://midcurrent.com/2018/10/26/vi...od/#more-31085
Enjoy our latest tricks and treats as we head into Halloween week. Here we go:
· Fall Trout - Stockers
While the “catching” may not be as fast and furious as April and May, when a lot of stocked fish are hitting the water weekly, this is a great time of the year for fishing on the national forest. We have cool, weather, healthy streamflows, and fall foliage to enjoy along with our “hunt” for leftover stockers. The key to fall success is to cover a lot of water in our search for summer survivors and the bonus fall fish stocked two weeks ago.
https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout
Crickets, worms, and spinners might outfish corn and powerbait in many streams, since they were stocked this month with some chunky Buford Hatchery browns instead of the normal rainbows. Streams near Chattahoochee Forest National Hatchery did receive some nice rainbows, so carrying some salmon eggs and powerbait to streams in the Suches region will be a good bet. Lake Burton fans might notice some naïve, eager eleven-inch brown trout attacking their bass lures, too. These recent stockers are a nice catch, but they’re even more fun if released to grow two pounds a year on blueback herring, and then to mount on your wall as a true trophy. Just ask Cam! (see youtube vid)
https://www.facebook.com/ChattOconee...type=3&theater
https://gadnrwrd.maps.arcgis.com/app...5d0d5240a235c3
· Fall Trout - Wild
Dredger wandered north last week in a last-ditch effort at some river bass. Alas, they were suffering from smallie-shock due to the strong cold front and sudden plunge in river temperature to 60 degrees.
But he came prepared with a Plan B. He holstered his 6-weight, ditched his sling pack, drove farther north, and then pulled out his fly vest and 4-weight from the car trunk. There were a bunch of like-minded fans on the lower end of his favorite creek, so he went high. Big pools were few, competitors were nonexistent, pockets were plentiful, and so were the little bows and browns. With his ten-foot Euro rod, he basically tenkara-ed (canepoled) up the creek with a dry/dropper combo of a bushy #14 October caddis on 6X, with a #16 tungsten Euro nymph dropped two feet off the rear on 7X. The light tippet made a difference in the gin-clear, 54-degree waters. He missed more than he nicked, but better than a dozen still came to hand during Plan B’s late afternoon session. None were bigger than 8 inches, but all were spunky, colorful and wild. Few posed long enough for a pic.
He quit just before dark to hunt another quarry, this one with his camera. He struck out on all the usual fields except the very last one. There, at midfield near the park visitors center, stood the home team. In stadium fashion, fans from a dozen states surrounded the field and enjoyed the spectacle. https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/nature/elk.htm
Try a road trip soon. You own that stadium and others like it. It’s called the National Park System.
· Fall Trout – DH Tricks and Treats
Georgia Delayed Harvest trout waters open once again on November 1. As always, we’ll have some fish in each of them by lunchtime on the first. We appreciate the help of Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery staff and key volunteers with local Trout Unlimited chapters in our season-opening efforts to spread out the first crop of stockers. Wanna help? Join a club.
https://www.fws.gov/chattahoocheeforest/
https://goldrushtu.org/
http://georgiatu.org/wordpress/httpg...n-chapter-696/
https://www.facebook.com/gafoothills/
For the first couple weeks after release, these DH fish are naïve and podded up. Try something flashy and/or with movement to attract their attention (small buggers, squirmies, and Pat’s rubberlegs are good). Cover some ground until you find the jackpot, where a Buford Hatchery bucketful has landed. I call this “famine and feast fishing.” Toss a few casts into each pool. If no luck and no lookers, even after a split shot or two to get your fly down, move out of that famine hole and search for the feast hole. If you see or catch one, stick around and pound it. His bucketful of buddies might be right behind him.
Soon, after one or two big rains, high water and hunger will redistribute these first DH stockers throughout the special regulation reaches, and the fishing will be more challenging. Here’s an oldie but a goody for our Toccoa noobs.
https://www.gon.com/fishing/new-tocc...elayed-harvest
Dredger was nice enough to share his early season DH tips with us; they are attached. He said their subscription price is for you to take one kid or trouting newbie with you, find a “feast” address, and stick them in that honey hole. Why share your bounty? You’ll make a fishing friend and conservation ally for life!
