June 1 & 2 North Georgia Specks

[ArrowJack]

This post has been inspired by Whitetailfreak and NCHillbilly. I've really enjoyed the photos and stories of their latest few trips and have tried to emulate those experiences this past weekend.

Saturday June 1, I drove north of Helen, GA into the National Forest and camped out. Grilled some lane snapper and deer loin that night, slept a good 9 hours.

Sunday morning 9:00, I had made it to the creek and started to tie on... something. Confident I was going to either catch some brook trout or nothing at all. Very small stream with plenty of >3 foot drops





I walked about one mile downstream before I caught a fish. Probably passing plenty due to my lack of skill.

Super excited when I caught this speck -



Shortly downstream from this there was a pool about 2.5 feet deep and 10 feet wide created from a large fallen tree. I could see 7 to 10 brook trout facing the current. They were definitely keyed into something coming down to them. I fished there for about an hour and got a lot of bites but couldn't land any of them. I changed flies a whole lot but I couldn't get it right.





I had planned to be back to the truck by about 1:00 pm but by that time I was still walking downstream.

I made it back about 6:00 pm. There was no trail so the hike took a while. I passed by a bunch a good holes but I just couldn't hook up on anything else.









Found a large pine (not sure what variety) growing straight on top on a rock.



Overall great day. I found some really great spots for catching some North Georgia brook trout. I'm looking for some new fishing buddies too, so if you're interesting in joining me give me a buzz.

 

[fish hawk]

Good times!

 

[NCHillbilly]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing! Looks like a fine creek and place to be! And a nice, fat speck!

One hint: try fishing upstream instead of downstream. If I'm fly fishing, 99.9 percent of the time I go up. Especially with spooky, wild trout it often makes a huge difference. The fish are usually facing upstream, so it's hard to avoid them spotting you if you're above them; and also, it's really, really hard to get a good presentation and natural drift with your fly if you're presenting it downstream. Pretty much the only time I will ever fish downstream is if I'm stripping streamers, or fishing lures with a spinning rod.

 

[flyrod444]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing! Looks like a fine creek and place to be! And a nice, fat speck!

One hint: try fishing upstream instead of downstream. If I'm fly fishing, 99.9 percent of the time I go up. Especially with spooky, wild trout it often makes a huge difference. The fish are usually facing upstream, so it's hard to avoid them spotting you if you're above them; and also, it's really, really hard to get a good presentation and natural drift with your fly if you're presenting it downstream. Pretty much the only time I will ever fish downstream is if I'm stripping streamers, or fishing lures with a spinning rod.

I agree with nchillbilly. One other thing is setting the hook down stream pulls hook into corner of mouth for better hook ups. Setting up stream pulls hook out of the mouth which results in many more my missed fish. It does look like great water.

 

[ArrowJack]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing! Looks like a fine creek and place to be! And a nice, fat speck!

One hint: try fishing upstream instead of downstream. If I'm fly fishing, 99.9 percent of the time I go up. Especially with spooky, wild trout it often makes a huge difference. The fish are usually facing upstream, so it's hard to avoid them spotting you if you're above them; and also, it's really, really hard to get a good presentation and natural drift with your fly if you're presenting it downstream. Pretty much the only time I will ever fish downstream is if I'm stripping streamers, or fishing lures with a spinning rod.

Thanks for the tip. I think you're definitely right because that pretty well describes the issues I had that day. Probably would have caught more if I had considered that. I'll plan my next route upstream.

 

[whitetailfreak]

Looks like a good trip, and some great pics ArrowJack.There is some great advice in the above posts, so keep learning. There's not much I'd rather do than get "Back of Beyond" catchin' Speckle Trout. By the way, you caught yourself a dandy.

 

[jigman29]

Nothing better than blue lining for specks. Some of my favorite memories are of days filled chasing 6" fish.

 

[Taxman]

Others here are better able to offer advice but I will say multiple casts over
small pools will tend to spook fish also. Even when not spooked I have
had them just watch the fly/nymph for multiple casts in well fished wild streams.

Thank you for your pics!

 

[FordGT40]

Thanks for the photo story - I really enjoy these. I've got a trip to Helen in mind soon too. Nice fish!

 

[NCHillbilly]

Others here are better able to offer advice but I will say multiple casts over
small pools will tend to spook fish also. Even when not spooked I have
had them just watch the fly/nymph for multiple casts in well fished wild streams.

Thank you for your pics!

Yep. If something doesn't hit in three or four drifts through a spot, I'm on to the next one.

 

[Buck70]

Thanks for posting.

 

[deerhuntingdawg]

Nice right up!! Thanks for sharing?