The Toccoa Tailwater is fishing well, outside of the generation schedule. We’ve been focusing on streamers lately, hunting for those larger browns that live in the river – try 6-8 weights with floating and intermediate/sinktip fly lines with fluorocarbon 12-20lb leaders. Vary your leader length to the type of fly line you’re fishing, longer on a floating line and shorter on any sinking type fly line. Dungeons, Ice Picks, and sparkle minnows would all be my first pick.
We’ve been seeing blue winged olives and little black stones hatching on the river, and the little black stones usually come before one of the best hatches of the year (Black Caddis), so we’re keeping both small stonefly dries and black caddis emergers and dries in our box. Outside of these hatches, I would try Blue Winged Olive Nymphs (Pheasant tails, split case, etc.), Zebra Midges, Pat’s Rubber Legs, Tungstones, and typical tailwater fare like rainbow warriors, worms, etc.
The Toccoa Delayed Harvest is still high from rain. It is 10:30AM as I write this, and the USGS gauge at Dial Road is reading 513 cF/s, which is barely wadeable. Be mindful of your level of comfort if you decide to wade the upper Toccoa right now, as you can quickly be overwhelmed. Also watch the forecast, as any rain that occurs this week will cause the DH water levels to rise. Typical DH stuff should work, but only if you bring enough weight to get it down! Be sure to check out our blog post on delayed harvest fishing here.
The Etowah River is clearing up enough to fish. Right now, the water temperature from the dam has varied from the upper 40s to 50. If you want to have success, play the generation right and hit the water during the warmest part of the day. Try 1.5-4 inch baitfish patterns on sinking line, swimming flies like Swinging D’s and Gamechangers, and neutrally buoyant flies like dungeons.
Small Streams should fish well! Try 3/4 weight fly rods with dry/dropper rigs consisting of small chubby chernobyl’s, purple hazes, and parachute adams followed by subsurface patterns like pheasant tails, pat’s rubber legs, and soft hackles. These streams should be back to normal levels and clear, so we recommend 5x or smaller and approaching with caution as to not spook fish.
Check the generation schedule before you plan your trip! We do not recommend that you float the Etowah if Allatoona dam is releasing water. We do not recommend wading the Toccoa if the TVA is releasing water. Check the release schedules and be safe!
Toccoa River Delayed Harvest flows
Allatoona Dam Release Schedule- (706) 334-7213
Cartersville Shop: (770) 606-1100
Blue Ridge Shop: (706) 946-3044