The current forecast for this weekend is projecting 90-100% rain starting in the late afternoon Friday through the evening Saturday. Be mindful of rain if you plan on getting out – wet and cold do not mix, but some of the best fishing can be had with inclement weather conditions in the forecast.
The Toccoa Tailwater is fishing well. Generation has been relatively consistent and giving enough time for a day trips’ worth of fishing. We’ve been seeing some blue winged olives and caddis on the river, but my primary focus would be subsurface presentations. A combination of junk/flashier flies like Rainbow Warriors, Lightning Bugs, and Globugs paired with more imitative flies like Split Case BWO, Stonefly patterns, Thrift Shop Caddis, Midges, and Pheasant Tail soft hackles (14-20)will produce well. I like to skip the indicator and throw on a chubby chernobyl or any buoyant dry fly up top, but thingamabobbers shouldn’t keep you from catching fish.
The streamer bite should be excellent especially on rainy and overcast days, so pack along a 6-8 weight with floating or intermediate fly line on low water. I like to throw flies that have a built in action (dungeons, zoo cougars, etc) on intermediate/streamertip lines to get them down without killing the action. I also like to use either heavily weighted flies or I will throw unweighted flies with 1/16 slip sinkers/heavy split shot (use the non-lead kind!) on a floating line with a 9-12 foot leader, as this allows the fly to sink quickly and fish at depth more effectively than sinking line when fishing shallow rivers like the Toccoa. If you’re not comfortable with big streamers, smaller dungeons, sparkle minnows, and wooly buggers thrown under an indicator work great! Keep your eye on the fly as well as the indicator if you dead drift a streamer and twitch it every so often.
The Toccoa Delayed Harvest has also been fishing well. The river is at good wading flow. Have a selection of egg and worm patterns, wooly buggers, hot bead pheasant tails/hare’s ears, Holy Grails, and sparkle minnows. I also like throwing out some flashier bugs like El Diablos and Rainbow Warriors. If you’re unfamiliar with the Delayed Harvest system, be sure to check out the DH blog post here!
Small Streams should fish well! Take some small Chubby Cherynobyls and size 10/12 Pat’s Rubber Legs, brown Tungstones, and smaller pheasant trail and hare’s ear nymphs. These streams will be low and clear, so I would recommend fishing 5x and 6x and maintaining a minimal disturbance on the water. Use cover and be mindful of your footsteps!
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