The Etowah River is fishing well for Spotted Bass and Striper, but the storm from yesterday/last night has blown out the river for a day or two at least. The current flow from Allatoona Dam is 958 cFs. As with anywhere you go right now, fish as early as you can or late in the evening. As soon as the sun gets over the water and the air temperature heats up, the fishing slows down. For spotted bass, bring a 9 foot, 6 or 7 weight fly rod with a matching, floating tropical or warmwater core fly line. Boogle bugs and gurglers are working well, but if topwater doesn’t produce for you, switch over to small 2.5-3 inch baitfish imitations like Lunch $’s, Clouser Minnows, and EP flies. For the striped bass, I typically bring a 9 weight rigged with a tropical clear tip imtermediate fly line and a tapered, 20lb striper leader or I build my own leaders. I use 40lb, 30lb, and 20lb fluorocarbon to build these leaders. We’re still booking striper trips into August this year, and Spotted Bass trips through to October! Call us at the shop to book. (706) 946-3044.
The Toccoa River below Blue Ridge Dam is generating from 10 AM – Noon and again from 8 PM – Midnight. Hemptown Creek is blown out. Water clarity may settle by Saturday if the rain holds off, but a little bit of color may help the fishing! Try smaller natural patterns: WD-40’s, Disco Midges, Zebra Midges, small soft hackle Blue Winged Olives, unweightwed hare’s ears and pheasant tails, and clear water emergers under a medium sized dry fly with enough split shot to get the flies down. 5x tippet should work well in the clear water up towards the dam, but you can probably get away with 3x and bigger streamers and nymphs in the dirtier water downstream!
Small Streams in the area received a little bit of welcome rain this week and should fish phenomenally this weekend! These streams flush out quickly and can be fished all day long with success in the higher elevations where they’re canopied heavily. Some of my best creek trout have been caught on slightly stained and higher water, so if you can hit the creeks before they flush out, try fishing dry droppers with big dries, pat’s rubber legs, wooly buggers, and san juan worms and don’t leave the big net at home!
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