There’s a lot of uncertainty with evertything that’s going right now, and for now we’re staying open here in Blue Ridge. If circumstances change in Fannin County, we will adjust our hours as needed, but we have every intention of doing our best to serve the fishing community here. If you don’t feel comfortable coming into the store, call us. We will ship anything we have in stock to you, with no added shipping charge. If we don’t have it in store, some of our vendors are waving drop shipping fees directly to you. Fishing is a great way to get away from the uncertainty and crowds, and we will do our best to keep you on the water. Don’t forget the little guys – right now, more than ever, small businesses need your support.
The Toccoa Tailwater below Tammen Park has been off-color since Tuesday due to rain, but the forecast for the next few days is showing very little precipitation. Hopefully by Friday the river should be clear and fishable on low water, but in the meantime, Tammen Park is still clear for wade anglers. Cream Midges, Blue Winged Olives, and some remnant Little Black Stones are around, but I would focus on subsurface presentations right now. Try nymph rigs with stonefly imitations like Double Bead Stones, Tungstones, and Pat’s Rubber Legs as the lead fly with the dropper of your choice. Pheasant tail variants 12-20, Rainbow Warriors/Lightning Bugs, Holy Grail/Thrift Shop Caddis, and Zebra midges would be my first choice. Streamers are still producing well. We like to throw Galloup patterns like dungeons/mini dungeons in Yellow, White, Black, Olive, or Craw. Smaller streamers like Lunch $’s, Zoo Cougars, and Wooly Buggers will work well for the wade angler that needs something light enough for a 5 weight. Keep an eye on the generation schedule, as always. Previous schedules from this week have been pretty generous as far as low water goes.
The Upper Toccoa Delayed Harvest is still too high to wade. Current flow is sitting around 800 cfs and falling out, so you may be able to float – use the same stuff as the tailwater, minus the midges. Don’t forget split shot if you do float the Upper.
Small Streams in the Blue Ridge area should fish very well. They’re still a little high, but water levels should be falling out. I like to have some buoyant dries like chubby cherynobyls and Foam PMX’s for dry dropper rigs the slower moving water, but keep some smaller 14-18 sized mayfly and caddis imitations like Parachute Adams and Elk Hair caddis in the box just in case. For subsurface flies, keep a variety of weighted and unweighted patterns like pheasant tails and hare’s ears, stonefly imitations in blacks, browns, and olive sz 8-12, wooly buggers, and san juan worms. I adjust my technique to the type of water I am fishing – switch to high sticking in faster water, adjust split shot often, etc.
The Etowah River is still unfishable, but we’re getting antsy for the water levels to return to normal. Spotted bass and Striper are all on the horizon – we’re filling up our boxes and tuning up our equipment already in anticipation. If you think you want to try your hand at fishing this river this summer, call us at the shop and set up a guide trip. Striper season starts in May, and the calendar is filling quickly.
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