The Etowah River is fishing well right now. Striper fishing is in early season mode and winding up. Break out the 9 and 10 weights and beef up that leader! The spotted bass fishing has been phenomenal – We’re catching fish on poppers, big frog patterns, batifish patterns, and articulated flies, so you can fish how you want for the spots right now. I like taking a couple rods rigged with different lines for the technique you’re fishing: a 7 weight with a floating line and an Umpqua Swim Frog, mouse pattern, Boogle Bug, or Flat Fred, an 8 weight with a full sink or intermediate, and a 9 weight rigged with a full sink for the Striped Bass. All of the lines we’re running from now through the summer are tropical core. Make sure you check the flow out of Allatoona Dam, as they’re spilling water continuously all summer and will raise or lower the levels for flood control rather than generating a standard high and low flow. Call us at the shop to book! (706) 946-3044.
The Toccoa Tailwater has been fishing well. Float trips have been the best option on weekends, as public access points have been hammered the past month. If you can swing a weekday wade or float, I would highly recommend it! You may see Sulphurs, Light Cahills, and Tan Caddis out on the river as far as hatches go, so keep a dry fly rod handy with a 9 foot 5x leader. For subsurface rigs, I’m fishing long dry-droppers with a large, buoyant dry fly up top like a Fat Albert or Chubby Cherynobyl and dropping either a Pat’s Rubber Legs or a large TungStone off the back at about 1.5x the water depth. If you’re comfortable with a third fly, add either a small caddis pupa pattern, lightning bug, or a sulphur mayfly nymph off the back of the stonefly. If you don’t want to fish three flies, try a smaller dry fly like a Parachute Madam X in orange or yellow with any of the subsurface flies listed above dropped off the back. I’m fishing a lot of 4.5x Trouthunter or 5x Fluorocarbon for my droppers.
Small Streams in the area are stabilizing from the rain earlier. Right now, it’s hard to beat a good pair of wet wading shoes, a cup full of yellow dry flies, and a short 3 weight on these mountain streams. I like rigging a single yellow stimulator or parachute x with a small pheasant tail soft hackle. If you want to chase some relatively larger stream trout, take some small chubby cherynobyls or larger beetle patterns with a small pat’s rubber legs dropped off the back. Stay back off of pools, bring a couple spools of 5x and 6x just in case the trout get finicky, and don’t wear bright colors! If you keep an eye on tailouts of bigger pools before you step in them, you may even get some sight fishing opportunities!
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