Fishing Report 11/8/2019

The Toccoa Tailwater is fishing well and will continue to fish well into the winter. We’ve been seeing better water temperatures and received some much-needed rain in the last couple of days. Some of our guides have been seeing caddis coming off on the river in the evenings and the streamer bite should be picking up as we move closer to the end of the month. I would have a decent variety of flies if I were to hit the tailwater: Blue Winged Olive and Caddis (dries, split case BWO, Holy Grails, Thrift Shop Caddis), bigger stonefly imitations like size 6-8 Pat’s Rubber legs, wooly buggers, Y2K’s, and typical naturals (pheasant tail/hare’s ear variants). Flashy nymphs like Gold Lighting Bugs and Rainbow Assassins are sure to catch lots of stocked fish. For bigger streamers and potentially bigger fish, have a few patterns with different actions in a couple colors and rotate as needed. Dungeons and Ice Picks in a couple colors will do the trick. Be mindful of the generation schedule.

The Toccoa Delayed Harvest is fishing well, but be aware of the water conditions before you head up to wade. The rain from this week may push the water level up for a day at the most, but shouldn’t be enough to make the DH unfishable before the end of the week. 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 blog post from earlier this week here!

Small Streams should be fishing great right now! I would try fishing dry/dropper rigs with bigger parachute adams and purple haze for my lead followed by soft hackle pheasant tails, hare’s ears, and split case BWO’s. This time of year, I also like to fish standard sized Pat’s rubber legs behind buoyant dries like chubby cherynobyls to try and entice a bigger bite.

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!