Fishing Report 6/27/19

The Etowah River should fish well this weekend. The water is still a good color despite this week’s rain, and the 7 day forecast is showing very little precipitation. I would probably bring a 5 or 6 weight rigged for spotted bass (Boogle Bugs, Cohen’s Jiggy Craw, Tequeely’s) and a 9 weight with intermediate or full sinking tropical fly line for the striped bass. Larger baitfish patterns like Kinky Muddlers, Cruiser Shad, and Flashtail whistlers. We just got a shipment some fresh striper and bass flies in stock; come by and see what’s new. Sometimes throwing something that the fish haven’t seen can make a difference. It can also be beneficial to have flies of different weights and actions to dial in what the fish are liking.

Be mindful of generation if you plan on getting out – the sun this time of year is absolutely brutal mid-day, so bring plenty of water and sunblock/sun gear. Come by the shop before you head out! We’ll point you in the right direction if you have any questions regarding flies, equipment, etc.

The Blue Ridge Area Report courtesy of our outfitting partner, Fly Fishing North Georgia.

The Toccoa Tailwater is releasing water from the dam from 10:00am-7:00pm. This release gives everyone the opportunity to fish the Tailwater at every access point (Tammen Park, Curtis Switch, and Horseshoe Bend Park). The predicted release later this week is less than the 9 hour generation. We won’t know what the specific time frame will be until around 5:00pm every afternoon. If you do find yourself on the tailwater, I’d recommend fishing mainly subsurface flies. We were catching fish last weekend on Soft Hackle Pheasant Tails and Hare’s Ears. I would also throw Squirmy Worms, Egg Patterns, and Pat’s Rubber Legs. Even though the rains hit hard last weekend, the generation has cleared the water up a good bit.

The Delayed Harvest section of the Toccoa is heating up. The water is registering close to 70 degrees – trout can become stressed out and will likely be more lethargic. This time of year, we will start seeing bass running up into the river. It is registering at 416cfs which isn’t a bad level to wade. After the hard rains last weekend, the DH was pretty muddy. I would suspect by the weekend the DH will have cleared up quite a bit.

Smaller Mountain Streams would be a good place to go this weekend. Weekly reports say that the water is at a good wading level. Rock Creek and Coopers Creek would be good places to go. In these smaller streams you might see more dry fly action, so I would carry some Parachute Adams, Purple Haze, and Headlight Sally’s for the smaller streams. Also, the same subsurface flies that work on the Tailwater will likely work on these smaller streams, but you might want to drop the fly size down to a 16 or 18 Pheasant Tail and Hare’s Ear, size 12 Pat’s Rubber Leg, and size 12 Squirmy Worms to match some of the biomass in the smaller creeks!