Fly-Fishing with Reel Angling Adventures

Reel Angling Adventures -- Celluloid Forever?

A Movie Star? Not at all, but ...

Six months ago, I was asked by a production scout if my logo and company name -- Reel Angling Adventures -- could be used in a banner display as a set prop for the recently released motion picture Trouble with the Curve, starring and directed by Clint Eastwood. Tonight, it was confirmed in use in the film, about an aging baseball scout and his relationship with his daughter, when Mary and I spotted it on the left-center-field fence of a ballpark scene! Seeking to impose local reality on the production, the logo appears on the set while staged at Young Harris College in north Georgia.  

Delayed Harvest: Fall Fishing Turns the Seasonal Corner

With October upon us, fly-fishermen in the Southeast turned the seasonal corner in our angling pursuits, . In Tennessee and North Carolina, seasonally regulated public trout waters designated as "delayed harvest" (DH) waters opened yet again on Oct. 1, promising fast action until next spring for brown, rainbow and brook trout.

Georgia anglers will enjoy DH waters, too, in just a few weeks, when six locations in the north end of the state give way to the regulations that limit anglers to catch-and-release fishing with artificial lures/flies only. DH regs also typically include the "single hook" limitation, and it will be mostly fly-fishermen who wade these waters. Anglers on Tennessee's DH waters, however, can use any typical artificial lure armed with single or treble hooks. 

Among the best of the DH waters in the tri-state region,  the Nantahala River (NC), the Tellico River (TN), the Hiwassee River (TN) and the Chattooga River (GA-SC) offer up a lot of fishing opportunities on more than 22 miles of scenic and challenging trout waters. From remote settings to side-of-the-road access points, these rivers feature everything a fly-fisherman dreams of on a trout stream -- steep plunge pools, the cadence of a riffle-run-pool, long boulder gardens, and deep feeding lanes. Dry-fly fishing holds on until the leaves fall from the trees but is resurrected throughout wintertime by periodic hatches of tiny Blue Winged Olives and black/creamy Midges just about anywhere you find trout holding.

Over the slow water, fan your favorite Wooly Bugger or Sculpin across a deep pool, and hang on! Streamer fishing often brings strikes from the heaviest fish. Some of the best of these sites are found flogging flies from a drift boat!

And if its nymphing you're looking for -- beginner or old hack -- you'll find the slots, ledges, pools, and lanes in these waters to your liking. When winter sets in and water temperatures fall into the low 40s, your action can be fast and furious on many of the country's best nymph patterns, along with some of the local patterns created and coveted by area anglers.

Conveniently located -- just 1 to 3 hours from Atlanta, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Charlotte, Augusta, Asheville and Greenville -- the DH waters of Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina can turn any business trip, holiday gathering or just a day off work into a fishing memory not soon forgotten. Regular stockings, mixed with wild trout, include rainbows, browns and brook trout. Catch numbers are typically high and trophy trout of 20 inches or more are not uncommon.

To learn more about guided trout fishing on these streams and more, visit Reel Angling Adventures and plan your fall, winter and spring outings with the guide team that offers more guided fishing destinations than any other outfitter in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Or give us a call, toll free: 866-899-5259.

Trout, Bass and Stripers -- They All Shine in Summertime

Hiwassee River Float Trips Primed for Dry Flies

As summer rolls in this month, trout fishing offered by the guide team at ReelAngling Adventures is highlighted with the float trips available on the Hiwassee and lower Toccoa rivers. The Hiwassee trips will be operated on daily high-water flows through Labor Day weekend, with the guides working boats on 2-mile, 5-mile or 7-mile floats chasing both trout and striped bass. This is a numbers game for the trout, typically running 10-14 inches long. They take flies of all styles – dries, nymphs and streamers – as well as the usual spinning lures, small spoons and jigs. Stripers are just appearing in the upper river, and we anticipate catch numbers to begin increasing as trip counts grow from June through August. We hit ‘em with both lures and baits, hooking into what can be fish that push the 50-pound mark!

Toccoa River Wade/Float Trips Depend on Water Levels

Our Toccoa tailwater trips are based on day-to-day water levels that have created some interesting fishing conditions this year on the 5- to 6-mile-long float trips. The TVA had been running water flows from 240 to 360 cfs – much more than the historical minimum water flows of 160 cfs – which changed many of the skinniest boat-dragging shoals into prime trout lies with plenty of bug activity to keep the dry-fly fishing working well through the day. However, on June 13, the TVA returned to minimum flows to small to support float trips on the Toccoa. Higher flows are sure to return with significant rainfall. Until then, we’ll keep at it on foot, hosting wading trips on the Toccoa tailwater at or near the primary stocking sites -- Blue Ridge Dam, the TVA access site off Curtis Switch Road, and Horseshoe Bend Park in McCayesville -- where dry-fly fishing has both rainbows and browns looking up and taking the fly patterns of summertime. You might recall, too, that the Toccoa River Watershed Coalition (www.ToccoaRiverWatershedCoalition.org) supports special trout-fishing regulations it believes would speed up the recovery of the Toccoa tailwater trout population, which took a significant hit a year and a half ago when the TVA released water from the lake that exceeded 74 degrees. Those releases cost the lower Toccoa River almost 85% of its trout fishery. Nonetheless, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources has not shown any indications it will change fishing regulations on the tailwater at this time.

Wild Trout Trekking Promises Color in the Water

Thanks to timely rainfall and moderate weather, most of the high-elevation streams remain open for wild trout in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee and can produce some good trips for dry-fly fishing. We’ve got our fingers crossed that these waters will fish well for another month before summertime heat takes its toll and runs localized water temperatures to near 70 degrees. These are great small-water adventures targeting wild rainbows, browns and brook trout on some of the prettiest remote trout waters in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

Trophy Trout Taking Fat Flies

Those same rains are extending the action on our trophy-trout water at Noontootla Creek Farm by keeping water levels up and water temperatures steady in the low 60s. Despite the sometimes spotty action, anglers on the 2-mile-long private-access stream that caters strictly to catch-and-release fly-fishermen took several trout last weekend in the 20-plus-inch class. Fly selections can sometimes change daily on NCF, but the technical “challenge” is part of the beauty in fly-fishing this spectacular spring creek. Cover is often tight; the stream is often clear; and stealth is a must on the riffle-run-pool pattern that characterizes the stream’s progression from top to bottom.

Bassin' in the Jumps on Blue Ridge & Chatuge

Black-bass fishing on the impoundments is currently on fire at daylight! Our half-day summertime morning trips are finding both spotted bass and smallmouths slashing through large schools of herring that gather over night on the surface in deep water. The bass “discover” these schools of baitfish as daylight arrives. The bite is fast and furious, providing exciting topwater action that sometimes extends for several hours. Smallmouths and spots run together on Lake Blue Ridge, and some really large schools of white bass can surprise anglers with some of the most frantic fishing of the year! Spotted bass rule at Lake Chatuge. The TVA continues to hold Lake Blue Ridge 15 feet below conservation pool, while Lake Chatuge is full.

And Now for This ... Action A'Plenty for Stripers & Hybrids 

Also, Reel Angling Adventures recently developed a working relationship with the guide team at FishGarrison.com – the premier guided fishing service that targets striped bass and hybrid-stripers at Lake Nottely (Blairsville, GA); and hybrid-stripers at Lake Chatuge (Hiawasee, GA). Guides Josh Garrison and Darren Hughes combine for more than 30 years of fishing experience. Both guides use large, center console boats outfitted with the latest electronics, rods, tackle and live bait. Summertime fishing trips are planned around running deep live-bait lines in the morning half of the day in uncrowded conditions, surrounded b the picturesque settings of the North Georgia mountains. Operated by the TVA, the lake is currently full with the best fishing taking place on the days of cloud cover and drizzling, rainy weather.

Summer is, indeed, upon us, and fishing action  – whether it’s fly-fishing or conventional fishing for trout, spotted bass, smallmouth bass, stripers or hybrid-stripers – is taking the active turn toward the historical trends associated with the destinations of the guide team of Reel Angling Adventures. 

Good fishing!

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Fishing report, 04-16-12

Experience ... Expose ... Execute ... Engage!

Real Fishing ... Reel Angling Adventures! 
Trout/Bass Fishing Report, 04-16-12

Fly-fishing on the private waters of Tooni Cove Farm and Noontootla Creek Farm ... proves the frustrations of fly-fishing technical trout waters. Fishing pressure is up on these trophy-trout waters, as the numbers of fly-rodders working the waters of Noontootla Creek and the Toccoa River in north Georgia increase with every passing week of spring. And with the almost-daily flogging at hand, hook-ups can be surprising when a slow hour of pitching nymphs in and out of runs suddenly breaks loose, quite literally. Our latest anglers -- a father-son-and-son trio hailing from South Carolina -- found a couple of slow periods broken by the shocking strikes and surging runs of rainbows that pushed the 8-pound mark -- alas, only to have five break-offs across a day and half on these special waters. Nymphing holds as the most productive method as April moves along toward May. But the bug activity was strong this weekend as the afternoon grew long -- among them: large tan caddisflies, golden stoneflies, March Browns and the first appearances of Sulphurs, almost a month ahead of the historical first flights of this gorgeous mayfly. Water temperatures that reached 60 degrees a week ago have moderated to the low to mid-50s, thanks to three mornings of freezing air temperatures here in the highlands of the Blue Ridge Mountains.   

DH section of the upper Toccoa River near Dial, GA ...The guides of Reel Angling Adventures are taking advantage of good seasonal river flows to float not only the special-regulation waters off Aska and Old Dial roads, but we’re extending the float into a 4 ½-mile run through the upper Toccoa’s best trout water. The river is running at prime flows and brook trout have been the main attraction the last few weeks! Looks the GDNR stocked ‘em strong, as the majority of trout taken by our clients throughout the stretch have been brookies up to 14 inches! Dry-fly action is on and off, but watch for trout rising on the seams. Drop a Tan Caddis or Blue-Winged Olive on the twists and turns and you’ll get their attention. Otherwise, keep deep-dredging with stonefly nymphs and pulling streamers. Those stand-bys are taking fish daily. Take advantage of the seasonal opportunities here and book your float trip now!

Toccoa River tailwater at Blue Ridge Dam … A couple untimely thunderstorms ran the lower Toccoa River dirty just the day before two client trips, so we lost those floats on this great tailwater to Mother Nature. Still, numbers of trout caught on the tailwater continue to grow strong but the riverway has been relegated to wade-fishing only for more than two weeks. TVA is running water releases at just 120 cfs, which is too little flow for floating a drift boat. That leaves public opportunities to the public-access sites near Blue Ridge, GA, at Horseshoe Bend Park (McCayesville), the Curtis Swith Road access site operated by the TVA, and Tammen Park, located in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Dam. The usual suspects are taking trout – various spinners and spoons – but don’t overlook the seasonal fly patterns to include Quill Gordons and Hendricksons. To support the community's call for special fishing regulations on the Toccoa tailwater, please see the regulations proposal (dated Sept. 8, 2010) and the reports of the follow-up public meetings on the matter by visiting the website of the Toccoa River Watershed Coalition at: http://toccoariverwatershedcoalition.org/Watershed_conservation.html#dec2meeting

DH section of the Nantahala River, NC ... is fishing as normal for April -- it's GREAT! And it’s better yet later this month after the state stocks its last segment of browns, ‘bow and brookies under the special-regulation period that ends on the Nantahala River on June 3. With water temperatures already at 60 degrees, the spring fishery is expanding quickly through the boulder gardens. Don’t overlook those long stretches of braided water. Some days, you’ll find fish at every seam, chute, lane and plunge. Dry-fly fishing now centers on Hendricksons and tan Caddisflies, but try fishing them with a small dropper nymph such as Copper John patterns in green, natural and burgundy body colors. The “Nanty” is your best nearby location for completing the Appalachian Slam -- catching brookies, browns and rainbows in the same day from the same water. And some of those fish caught can easily stretch beyond the 20-inch mark of a trophy trout.

Hiwassee River tailwater at Reliance, TN ... is fishing very well, but TVA has our guide team restricted to wading trips only. For several weeks, the powerhouse operation on the Hiwaseee River at Reliance, TN, has been under the seasonal “pulse” schedule. Daily, this means the TVA operates one turbine for one hour, then shuts it down for three hours, before running it again just one hour and shutting it down again for three hours. This pattern is typical of the daylight hours, but TVA has been operating under this schedule around the clock. With drift boats out of the picture for now, look for great wading conditions up and down the riverway, with the best water standing in reach at the key shoals. Hendricksons, tan Caddisflies and March Browns keep the dry-fly action fast and furious. Some anglers choose to scatter from the riverway when the pulse flows approach and run their anxiety levels up. But in just an hour or so, the flows fall back and the next three hours leave the entire riverway once again exposed to your best wading period of the year. Large boulders, sharp ledges, deep troughs and woody debris point your way toward catch rates of 20 to 40 trout a day (well more on the best days!). Streamers, nymphs and dry flies all have their place on this most beautiful of places to throw a fly line.

DH section of the Chattooga River ... Straddling the GA-SC border southeast of Clayton, GA is 3 miles of the what arguably is the prettiest trout water across the southern Appalachian Mountains. This special-regulation fishing area, upstream from the Highway 28 bridge, features an environment that repeats the traditional riffle-run-pool setup of classic trout streams. While nymphs take their fair share of trout anytime on the Chattooga in the spring, the great underwater fly-fishing is sustained right now with even better dry-fly fishing. Water temperature is a few degrees higher than historically normal flows, but it’s kicking off strong hatches of tan Caddisflies, brown Stoneflies and Hendricksons. We’ve seen a few giant Hexagenia mayflies fluttering around, but your best bet with dries remains the patterns noted above in sizes 14 and 16. Drop a nymph a couple feet under the dry and get ready for action! One of the best choices is a natural-colored Copper John, size 16-18, which does a great job simulating both the Hendrickson and tan Caddisfly nymphs. Fish the tandem rig through riffles and keep an eye out for the flash of a trout taking the nymph, Catches here include browns, rainbows and brookies, with true 20-inch-plus trophies possible on any given cast.

Wild-trout waters across the southern Appalachian Mountains ... Don’t miss the early opportunities to get into the back-country of the tri-state region and get your share of great fly-fishing for wild browns, ‘bows and brookies! Seasonal streams are all open again in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina and, along with the annual streams, prove to be some of the best fly-fishing trips offered by Reel Angling Adventures. Few fishing trips are as pleasing to a fly-fisherman than those that take you poking around these small to medium-sized tributaries that plunge steeply through gorge areas that are accessible only on foot. Some of the best action comes on dry flies of many patterns because the wild browns, rainbows and brookies are opportunistic feeders. These streams are relatively infertile; therefore, many patterns take fish regularly in the pools, runs and riffles that lay among the shadows of tall hemlocks and thickets of rhododendrons. One of the best is one you can easily see yourself – the venerable Stimulator. Try it in a yellow pattern, but keep it scaled back to a size 12 or 14.

And if you're a bass fisherman, the bite for spotted bass at lakes Blue Ridge, Nottely and Chatuge is improving, as the spots move into staging areas just a couple weeks ahead of prime spawning period. Spots are taking crankbaits, soft-plastics, stand-up jigs and spinnerbaits in water from 4 to 12 feet deep. Smallmouths at Lake Blue Ridge already appear to have backed off the primary spawning areas, but the spots are replacing them daily here, as well as picking up steam on other nearby north Georgia mountain lakes. Pick an especially warm afternoon with cloud cover for the top action, but fish can be caught on any day in almost any condition when you're in the right place with the right lure. A couple catches of magnum bluegills on the crankbaits has me wondering if the spring spawn of these brute-sized bream is moving ahead of schedule. Could be. The water at the surface last week was 63 degrees. We’re exploring the bream beds next week, so watch for our next fishing report for an update on this great meat-fishing opportunity.

Good fishing!
Experience ... Expose ... Execute ... Engage

Real Fishing ... Reel Angling Adventures!

Fishing Report, 03-06-2012

RAA Fishing Report, 03-06-12

The DH section of the upper Toccoa River in the vicinity of Dial, GA, is running a little high, but deep-dredging with nymphs and streamers are taking fish daily. Rainfall easily affects this watershed with both volume and clarity changing dramatically behind springtime thunderstorms. Use caution when wading under high flows. There's a bunch of very slick granite slabs throughout the 1-mile DH stretch of the river. Rainbows and browns dominate the catches, but a brookie can surprise you at any time.

The Toccoa River tailwater at Blue Ridge Dam, which suffered the abuse of the TVA in September 2010, is clearly producing better fishing, with several 20-inch-plus trout reportedly taken over the winter months. Numbers of trout caught on the tailwater are also improving along the length of the riverway, so it looks like the heavy stockings made by the GDNR over the last several months are helping to restore the action the Toccoa tailwater has long been known for. To support the community's call for special fishing regulations on the Toccoa tailwater, please see the regulations proposal (dated Sept. 8, 2010) and the reports of the follow-up public meetings on the matter by visiting the website of the Toccoa River Watershed Coalition at: http://toccoariverwatershedcoalition.org/Watershed_conservation.html#dec2meeting

The DH section of the Nantahala River, NC, is fishing as normal for March -- it's GREAT! If you've never fished this blue-ribbon winter/spring fishery, you owe it to yourself to enjoy a trip into the scenic Nantahala River gorge. Dry-fly fishing is busting out on the "pretty days" and those "pretty days" are going to get more frequent as the weather continues to warm through spring. This is your best nearby location for completing the Appalachian Slam -- catching brookies, browns and rainbows in the same day from the same water. And some of those fish caught can easily stretch beyond the 20-inch mark of a trophy trout.

The Hiwassee River tailwater at Reliance, TN, is fishing very well. The upper two miles, where drift boats are easily working the water under the flows of a single generator at the Appalachian Powerhouse, features long "flats" water that's punctuated underwater with large boulders, sharp ledges, deep troughs and woody debris that point your way toward catch rates of 20 to 40 trout a day. Streamers, nymphs and dry flies all have their place on this most beautiful of places to throw a fly line. The lower 5 miles of the usual 7-mile upper river fishing area is fishing well, too, with dry-fly action growing daily under the spring sunshine. However, the flow of one generator across this section makes the many riffles, boulder gardens and large shoals difficult to wade for anglers of all skill levels. Side channels are clearly a safer wade than the primary river channel, and where the river widens to more than 200 yards across, there are plenty of pools, runs and other areas in the braided water to cast a dry, nymph or streamern to the river's numerous browns and rainbows.

The DH section of the Chattooga River on the GA-SC border southeast of Clayton may be the prettiest trout water -- in one of the prettiest canyons -- of all across the southern Applachian Mountains. Three miles of the river, upstream from the Highway 28 bridge, are under the special regulations of delayed-harvest fishing through an environment that repeats the traditional riffle-run-pool setup of classic trout streams. The great underwater fly-fishing here of the cold months will be sustained with even better dry-flly fishing through the spring months thanks to the river's strong populations of aquatic flies. Some of the finest hatches of tan and olive Caddisflies; Baetis, BWO, Hendrickson and Sulphur Mayflies ; and giant Golden Stoneflies will emerge over the next three months. Catches here include browns, rainbows and brookies, with true 20-inch-plus trophies possible on any given cast.

And if you're a bass fisherman, I can attest that the bite for spotted bass and smallmouth bass is on the mark right now! Pre-spawn conditions are at their best on lakes Blue Ridge, Nottely and Chatuge, with the bass moving up to pre-spawn staging areas on the points and long primary banks where the bottom is best for spawning. Crankbaits, hair jigs and spinnerbaits are all responsible for a share of the great bite taking place in 8 to 15 feet of water. I imagine fly-rod anglers could have a good time, too, with both smallmouths and spots that are feeding aggressively ahead of the spawn.Pick an especially warm afternoon with cloud cover for the top action, but fish can be caught on any day in almost any condition when you're in the right place with the right lure.

Experience ... Exposure ... Execution ... Engagement ... That's real fishing with Reel Angling Adventures. Hook 'em!

One Fish. A Pattern? No, but ...

After three hours of ripping hard jerkbaits in 15 feet off spawning banks, I laughed off a bit of frustration last Thursday when I landed a small spotted bass. With just one bite, the deep-billed plug I pulled in historical pattern -- mid-day, mid-depth, windy points, chunky bottom, no breaklines -- along my usual pre-spring haunts on Lake Blue Ridge had failed me.

Three hours. One bite. Pattern-less. So I thought.

Forty-five minutes later, six bass -- three spots, two smallmouths and a largemouth -- lay in the dark of the livewell water. Despite appeared failure, I stayed true to my tactical pattern. History proved it: same lure, mid-depths. But a different time: warm afternoon; and a different place: calm water and a hard, broken bottom.

Fish with your eyes open.

Experience ... Exposure ... Execution ... Engagement ... That's real fishing with Reel Angling Adventures. Hook 'em!