Surveying Speckle Waters

Walking beside a North Georgia creek, fairly high in the mountains and on Forest Service land, I was reminded yesterday of how much I enjoy crawling up little creeks and pitching or shooting micro jigs into pockets and pools for wild browns, rainbows and especially brook trout. Specks, as our native fish are most often called, usually aren't big at all. However, their colors are spectacular, as are the streams they inhabit, and there's something super fun about creeping up a remote high-country creek and trying to put the sneak on totally wild, native fish.

My wife and I were hiking to a waterfall and enjoying the creek and the Appalachian forest, but the creek we hiked beside is speckle country, I'm pretty sure, and it's not terribly far from home. I even spotted trout holding in classic feeding lanes from the trail, way about the stream. I couldn't tell the kind from our high vantage, but I'm guessing brook rout.

The creek is pretty full right now, which is good for that type of destination, and I'm guessing it's cooler than normal for June because our spring progressed so slowly this year. Nathaniel and I might have to slip out there some day soon to try our hand at truly wild Georgia trout. If we do, I'll let you know how it turns out.