Don't Overlook Chattooga River Bass

When folks think about fishing the Chattooga National Wild & Scenic River, trout normally come to mind. That's reasonable. This river supports an excellent and diverse trout fishery, and trout are certainly the sport fish most associated with clear, cold mountain rivers. However, the lower portion of the Chattooga also offers fun fishing for Bartrams bass, a type of black bass that was only recently identified as a distinct species.

I've been wading the lower Chattooga for river bass from time to time for many years, and when I first started fishing for them, they were believed to be shoal bass that simply didn't grow as large as the ones in the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers. After that, they were separated from the shoal bass and re-classified as Coosa redeye bass. More recently, biologists have identified the redeyes in the upper Savannah watershed as Bartrams bass.

Whatever you want to call them, these are feisty river bass that are fairly plentiful from the lower end of the primary trout waters (around Highway 28) all the way to where the river backs into Lake Tugalo. There's no hotspot or even a prime section, from my experience. They are nicely distributed through the lower river, and different stretches will be good on different days. I pick my spot most days based on the section of river I want to see that day.

Because of Wild & Scenic River protection, most access to the Chattooga calls for a least a bit of walking. That's OK, though. The remoteness is a major part of the fun. Several hiking trails or boating access points on both the Georgia and South Carolina banks lead to places you can get in and wade. Because of rapids and remoteness, wading the lower Chattooga River calls for significant caution, and is best done with a fishing partner. Generally speaking, this fishing is best suited for fairly low flows.

I keep my river bass fishing very simple, wet wading in shorts and a tee-shirt and carrying a small backpack with a handful of lures, drinks, snacks and a few extra items, like pliers and sunscreen. Various lures will catch these bass, but my definite go-to is a Rebel Deep Teeny Wee-Crawfish, which matches common forage and can dig down in pools or grind along gravel bars.

Bartrams bass aren't big. A 12-incher is somewhat noteworthy. However, they are big in spirit and very fun to catch.