The Magnificent Chattooga River

Chattooga National Wild & Scenic River

I spent a recent day fishing the Chattooga River with a friend. We chose a fairly remote section that required modest hikes in and out and a couple of miles of trekking through the riverbed.

Occasionally, I need to pause to ponder what a blessing it is to have the Chattooga National Wild & Scenic River so close to home. The Chattooga rises high on Whiteside Mountain in Western North Carolina and runs nearly its entire course through forested public land on the Nantahala, Chattahoochee, and Sumter national forests. Wild and Scenic River designation protects the river corridor from development or road encroachment.

I’ve spent dozens of day — maybe more than 100 — fishing, hiking and rafting along the Chattooga. I’ve camped by the river, explored wild and unforgiving areas like Rock Gorge and the Canyon of the Five Falls, but most days have been spent fishing for trout and/or Bartrams bass.

Part of the appeal of the Chattooga from an angling perspective is the diversity of opportunities. 

The far upper section is pure wild trout waters, with wild native brook trout if you go far enough up.

The sections around Burrells Ford is heavily stocked. Below the bridge is a long section that contains a mix of helicopter stocked rainbows, wild rainbows and brown and “semi-wild” brown that are helicopter stocked as subadults during late fall and grow up in the river like wild fish. 

The three miles above the Highway 28 bridge are managed with delayed harvest regulations. Below 28, some trout get stocked in a couple of areas, but Bartrams bass are more prevalent.

The Chattooga also offers tremendous variety in its character, although changes are throughout the river as opposed to differing by major section. From high in the mountains to the lower reaches, where the Chattooga is large for an Appalachian mountain river, it continuously shifts from broad, shallow runs to long, deep pools to crashing rapids, a few of which are better described as waterfalls.

The common denominator is that the river is stunning, with a backcountry feel and water that stays clear even after most rains. It also has a backcountry feel nearly throughout, and several areas are only accessible via significant walking or skilled paddling.

The Chattooga also has an extraordinary network of tributaries that include some of my favorite places in Georgia, but that’s probably another story for another time!

Waist Deep in Service

While bouncing around on the web this morning, I found myself on the Calendar page for our local Trout Unlimited Chapter (GA Foothills, Chapter 629). Looking down the page, which lists scheduled events for the entire calendar year, I was struck by the fact that this group is truly about service. The calendar is crowded with doing and giving: regular volunteer time at the nearest fish hatchery, sponsorship and volunteer time for various youth events, stream cleanups, habitat enhancement workdays, Healing Waters events, teaching at local schools... The list goes on an on.

Actually, except for monthly meetings and a couple of fundraising banquets (which are designed to raise support for all those service projects on the calendar), everything on the list is some sort of a service opportunity for chapter members and friends they are able to gather. And in truth, not everything gets listed. When the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division needs extra hands stocking trout or some other project, they might just pass along word to someone in the chapter and a mention at a meeting or note on the website will bring out volunteers.

Too many organizations and chapters of organizations, even organizations founded with service as the main objective, seem more about talking than doing (and about gaining recognition for whatever projects they volunteer for or sponsor).  GA Foothills TU seems the opposite to me.

Don't get me wrong. This crew has a common passion for streams and trout and fishing for trout, and the social aspect is of chapter involvement is super valuable. They also get together pretty frequently to fish, as they should, and like any group of anglers, they enjoy trading fish stories. When I attended a meeting not long ago, though, I noticed that the fish stories fairly quickly took backseat to discussion about upcoming events that needed volunteers and opportunities to back worthwhile causes.

Like many organizations, Trout Unlimited accomplishes a tremendous amount of good with big projects on a national level. Even more important, though, in my opinion, is the hands-on work that only can be accomplished locally by an active chapter with good priorities, and that definitely seems to describe GA Foothills.

Something About a Hook

If you target trout in a place where the fish sometimes gain some measure of maturity, I'm guessing you can relate. There's just something about a hooked jaw that makes a trout more of a trophy, and the more accentuated the hook, the more special a fish becomes. In fact, while extremes certainly can change things, I'd say that a noteworthy hook and striking colors tend to trump size in making a particular fish memorable. You might mention a fish's size first, but you continue to refer back to and think about a trout's crazy maw and brilliant colors.

I suppose it's a lot like a banded duck, which is no more difficult to call and shoot than one that isn't adorned with leg jewelry. Those distinguishing features just tend to make certain fish and game animals extra special.

I caught a bunch of big trout fly fishing the Refuge section of Boone Fork in the NC High Country region last week, but the brown pictured above was certainly among my favorites, and I don't think I need to state the reason why!

Kenneth Flies

I've mentioned Kenneth Bugs a few times in past blogs. They are hair jigs tied from the fur of our black dog Kenneth.

 

I tied the first ones as a novelty, amused by the idea if catching fish from something made from my dog's shed fur (easily amused, I know). However, it didn't take long to figure out that there was something about Kenneth's fur that made it work well in the water. Kenneth Bugs outperformed similar jigs tied from black crafthair, bucktail or marabou. I tie and use them now not for novelty but simply because they produce fish.

 

Next week's trout outing is a fly fishing trip, though, so I decided I'd better tie some Kenneth Flies to try. Same basic design. (I won't say pattern because I tie every one a little differently.) Just tied on streamer hooks instead  of jigheads.

 

First two are pictured. I hope to tie several before the end of the weekend. If I end up having opportunity to use them, I'll try to remember to report back how they do!

First Fly Trout

Asher got his first taste of flyfishing today and definitely liked the taste. He and I took a half-day instructional trip on the Nacoochee Bend section of the Chattahoochee River, learning from Jake Darling, assistant manager of Unicoi Outfitters and a Unicoi guide.

Jake began with some one-on-one instruction with Asher, showing him the casting and line-management techniques he would need for the way we would be fishing, teaching him how to hook and fight a fish, and then walking him through rigging with a strike indicator, two flies and a couple of split shot. I listened quietly in the shadows, mostly hiding behind my camera, and learned at least as much as Asher.

Basics covered, Jake set me up beside a feeding trough and moved upstream with Asher, where he coached him through casts, mends and hooksets.


Asher and I each gave Jake plenty of work untangling knots or retying rigs that weren't worth trying to untangle, and we both got out-muscled or outsmarted (or both) by a big trout. That said, we also both managed to land a handful of Chattahoochee River rainbows and had a big time doing so. More importantly, I learned stuff that I incorporate into writing and got lots of photos, and Asher and I both learned plenty that we can apply during future trout outings.

Dooodle Bugs?

Having learned how well jigs tied from my dog's hair work for trout, bluegills and other kinds if fish, I really couldn't not eye Doodles, my mom's big golden doodle. Her long cream-colored hair would certainly look good in a jig, and if it turned out to appeal to fish, I could get years worth if material in a few minutes. Doodles is due a major haircut anyway, so my mom said I was welcome to bring home some hair. I believe I need to at least try some to see what kind of Doodle Bugs I can make!

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Arrived & Trout Ready

After 900 miles of driving from Pennsylvania, Lilleys' Landing Resort & Marina was welcoming, and I can't claim that I minded the 60-degree air that helped with the greeting. A beautiful resort on the banks of Lake Taneycomo, Lilleys is the host site of a writers event that I'll be part of this week. After a bit of settling, the crew took a short ride to Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery, at the base of Table Rock Dam, where we toured the hatchery and enjoyed barbecue.

It was cool seeing the starting place for the 700,000 or so trout that get stocked into Lake Taneycomo every year. The hatchery takes the trout from eggs all the way to 12-inch stockers, a process that takes about a year and a half, so we got to see the specialized inside tanks where they carefully control conditions and feed teeny weeny trout.

Tomorrow we fish, and I'm very ready. I have baits tied on three rods, ideally to spare tying in the morning when the air is cold, but we'll see how much water is flowing, what type of water our guide takes us to and what he thinks about my "starting line-up."

Now I should rest. Reports to follow!

Trout Toys

Punisher Lures float-and-fly hair jigs and feather jigs (flies)  mostly get used under floats for winter smallmouths, but I plan to introduce them to some trout (maybe today), drifting and swimming them with no float.
I'm eager to see both the craft hair jigs and the feather jigs in the current. I sort of think they'll look super good and that the trout are going to really like them. 
I'm not sure how much I'll end up fishing, but I'm at least going to go look at a couple of rivers and take some photos, and I'll most likely do some fishing while I'm at it. And I may end up doing more tomorrow. Plans are forming as I go. If I do fish and find them, I'll post a report.

Expecting a Rockin' River

The good news is the Nantahala shouldn't be crowded be too crowded today, which is rare this early in the delayed harvest season. The bad news is that the river could be pretty well blown out. It looks like a lot of rain fell overnight (and continues falling) in western North Carolina, which is going to create a serious surge in the steep-sided river.

A certain amount of surging is a good thing.  Elevated flows and a bit of stain cause the fish to become less cautious and to go into ambush mode, generally from predictable places. Too much, though, and they all find rocks to hide under and hold tight, and it becomes difficult to wade and to make decent lure presentations.

I'm fairly certain we'll use bigger, bolder baits than originally anticipated, and that the smallest ultralight rods with the 4-pound-test on them will be untouched.

We leave to cross the mountains soon, so we'll find out in a couple of hours!

Peacocks, Angels & Hand-Tied Jigs

When my 19 year-old daughter Sarah sees peacock feathers, she sees pretty skirts for cornhusk angels. To my 7-year-old daughter Autumn the same feathers represent pieces needed for cute little dolls. To me, peacock feathers a represent jig or fly material. The iridescent green and purple strands make wonderful tail material, and also work really nicely for wrapped bodies. I use them in both smallmouth jigs and trout jigs.

Normally the peacock complements other materials, adding a little flash to a black or gray hair jig or a deeper green to an olive marabou jig. The jig above is actually all peacock.

It also works nicely for me because I get all the materials I need from Sarah's remnants. She needs the full end of the feather with the prettiest colors, and she always end up with pieces that have several strands still on them She would throw those away, so I gladly move them to my tying area. Autumn's use falls in between. She likes the full pretty feathers, but she just likes making things, so she makes her dolls, enjoys them for a while and then takes them apart and give the feathers back to Sarah!

All this peacock talk makes me want to go trout fishing.

Deadwood Finale

Wes Remmer and I our finished our week of fishing out of Deadwood right where we began it, within the high walls of Whitewood Canyon, just outside Historic Deadwood. The day, which began right in Deadwood on the same creek, was quite a grand finale. The brown trout were aggressive and served up fast action. Nothing bigger than 13 or 14 inches, but all feisty and pretty colored. The first fish I hooked this morning was actually a good one. I'd guess 16 inches -- and thick. It came off, though.

The browns seemed to like a bit of flash. Our most productive lures by far were spoons, especially Johnson Sprites. The best presentation was swinging the spoon downstream in slow runs and letting them wobble in the current and casting into defined eddies just out of the current.

The fishing in the Deadwood area amazes me. In four days, I fished three different streams and two lakes, each different in character, and caught fish in each situation. Our small group caught 13 fish species that I can think of and several pretty noteworthy individual fish. Amazingly, with so much good fishing and such variety, I never even got to a couple of the places that really intrigued me: Spearfish Canyon and some of the pretty little mountain lakes that are best accessed by float tube.

Good reason to return!

Go Early & Then Go Home

Memorial Day weekend, Saturday, final few days of the Delayed Harvest release season and beautiful weather all suggested that the Nantahala River was going be a popular destination. With that in mind we left the house dark and early and arrived at the river just a little after first light.

Good thing.

Only a couple of pull-ins had cars in them when we arrived, but each time we moved to a new spot we passed a few more parked cars and fishermen nearby in the river. The plan was to start with the obvious spots and then spend some time in a gorge section, which is more work to fish through and gets far less fishing pressure than most spots. Seemingly others had the same idea, though, because we had a pair of anglers trailing us through the gorge and we came to another pair ahead of us. At that point we climbed out of the gorge and went looking for other available pull-outs down river.

We did find space in a few other places, and we caught a few more trout. The bite slowed as the morning progressed, though, and I think the main reason for that was that wherever we stopped to fish someone else had just left. By 1:00 enough folks were dotting the river that we decided it was time to put on dry shoes and head back over the mountain.

I'm glad we went, but I'm even more glad that we went early!

Deadwood: Thawed

Because I get the opportunity to travel to a lot of cool places, folks often ask me about favorite trips and destinations. As an all-species fisherman and a fan of rivers and lakes alike, I find a unique draw in many different places, and I honestly don't think I could pick a favorite. Still, a trip I find myself telling folks about quite frequently is one I took to Deadwood, South Dakota a few winters ago. We fished through the ice on several small lakes, all mountain shrouded, and caught about 10 kinds of fish. Between days on the water, we hung out in the Old West town of Deadwood.

I've been dreaming about  a Deadwood return ever since, and in a week and a half those dreams become reality. Except this time, instead of walking out on the lakes with ice rods in hand, we'll be venturing out in float tubes with fly rods. We'll also spend some time wading Black Hills streams for trout. Apparently, Cabela's has some cool new gear that we'll get to put to the test!

I'm eager to see the landscapes thawed and the town of Deadwood hopping and to cast to trout and other kinds of fish instead of fishing vertically. I wonder what kind of flies the fish will favor and what species I might get to add to this year's tally!

Fishing Before the Storm

A forecast for heavy thunderstorms threatened today's final leg of our Arkansas adventure, but the storms stayed back long enough that we were able to manage a short Spring River float and a bit of wade-fishing.

Even a short day on the Spring is always worthwhile because the river is beautiful and serves up great
mixed-bag fishing action. We caught a bunch of fish of several kinds during our short outing. Smallmouth bass and rainbow trout were the main attraction, but we also caught a couple of nice brown trout.

Our week in Arkansas yielded an abundance of great and varied fishing. I think I ended up catching seven species of fish, three of which were new additions to this year's list.
Homeward bound now!  Next stop for me is Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin.

Rainbow & Falling Waters

We'd mostly stopped at the pull-off to get a better view of Cullasaja Falls, which crashes dramatically just to the side of U.S. Highway 64 in western North Carolina but well down in a gorge.  Then we noticed the path that obviously led to the base of the falls. It wasn't truly a trail, and parts looked more like drops than slopes. Still, we were curious what it looked like at the base of the falls and whether any trout lived down there and we were ready for some exploration.

Turned out the vantage from the bottom more than justified the steep hike in and even the climb out and that at least one trout does indeed live in one of the first deep runs below the waterfall. Based on its small size and brilliant markings, I'm fairly certain the fish I caught was a wild rainbow. We were fishing in Hatchery Supported waters, but many of North Carolina's stocked streams also support some wild fish, and the mot likely places to catch them are well away from where hatchery trucks can venture.

After exploring the base of the falls a while and climbing back out of the hole, we started up the gorge, by truck, pulled into pretty much any vacant pullout and looked to see if the river looked worth visiting at that point Usually it did. A couple of times we parked nearly at river level beside a flat section of the Cullasaja. More often, we were well above the river and had to descend a steep pig path. We only caught a handful of trout (all rainbows), but exploring the Cullasaja would have been big fun even without a fishing rod.

We capped the day of fishing with a couple of short waterfall hikes. One was to Dry Falls, also on the Cullasaja, which pours over a big overhang that a trail cuts beneath. Seeing a waterfall from the inside is pretty cool. The other was to Glen Falls, a tall series of falls on a small stream in the upper watershed of the West Fork of the Chattooga River. That creek contains native brook trout, from my understanding, but you couldn't have fished in the section we saw. Inches of water racing over steep
granite.

Smaller Nanofil Spooled & Ready

"Do you think it's the rod, reel or line?" Nathaniel asked me about my casts, which were consistently traveling a seriously long distance. We were fishing jerkbaits across broad bars, where longer casts simply met more time with the bait in the zone, and my casts were consistently traveling farther than his (which isn't normal when we are rigged similarly."

"Maybe rod and then line," I suggested. I wasn't sure though, because our rods were similar in length in action and both well balanced, so between casts, we traded.

We again cast toward the same bank and his cast traveled a good 20 feet farther than mine. "It's the line!" we stated simultaneously and with equal certainty. He was struck by how effortlessly my line flew of the reel. I felt his line grabbing when I cast.

Nathaniel's line wasn't stiff or old. It was a soft, light copolymer that handles well and is actually quite castable. I was fishing with Berkley Nanofil, though, and we were both amazed by just how well it cast. I've been fishing with 8-pound Nanofil on a couple of rods for a while now, and have really been happy with its performance. However, that was the first time I had a direct comparison with another rod rigged the same -- other than the line type -- and I'm absolutely sold.

Castability is the no. 1 selling point of Nanofil, a relatively new "uni-filament" that was designed for spinning reels and offers tremendously small diameter, relative to break strength.

So far, I've only fished 8-pound test and have only used a highly visible white version, which definitely requires a leader for trout or other clear-water fish. I just spooled a couple of my trout reels with 4- and 6-pound low-vis green Nanofil and am eager to put those reels and that line to work! Looks like that opportunity might come tomorrow, so I'd better get some fish stories finished and some other trout junk gathered!

Favorite Fishing Days

When I consider some of my favorite fishing days from the year that's about to depart, they seem to have something in common. I just can't pinpoint what that something is.

A couple of days that come quickly to mind occurred on a pond near hom. One was on Eli's 5th birthday, when he went to work catching birthday bluegills while sporting the colors of Cheetos and Powerade on his face. Another was with my 7-year-old daughter Autumn, when she not only helped with the fish-catching duties, but she did a fine job taking pictures of a surprisingly big bass I caught on a little lure.

Another pond outing of note was with Nathaniel, my 15-year-old son, but on a different pond. The fishing was crazy good that day, and we caught bluegills, bass and crappie. I don't recall the tally, but I believe we concluded that it was as many fish as he and I had ever caught together in a day, and it all occurred in only a couple of hours.

A few other favorite days took place on streams. Two were with Asher, my 9-year-old, both on the same stream. One yielded his first trout, a pretty brook trout. The other, which was a dark an oddly warm afternoon only a couple of weeks ago, resulted in his first brown trout. Two of my other favorite trout outings were with Nathaniel at the Nantahala River in North Carolina. One was in May and one was in November, but both involved him systematically targeting extra big trout and succeeding in finding what he was seeking

Ponds, streams, bluegills, bass, brook trout, brown trout, warm weather, cool weather... I just can't quite put a finger on what all those favorites fishing days in common.

Asher's Fish; My Fish

Asher and I each caught a photo fish today. We didn't actually weigh either fish, so we can't say for sure which was bigger. Anybody have a guess? I will admit that his was a lot prettier with its orange belly.

Asher's fish, a male brook trout, was actually really cool because it was the first trout he'd ever caught. We had a fun couple of hours wading in the creek.

Flies or Jigs?

The next few days' plans, though not fishing related, will have me close enough to good trout waters that I'm fairly confident I'll get drawn to the creek at some point. Less certain than whether I'll end up fishing is whether tote the fly rod or the ultralight to the creek.

I've already proven little Watsit Grubs and Road Runners effective in the same waters this fall. That could be an argument for sticking with what works, or it could be a reason to try to catch them another way. I guess I lean slightly toward the flies because of a specific photo need I could get knocked out if I drifted bugs and was successful.

Of course, I might end up doing some fly-fishing and some spin fishing! However it turns out, I'll try to remember to post a report.

One-and-Done Trout Runs

The trout acted funny today. They bit readily in many different pockets and pools, but in virtually every case, once my friend or I caught a fish from a run, the trout in that spot were done and acted totally disinterested in eating. And it didn't seem to matter if it was a little pocket that looked like it should only hold one fish or a big deep pool with a dozen or more fish holding together.

It also didn't seem to be a matter of catching fish that reacted or spooking them on the first cast or two. On several occasions one of us had hits on a few consecutive casts to a spot before finally hooking and catching a fish, and then once again, they would be done. Fortunately, the stream we fished is an endless-seeming progression of good runs, so we still caught at least 30 trout today. It was fun and productive day of fishing. The trout just acted kind of funny.