Where to go find trout when you live in Florida? I've got Georgia on my mind

It had been too long.  Far too long since the feel of cool, clear water rushing past my legs, the dead drift of a Parachute Adams slipping down a current seam, and the reward of a successful hook-set & bend of a fly rod signalling trout on.
Florida has its pluses -- terrific weather, incredible beaches, awesome golf, and the  #1 Navy JROTC unit in the nation, but what it does not have is trout -- rainbows, brookies, browns, or cutthroats.

So as I packed my bags to go and teach at the NJROTC Area 12 (Florida & Georgia) Leadership Academy in Gainesville, Georgia, I could not help but notice that Gainesville was within earshot of the Appalachian Mountains in the north reaches of the state.

I tossed my Orvis Superfine 1wt in the back of the truck, packed a small box of flies and held wishful hopes of having an opportunity to wet a line at some point during the week-long training.
Having never fished in Georgia, I sketched out a map of where I would go and explore.  As fate would have it, opportunity knocked.
You never know what to expect when you try out a new stretch of water, especially in an area of the country you've never set foot before.  That first cast is full of wishful thinking and anticipation.

Smith Creek did not disappoint.
First cast -- my purple Parachute Adams disappeared under a swirl, the rod bent with a feisty brown trout bringing more joy than it would ever know.
The first few pools and runs contained several aggressive, acrobatic trout and I knew this had the makings of an incredible morning on the water.

I added a Pheasant Tail nymph dropper and piked up a few trout with that as well.  I thought I would be hooking brookies, but brown trout and rainbows were causing the action.  I suspect I would have to trek into the headwaters at higher elevations to find some brookies, but on this day I wasn't complaining.



Another Smith Creek rainbow hookup.

I ventured further downstream and found runs, pools and rifles unlike the high gradient Virginia streams flowing down from the Shenandoah Mountains, but comparable to some of the smaller creeks I've fished in Idaho, namely Big Creek in May.  Very similar water characteristics.  

A nice hookup here.

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Smith Creek was really heating up, and the best pools I had been eyeing were about to receive my best effort.  Now before I go any further, let me explain something -- I was in the middle of nowhere. I hiked in to the stream, and found a dirt road that came in from nowhere and paralleled the creek for a short duration before dead ending. So imagine my surprise when this played out before me.

Although it was great to see more fish being deposited right before me, these trout are totally spooked when making the transition from hatchery to back of the truck to clear. cold stream.  The Fish & Game worker proceeded to drive up the dirt road, stop, fill his net and walk into the next three pools I had been planning to fish.  I ventured up there and there were lots of trout, but they were zipping up and down, back and forth the pools and clearly with no desire to take a fly presented right past their nose. Now 24 hours after they settled down -- oh my God that would have been fun to hit this creek.

I returned to my put in location and in the spirit of landing a fish on last cast, caught one more brown 

Here was the nicest trout of the day on Smith Creek.

I had a couple of other streams I wanted to check out since I was up in the mountains and might well not have an opportunity to fish again so I struck out for new water on my trusty map -- this time the destination was Dukes Creek. 

Dukes Creek, at least the section I observed, had more in common with the smaller Shenandoah streams with the exception that this stream was heavily overgrown with rhododendrons on both banks.  That said, first cast -- first trout -- wild rainbow!
I only fished for about 45 minuted, but I suspect this stream could produce like the Rapidan on its best days with 50-100 trout.  It's that good -- but incredibly tight quarters for casting. I would like to explore this stream more one day.



This next video provides a sense of how thick the cover was along the creek.

After again catching one last trout on the final cast, I broke down my rod and headed back to my truck.  I needed this trip, and am thankful I had the opportunity to check out north Georgia fly fishing. I had read about trout fishing in this region over the years and always wanted to give it a shot.  I'm glad I did... and hopefully this won't be the last time.

Tight lines !