Sweet Georgia Brown

This broad-shouldered Brown Trout fell for a Mickey Finn

For the past five years I've been asked to teach 200 of the best & brightest Florida and Georgia cadets at the Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Leadership Academy in Gainesville, Georgia.
I love teaching, working and mentoring some of the best kids you'd ever want to meet.
But...... Gainesville is only a stone's throw away from the mountains and streams of North Georgia so I usually carve out an afternoon to wet a line, wet my feet and hopefully catch a trout or two along the way.


I


 have fished a few different creeks and rivers over the years, and I try to explore some new water with each adventure. My target waterways this time were Dick's Creek and the Chattahoochee River.

The back eddy behind this rock in the center held a number of rainbows and browns

Whenever you fish new waters and have only a few hours to wet a line, you can't help but feeling a bit anxious.  Is this dead water, has it been fished out, am I wasting my time in this stretch of water? Fortunately I didn't have to wait too long for my answer.  After beginning with a dry-dropper rig which drew no attention, I switched over to the old reliable Golden Retriever and soon found success. In that one hole above, I landed half a dozen trout using the retriever, Mickey Finn, San Juan Worm, a couple of soft hackle wet flies from my dad's old fly box.  He gave me this box probably 20 years ago and I never used -- I seldom used wet flies and I really didn't think these would work.  They did, and it gave me pause to reflect about my dad, always a bright moment.

Add caption

Although likely he came courtesy of GA Fish & Game, a trout is a trout


A bumble bee wet fly from dad's box



The ever effective Golden Retriever fooled this Brown Trout

Rainbows were also willing partners in this same hole.

After working this one spot for a while, I ventured further downstream and found a fishy-looking run that looked promising.  I spotted a few trout in the lower far corner of the run and switched up to a parachute adams -- with no success. As the water was no much more than a foot deep, I opted for a small Mickey Finn in lieu of the Golden Retriever. Right call.

This run provided non-stop action for about an hour.  Swinging streamers and wets down and across drew strikes and acrobatic rainbows to the sky. I don't find honey holes like this very often, so I treasured the time spent here. I landed upwards of a dozen rainbows in rapid succession.

Wanting to explore more waters, I ventured to the Chattahoochee, which is actually one of Georgia's longest rivers. In the headwaters of the Wildlife Management Area, the stream averaged about 50 feet wide with water depths of 2-5 feet.  Lots of water looked promising.  I began with swinging streamers and landed a couple browns and rainbows in the first couple of holes. 

While working a deep edge along the far bank, my Orvis 602 Superfine suddenly doubled over and line began to peel. After a few minutes, a nice 13" Brown came to hand.   

I capped off the fishing with an absolutely incredible meal with equally incredible Southern hospitality at the Riverbend Tavern and Grill in Cleveland, GA.  Give it a visit if you're ever nearby.

Until next time, tight lines.