Slob Club 2008: Relive Your Trophy Trout Catch in Photos

By Chad Bryson

No matter how many different places I go to fish or how many different species of fish I pursue, almost nothing quite matches the feelings surrounding a huge rainbow trout coming to hand in early spring. It’s “physical” first -- the sight and feel of the take and hook-set, followed by a surging run, a sparkling leap, and the repeated stripping of the fly line. It’s “visual” second -- the colors and grace of a trophy ‘bow, 4 pounds, maybe more, burned into my mind permanently, admiring its grace upon its release to swim another day.

The Toccoa River at Tooni Cove Farm offers the potential to burn those same memories into the mind of every angler who visits this uniquely challenging trophy water.

Springtime at Tooni Cove Farm produces the first major insect hatches of the year on the upper Toccoa River in southeast Fannin County, Georgia. Early on, caddisflies easily outnumber the mayflies that first appear as March Browns and Blue-Winged Olives. Collectively, those wonderful bugs of springtime give anglers great opportunities to take Tooni Cove 'bows in size and numbers with dry-fly and dry-dropper-styled fly-fishing techniques.

Angler Bob Shearer is the first client-angler of 2008 to enter the Slob Club (minimum length of 20 inches). Bob's trophy rainbow, caught in mid-March at Tooni Cove Farm on the upper Toccoa River, was taken deep on a custom-tied stonefly at a location known as The Big Hole.

Early spring at Tooni Cove Farm on the upper Toccoa River has the trophy rainbows growing active with rising water levels and warming temperatures. Dry-fly action is getting better with every passing cold front, while streamer fishing is picking up strong, as trout increasingly chase down both the usual Bugger patterns and the more unusual streamers tied by the guides of Reel Angling Adventures.

Click Here for More! The 2008 Slob Club

 Photo by Bob Borgwat/Copyright 2007 TBI LLC

trophy rainbows that have entered the great halls of the Slob Club, and you’ll understand what I mean!

The trout of Tooni Cove Farm are well-managed, moderately pressured and carefully handled. The fishery staff -- from landowners Joe and Debbie Lawrence to the guide team of Reel Angling Adventures -- is in its fifth year of operating the venue, having learned the management techniques important to both the fish and the water -- taking care to maintain a natural environment in which the trout do not become the “pets” some anglers associate with a private fishery.

Indeed, it takes a skilled and patient angler to coax a slob trout from its home in the Toccoa River at Tooni Cove Farm. However, novice anglers improve their skill levels rapidly upon catching our average-sized 15-inch trout consistently through out the day.

The first trout to enter the Slob Club in 2008 was caught and released in mid-March by visiting angler Bob Shearer, estimated to weigh close to 7 pounds, measuring at 25 inches long. Trophy trout entered into the Slob Club of Reel Angling Adventures must measure more than 20 inches long.

Still, its not really the bugs hatching that makes Tooni Cove Farm such a desirable fishing venue in the spring. It’s the giant slob rainbow trout, displaying their spawning colors like they were in a drag show on Duval Street! Have a look at the

Reel Angling Adventures offers exclusive access to the trophy-trout fishery of Tooni Cove Farm on the upper Toccoa River in Fannin County, Georgia. Click here to learn more! Or call toll free: 866-899-5259