Mountaintown Trout: Hot, New Fly-Fishing Venue for Trophy Trout in Georgia

By Bob Borgwat

Mountain trout streams in the Southeast are special places for fly-fishermen who like to challenge their skills with the long rod.

Twisting and tumbling through the backcountry of the southern Appalachian Mountains of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, these small cold-water streams first test an angler's physical ability to reach the stream before they put their practical knowledge to work for knowing where the trout are holding. Next, mountain stream fly-fishermen confront their technical skills while pursuing trout among the plunge pools, shallow riffles, pocket water and undercut banks that typify a mountain trout stream.

Mountaintown Creek is one such gem, but you won’t have to put on your hiking gear to get there. The private-access trophy-managed trout waters of Mountaintown Creek flow for 2 miles through a scenic valley just minutes outside Ellijay, Georgia (1 ½ hours north of Atlanta). Privately operated by Mountaintown Trout LLC, this historic spring-creek trout fishery is managed for holding rainbow trout of all sizes, but it's the trophy trout -- individual fish that measure 20 inches or more -- that are the "reel" stars of the stream. Reel Angling Adventures is proud to be the authorized outfitter for providing guided catch-and-release fly-fishing services on what is sure to be a favorite destination for fly-fishermen from all over the Southeast US … and beyond!

Mountaintown Creek tumbles off the south slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains, collecting a strong volume of clear, cold water from small tributaries and numerous springs that percolate from the North Georgia highlands. In fact, it’s the influence of the deep mountain springs that keeps Mountaintown Creek cold, supporting a healthy trout fishery through even the warmest summer months. 

In its upper reaches, Mountaintown Creek offers anglers the challenge of fly-fishing in a true mountain setting: Rhododendrons choke its undercut banks. Hemlocks shade its steep flanks. Wild turkeys and white-tailed deer roam the adjacent woodlands. And

the rainbow trout … well, the trout are shimmering beauties that take dry flies, nymphs and streamers when you get the edge on the technical presentations required for drifting your bugs through the plunge pools, shallow riffles, pocket water and undercut banks.

Midway through the stream’s downstream trek, Mountaintown Creek grows a bit more forgiving, but only in places. Along the way, pastureland and meadows ease access and open the banks for casting into deep pools, but many of the hottest feeding lanes remain hidden from view by thick  bankside bushes. Presentations here require strong skills in roll-casting and mending, especially when tossing dry-flies to the many twists and turns

amid the small boulders and laydowns that create ideal trout-holding water.

The lowest reach of Mountaintown Creek flows through a pastoral valley, dotted with cattle and shadowed by low, rolling ridges. Summertime is the right time for this stretch, when the best fly-fishing presentations are a variety of terrestrial patterns. But even here, the approach to Mountaintown Creek is technical in nature. You won’t find trees, bushes, not even boulders to help hide your profile. In fact, you might find yourself on your knees to avoid spooking the wary trout that lay beyond the banks

 flanked by tall pasture grassland.

Looking for a mountain trout stream that offers you a real fly-fisherman’s challenge year ‘round for landing a trout 20 inches long or longer? Look no farther. The waters of Mountaintown Creek, operated by Mountaintown Trout LLC and guided by Reel Angling Adventures, will test your fly-fishing skills and keep you coming back for more!

Mountaintown Trout: The hottest destination in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia for trophy-managed trout on one jewel of a mountain trout stream!

Reel Angling Adventures offers private access to the trophy-managed mountain stream trout fishery of Mountaintown Trout on Mountaintown Creek in Gilmer County, Georgia. Click here to learn more! Or call toll free: 866-899-5259

Improving Action Draws Anglers to Trophy-Trout Bite at Tooni Cove Farm

By Bob Borgwat

The trophy-trout fishery at Tooni Cove Farm is taking the expected springtime turn to improving action as the water warms with the season on the upper Toccoa River in Fannin County, Georgia.

Along the length of the Toccoa River, where it runs for a half-mile through Tooni Cove Farm, big rainbows showed their colors the past week as they grow bolder day by day. From The Swimming Hole through Hawg Alley to The Bend and upstream into Hemlock Shoal, rainbows from 15 to 20 inches are chasing down streamers, snatching dead-drifted nymphs, and rising to well-placed dry flies.

That’s the action found late last week by anglers Randy and Jack Anders of Alpharetta, Georgia. Randy, and his 12-year-old son Jack shared a warm spring day with guide Bob Borgwat of Reel Angling Adventures, drawing strikes both deep and on top during the father-and-son team’s half-day session on the upper Toccoa River.

“Water temperature was at 57 degrees last week,

mixing up the action between streamers, nymphs and dry flies for both Randy and Jack. And it was Jack – he’s only 12 years old -- who showed Dad how to bring the big fish to hand,” Bob says. “Jack

completed the day with much improved fly-fishing skills, landing a gorgeous 20-inch rainbow just minutes before we finished the day. He was making long casts across what we call ‘The Big Riffle” area of Tooni Cove, pulling the venerable Bwana Bugger through the riffle’s fast current to connect with what is only the second fish taken from The Big Riffle this spring. It was beautiful! It leaped high once, then used the current to push Jack into a patient, well-fought fight with what I think is the biggest trout the young angler has ever landed. As the river temperature rises over the next few weeks, there’s sure to be more of those 20-inch ‘bows moving in around the big rocks and tree trunks associated with the riffle’s feeding lane.”

The fly-fishing guides of Reel Angling Adventures enjoy exclusive access to more than 3,000 feet of the upper Toccoa River on Tooni Cove Farm. 

Rain threatened to wash out the fly-fishing trip late last week for  father-and-son anglers Randy and Jack Anders.

But when the heaviest rain missed the upper Toccoa River watershed, the duo joined guide Bob Borgwat of Reel Angling Adventures for a fine day of fly-fishing over the big rainbows of Tooni Cove Farm in Fannin County, Georgia.

Randy, left, was first to score with this fat rainbow taken deep on a dead-drift with a Bwana Bugger.

But it was Randy's son, Jack (right), who showed Dad what fishing on the private trout waters of Tooni Cove is all about. Jack's last fish of the day was his brilliant 20-inch rainbow that snatched a Bugger pulled across The Big Riffle.

Photos by Bob Borgwat
Copyright 2007
Toccoa Bend Images LLC

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

Slap It Up with the Slob Club -- 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, following the landing of that big fish by net or by hand.

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 them in size and number with dry-fly and dry-

Angler Bob Shearer is the first client-angler of 2008 to enter the Slob Club (minimum length of 20 inches). His 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, with trout chasing down both the usual and unusual Bugger patterns.

 Photo by Bob Borgwat
Copyright 2007 Toccoa Bend Images LLC

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 setting in which the trout do not become the “pets” some anglers associate with a private fishery.

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.

dropper styled fly-fishing techniques.

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 trophy rainbows that have entered the great halls

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

Springtime Hatches Dry-Fly Patterns on the Hiwassee River at Reliance

By Bill Stranahan

Attention fly-fishermen who like throwing dry flies: The insect hatches on the Hiwassee River are growing stronger day by day, and the activity can only get better as the season goes on.

Indeed, springtime has sprung on the Hiwassee River at Reliance in southeast Tennessee, and, with its warm days, bug hatches – sometimes quite heavy -- are emerging on all sections of the river.

As the guides of Reel Angling Adventures have expected, the Hiwassee’s large populations of rainbow and brown trout are on the hunt for the hatches. In fact, fly-fishermen in and outside the driftboats of RAA are finding rising fish throughout the day on the Hiwassee. But not all of the trout are going for the adult duns. Many trout are still keying on the emerging insects caught in the river’s surface film as they head for the surface.

What type of insect an angler finds in early spring on any given day on the Hiwassee River depends on what portion of the river they’re fishing and the time of day. In April, the hatches are likely best patterned with Blue-Winged Olives, Caddisflies and Hendrickson’s. BWOs appear almost daily now in

the lower portions of the Hiwassee, while the Caddisfly and Hendrickson hatches have spread throughout the riverway --  from the Paddy boat access (6 miles downstream from the bridge at US Highway 411), all the way upstream to Smith Creek Powerhouse. (Reel Angling Adventures operates drift-boat trips along the entire length of the Hiwassee River, depending on power-generation flows.)  

And that’s good news for lots of shore-bound anglers, too! For more than 3 miles, North River Road runs alongside the river, giving great access to fly-fishermen on foot who don’t want to walk far to tap into the springtime surface action.

More adventurous wading anglers find still more on-foot access by hiking any portion of the 3-mile-long riverside trail, from between Big Bend and the L&N railroad bridge, Along its length, the trail traces the north shoreline of the river’s designated “quality trout fishing area.” Trail-access parking is located along TN Highway 30 at the Hiwassee River Picnic Area, and off Hiwassee River Road (FR 108) at Childers Creek and Big Bend. Not only does this stretch offer some great wade-fishing, but anglers who take the walk can easily place some distance between them and other anglers. 

The Hiwassee River’s large populations of rainbow and brown trout are on the hunt for springtime bug  hatches. But not all of the trout are going for the adult duns. Many trout are still keying on the emerging insects caught in the river’s surface film as they head for the surface.

 Photo by Bill Stranahan
 

Hiwassee River Springtime Fly Patterns

(All patterns, size 14 to 18)

• Light and Dark Hendrickson

• Rusty Spinner

• Hendrickson Emerger

• Quill Gordon

• Elk Hair Caddis (olive and tan)

• Caddis Sparkle Pupa

• Soft-Hackle Hare’s Ear

• Soft-Hackle Pheasant Tail

Reel Angling Adventures operates guided float trips and wading trips for rainbow and brown trout on the Hiwassee River at Reliance, TN, and on the Toccoa River at Blue Ridge, GA, seven days a week for fly-fishermen and spin-fishermen. In season on the Hiwassee, we take our shots at smallmouth bass and striped bass, too! Bring your favorite tackle, or let our guides share their selection of quality rods and reels -- fly fishing or spin-fishing -- with you.

Click here to learn more! Or call toll free: 866-899-5259

Fast Action on Spring Menu for Dry-Flyers on Delayed Harvest Waters

By Bob Borgwat

As spring days grow warm, the "delayed harvest" trout waters in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee will come alive with mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies. The result? Fly-rodders manic for dry-fly fishing!

From now through mid-May, bug activity only grows stronger as stream and river water temperatures begin a warming trend that typically takes hold by April 1 (see the RAA hatch chart). And the aquatic insects that spend their early lives in the Nantahala, Tuckaseegee, Chattooga and Toccoa rivers will have many fly-fishermen restocking their fly boxes with the many patterns that imitate them.

Blue-winged olives dominate the hatches in mid-March, but the bigger March Browns flutter around periodically until the hatch periods of these big mayflies grows strong in early April when water temperatures approach 50 degrees.

Water temperatures continue rising through April as spring storms run water levels up and into streamside grasses from time to time. Watch for the stoneflies to take advantage of the high water, climbing out on grass stalks, forest debris and rocks. Expect these early spring stoneflies to be small -- size 10 and 12 works nicely -- and black in body color. Try a black Caddis or black Stimulator to imitate the adult bug, but don't overlook sinking a black stonefly nymph in the riffles.

Photos by Bob Borgwat.
Copyright 2007
Toccoa Bend Images LLC

Don't miss your opportunity this year to fly-fish the delayed-harvest trout streams of Georgia and North Carolina.
Click here -- or call toll free: 866-899-5259 -- to book your trip on the Nantahala, Tuckaseegee, Toccoa or Chattooga rivers.