As a result, fly-fishermen during fall, winter and spring enjoy remarkable opportunities -- with dry flies, nymphs and streamers -- to catch brown trout, rainbow trout and brook trout. Better yet, the

fish they catch will survive well into springtime to be caught another day -- by them or other fly-fishermen whose skills range from novice to expert levels -- because during the DH season anglers are required to release all trout immediately and unharmed.

Ask anglers who have fished these rivers during the DH season. You'll hear many of them claim catch numbers that are usually quite good. Indeed, with good fly-fishing skills anglers can enjoy 50-fish days during peak season. Many catches include fish that stretch well beyond 20 inches long. During the 2006 fall season, RAA guide Bob Borgwat led one of his anglers to a hook-up with  what they estimated to be a 12-pound brown

 trout! Unfortunately, that monster fish was too much for a 3-weight fly rod and 6X tippet to handle.

 "Reel Angling Adventures holds permits to offer guided fishing trips on four of the most talked about  'delayed harvest' streams in the region," Bob says. "From fall, well into spring, we offer

guided fly-fishing on the Nantahala, Tuckaseegee, Toccoa and Chattooga rivers. There's really nothing like these streams, as far as fly-fishing goes. Fish numbers are high, fish quality is high, the streams offer every physical feature you'll find on Southern trout streams, and the venues stand out among the most beautiful areas in the southern Appalachian Mountains."

Fly-fishermen of all skill levels are treated to outstanding fishing action on the area's DH streams. Each of the venues offer challenging fishing conditions where an expert fly-rodder can hone his/her skills. Novice fly-fishermen are equally at home where the streams' more easily fished areas allow them to build their fly-fishing skills with confidence that they're next catch is only another cast away!

"Wintertime on each of these rivers is the most challenging time of year for fly-fishermen. Water temperatures are very cold," Bob points out, "bug activity is limited, and the fish are sluggish. But fly-fishermen can count on the guides of Reel Angling Adventures to teach you fly-fishing techniques and tactics you can carry forward through the winter to improve your success. You might even be surprised to find our guides helping you develop dry-fly fishing techniques in wintertime."

River temperatures begin rising in mid-March and remain on an upward trend come April. That's when dry-fly fishing takes off as several species of mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies hatch according to water temperatures.

"Take a look at the RAA hatch chart for the trout waters of the southern Appalachian mountains, and you'll see the bug species are many. It can be confusing," Bob says. "But our guides' long

The "delayed harvest" trout waters of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee offer great opportunities for fly-fishing on streams/rivers that feature all the characteristics of trout habitat common to the southern Appalachian Mountains.

During a late winter trip with guide Bob Borgwat of Reel Angling Adventures, fly-fisherman Frank Benson of Atlanta nailed this beautiful trophy brook trout while fishing the delayed-harvest section of the Nantahala River in western North Carolina.

experience in fishing the DH waters will help you understand which fly pattern is best presented during the time of your trip to the delayed-harvest rivers or any of our destinations."

Reel Angling Adventures closes its guided fly-fishing trips to the Tuckaseegee, Toccoa, Chattooga and Nantahala rivers upon the change of regulations, when anglers are allowed to keep their catch. At this time -- mid-May through October in Georgia and the first weekend of June through September in North Carolina -- trout anglers may use any legal method of fishing (including baits) to take home a limit of trout.

Drought aside, fly-fishing action on the Toccoa River tailwater near Blue Ridge, Georgia, is strong in the usual fashion for midwinter trout fishing. Both drift-boat anglers and wade-fishermen working with the guides of Reel Angling Adventures continue to find great hatches of blue-winged-olive mayflies when the weather moderates between cold fronts.

"It's been that way for several weeks," says RAA fishing guide Chad Bryson, "The fishing looks like it will center on the surface with BWOs taking the large share of fish for anglers who follow wintertime fishing patterns. A couple weeks ago we found that getting those fish to take a fake required a bag of tricks. Nothing's changed. It's all about 6X and 7X tippets and size 24 BWO emergers."

Wading anglers are finding similar fishing conditions at the public access points -- the dam site, Tammen Park in Blue Ridge, and Horseshoe Bend Park in McCayesville.

"Some really nice BWO hatches have popped on the flat and shoal water of the public access sites. We're taking fish on various nymph patterns before the bugs show up," Chad says, "but the takes under water get few and far between when the hatch heats up. The best dry-fly action takes place on the calm, warm days."

 Last weekend, the bug hatches were spaced out along the riverway -- heavy at times, but not a bug to be seen other times. BWOs were the usual bugs seen, but small black stoneflies fluttered around just enough to gather the guides' attention. A few tan caddis joined the bug flight, too, but both stonefly and caddisfly dries were ignored by the trout.

Wading anglers on the Toccoa can expect to

see some fine wintertime fly-fishing and spin-fishing. During the periods of moderating between the cold fronts, conditions were ideal for nymphing and hard-tackle anglers -- spinners, spoons, crankbaits -- at the Toccoa's public access sites, especially near Curtis Switch Road and atHorseshoe Bend Park.

"RAA's guides have great insights on the trout fishing all along the Toccoa River," says RAA's Bob Borgwat. "Anglers who join us on our float trips and our wading trips always seem to gain a bit of knowledge about the Toccoa trout fishery that they haven't discovered on their own."

Steve Kraker of West Olive, MI, dead-drifts a nymph across the ledges just above a shoal on the Toccoa River, where he was awarded with a nice brown trout.

Nymph anglers are taking good numbers of wintertime trout on the Toccoa, but there are periods during moderating weather when the dry-fly action heats up. During calm, warm afternoons, hatches of small blue-winged olive mayflies can look like hundreds of diamonds floating on the slower stretches of the riverway.

The lower Toccoa River stands out among Georgia trout streams, providing premium trout water for almost 18 miles between the towns of Blue Ridge and McCayesville.

Photos by Bob Borgwat.
Copyright 2007 Toccoa Bend Images LLC

Seasonal cold-water conditions persist across the trout waters of Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina, so it's no surprise that the big fish of Tooni Cove Farm on the Toccoa River prefer their baits presented deep and slow.

"That's exactly how our big 'bows at Tooni Cove want their baits right now. The water is cold," says RAA fishing guide Chad Bryson. "On our coldest days we've seen the water temperature at 36 degrees. Much of the river's banks have held up to 2 feet of ice, and the slowest water -- the eddies in deep water -- has held ice as much as 10 feet wide. When it's cold like that, the trout lie still. You need to drop a fly right on their nose to take 'em."

Chad says anglers also need to think B-I-G.

"We tried the usual in the cold water -- San Juan Worms, Y2Ks, that sort of thing -- but the best takes came on big stoneflies and big Wooly Bugers. I'm talking size 4," Chad reveals, "with features that offer a lot of 'life' to the fish flies -- Buggers with long tails and wide hackles; stoneflies with long rubber legs and lots of them."

Those big bugs also had to move S-L-O-W.

"Streamer anglers are used to stripping their flies through the water column. You can't do that in cold water and expect fish to chase 'em down," Chad explains. "In cold water, trout need to conserve their energy. They need to realize a net energy gain -- more energy consumed than energy expended to collect that energy, or food, in the way that a fly pattern represents an insect, forage fish or other prey."

Chad's slow, cold-water fly-fishing techniques had his fly patterns dragging bottom. The result was a dozen or more fat rainbows in a half-day's foray on the private-access water on the upper Toccoa River at Tooni Cove Farm.

"Don't think that it's all about using a lot of weight

 -- like extra-heavy flies or added split shot -- to keep the presentation deep. Read the water right," Chad says, "and you can use the currents to take your bug to where the fish are holding. I'd be happy to show -- and prove -- the technique to any angler who wants to join me on the Toccoa River at Tooni Cove Farm."

Chad's rainbows that day were what might be called "representative" fish -- the 3-pound 'bows that make up much of the Tooni Cove Farm fishery. Like other trophy-trout venues across North Georgia and western North Carolina, Tooni Cove lost many of its best trophy fish last summer in the regional fish kill that occurred when area river temperatures climbed above 80 degrees due to extreme drought conditions.

Still, landowner Joe Lawrence found some big holdover rainbows late last October that managed to survive the poor water conditions.

"I finally brought myself back then to walk the river to see what was left. After finding a lot of dead fish through summertime, I was surprised to find several big   fish -- I'm talking about rainbows upward of 9 pounds -- laying low in the deepest pools. And when we finally fished the river in late December, an old friend landed a really fine rainbow of 6 or 7 pounds on a stonefly."

The upper Toccoa River in Fannin and Union counties is one of the finest trout rivers in north Georgia. It holds good numbers of large browns and high numbers of rainbows thanks to the management efforts of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service at the Chattahoochee National Fish Hatchery on Rock Creek.

In 2006, the GDNR carried its "delayed harvest" (DH) program onto the upper Toccoa River. In an area known as "Sandy Bottoms," a

The biggest rainbows at Tooni Cove Farm on the Toccoa River were elusive last week, when Reel Angling Guide Chad Bryson fished its trophy-trout waters. But Chad had a blast catching a number of the farm's average 3-pound 'bows, which didn't hesitate to take his specialty stonefly pattern.

Reel Angling Adventures enjoys exclusive access to the private trophy-trout waters of Tooni Cove Farm on the upper Toccoa River in the north Georgia mountains. Deep pools, long feeding runs, gravel shoals and riffle water provide exciting year-round venues to cast streamers, nymphs and dry flies to trophy rainbows and browns.

1-mile long section of the Toccoa falls under special catch-and-release fishing regulations from November 1 through May 15.

Reel Angling Adventures enjoys exclusive access and operates guided fly-fishing seven days a week on the waters of Tooni Cove Farm. Bookings are available immediately for half-day adventures only on a half-mile of riverway devoted to fly-fishing under strict catch-and-release regulations. For more information, click here to visit our trophy-trout fishing page or call toll free to 866-899-5259.

For trip reservations and information, contact ...   

            Reel Angling Adventures   

PO Box 12   

Suches, GA 30572   

 Toll-Free Phone: 866-899-5259   

Email ... BBorgwat@ReelAnglingAdventures.com   

Reel Angling Adventures is a division of Toccoa Bend Images LLC