Toccoa River 4th Of July Weekend

Well, its been a long weekend on the Toccoa River. Floated the upper section along with a Tail-water float on Sunday. The upper river is still pretty cool considering how hot it has been and the lack of rainfall. But, water temps were still in the middle ranges of 60dgs. fishing on Saturday on the upper river was a complete washout. If anybody happened to drive out Aska Rd, Newport Rd or Dial Rd knows what I am talking about. But, you really can't expect solitude on a huge holiday weekend. I actually enjoy it somewhat. Sure it messes up the fishing, but it helps show others that there are other methods to fish for trout besides wading public access points. The upper section is producing just about all species of aquatic game fish. The past few trips I've floated down the upper we have caught Shoal Bass, Small Mouth Bass, Bream and Perch along with Trout. The lake draw-down has forced fish way upstream looking from cool water and space to roam. Funny thing is that the non-trout species fish are taking our trout flies both dry and nymphs. Streamers are also effective as one would expect on Bass Species. Its pot luck fishing when your strike indicator sinks and you set the hook only to speculate at what took the fly.
The tail-water was fishing well this past friday according to friend and fellow guide Brad Wayne. Trout were taking terrestrial patterns pretty readily which is awesome coming from a guy who makes a living on the Tail-water fishing small nymph and midge patterns. Floated Sunday from the Blue Ridge Dam down to Hogback ridge RR Trestle area. Like the past few trips I've had on the river, once the sun gets up high and the air temps rise, the fishing dies off until late in the evening.

I'm getting on the water as early as 6:30am in order to beat the heat and get as much time on the water as possible until it gets hot. So far it is working pretty well. Sundays float was not as productive as I would have liked, but we caught fish and pulled few large ones out to boot!

Contact me Jake Darling or John Cross in Helen (706-878-3083) for more info and possibly setting up a float trip. 1/2 day floats are quite a bargain at $275.00 for two rods. Anybody who has floated with me before knows that my 1/2 day trips generally turn into 3/4 day trips. My philosophy is this; If the fish are biting, were staying until they stop. If the fish aren't biting; were staying until they start.

Later

J Byrd

Toccoa is HOT!

Got to spend the weekend floating the Toccoa Tailwater trying not to melt in the process. This heat is really starting to take its toll on the will get out there. It's funny to think that I am sitting in a boat floating on 60 something degree water yet sweating like a hog. Saturday I got fish with a good friend and guest who I have had the pleasure to row down a river on several occasions. Great fisherman, very knowledgeable and just fun to be around. We shoved off early enough to enjoy the cool morning for as long as possible. The fishing started right off with Jason, Jim's son hooking a few trout within minutes of getting started. It took some patience and perseverance to dial in on what was going to be the "Fly of the Day" but with only a few trips into my flybox we were getting consistent strikes on a Caddis dry with midge dropper and a Parachute Sulpher and midge dropper with the majority of the strikes coming from the dropper. We did manage a few lively top-water strikes from those trout who were looking up. By lunch time I think we landed around two dozen fish, but once the sun was high in the sky and the air temps topped out, the fishing dropped off dramatically. Along with the rise in heat came a decrease in the will to fish! At some point all three of us had gotten out of the boat to cool off in the river. The mornings are nice and the fishing is good during that period, but the afternoon heat sure takes its toll.

Lions and Tigers and Large Trout oh my!

Thar be'oth big'uns in dat dar river!

Floated the tailwater today and looky what ate our fly.

Memorial Day!

Floated the upper Toccoa today with friends and frequent guest Jim and his wife Mrs. Jean. Knowing it was a holiday weekend we decided to try to stay away from the popular spots and focus on the path less traveled. That worked for while, but eventually the fellow river lovers were floating by us having fun enjoying the river same as we were.

The fishing wasn't on fire, but we caught fish here and there. Weather was great, the company was great and we caught a few fish to boot! I can't complain about any of that.

Chattahoochee Headwaters

Due to a slight miss-cue on the guide list for trips on Friday morning, I was left with nothing else to do except……….go fishing. So in the true spirit of an avid angler, I went fishing! In case folks haven’t noticed, there is a little bit a H20 flowing out of the upper hooch watershed. The Bend is looking as good as one can get with the water levels being where they are right now. Won’t hear ANYBODY complaining about that even if it has made wading a bit more…..what’s the word I’m looking for……..sporty!

No Guts; No Glory!

So, for the 22,578^th time I made the turn off of ALT75 onto Popular Stump Rd and made the 2.8mi drive into the WMA. I made my way past all the eye candy water up to the Check in Station to find a parking lot totally empty. Donned the gear and headed up the trail. I actually dropped in right behind the Check-in-Station just to see if anything was hanging around that low. And sure enough after a few drifts I had brightly colored trout tugging on my line. I didn’t get to fish as hard as I usually do and skipped around a lot, but hooked a couple dozen trout and landed about 2/3rds of them. Had a nice fish absolutely explode on my strike indicator that really surprised me. There is a good number of fish up there. Not as easily fooled by the standard San Juan Worm and Egg Pattern rigs I started off with as I had figured, but with some tweaking I landed with a three nymph rig that caught fish pretty steadily until noon when I had to leave.

Lots of water, it has been a while since I’ve crossed in waist deep water up there. Hope it holds on through the summer!

Hello Folks,

It’s been a while since I have been able to post any new fishing stories. I’ve been fishing, but I have mainly focused my time and energy into my new family member.

But, recently (11/6) I floated the Toccoa DH on one of the coldest days I’ve fished this season. Fishing was sort of slow with the mid part of the day being the most productive. Meat –n- Tater flies still fooling fish.

The new stretch of Mountain Town Creek; Mountain Town Plantation is a special place. The quintessential North Georgia trout stream and it has all the fixings! Pocket water, fast riffle sections, deep slow pools, long shallow runs, you name it, Mountain Plantation has it. Look out NCF, MTP is beginning to change my opinion about where I go to get away. It’s absolutely packed with hungry trout and the opportunity to fish for them over a variety of common situations.

I’ve had a few trips on the Tuckasegee DH this fall since it opened, and it finally gave me a good trip last week. Jim C. and I floated it Friday October 27th after the rains that finally lifted the water level up to “Just Floatable”. Steadily caught fish all day hooking and fighting a 20”+ Brown that Jim winched to the boat once before making a power run that ended up in the trout’s favor. But, I know where he is!

All in all, it has been a good fall. Especially since the heat has subsided and we are finally able to wet our lines in water lower than 70dgs. Next trip will be the newly reborn Toccoa River to see how the fishing is.

Till Then,

J Byrd
-Life is short, fish as often as you can!

One brother’s admiration

I’m lucky to have the friends I am close to. They keep me humble and grounded.

I’m blessed to have the family I have.

They are always there and are constant reminders that I belong to something greater. My brother in particular is the best brother in the world as far as I am concerned. I am truly proud to be his brother. Since the day I was made an uncle by him and his wife, I couldn’t wait for this particular day to arrive, Guy Weekend. It was time to introduce my nephew Joe (who is 4 years old) to the world of trout fishing. I know my father was hauling my brother and I around on fishing trips when we were Joe’s age and we both turned out just fine, so nothing wrong with getting Joe started early.

So with a truck load of groceries and fishing gear, we headed up to the cabin for a weekend of burger grilling, Chocolate Yahoo drinking and trout fishing fun.

There is no better job than being an uncle. And to think that in a couple of years I get to do it again with Joe’s younger brother Jack.

There is also no greater joy than watching the fire being lit in the next generation of trout fishermen.