The Happy Land of Brownies

A Perfect Day on the Chattahoochee River

Yesterday was one of those made-to-order conditions days for trout fishing. Chad and I headed out late, 2 PM, and planned to return around 7ish (which became 8:00) in the evening. The weather was uber pleasant, with temps hovering around 80, wind from the east about 5mph. From the put-in at Abbotts bridge we immediately saw trout chasing our lures, and had released 3 average rainbows within the first 1/4 mile of river. We floated down through the three quality shoals from Abbotts to Medlock Bridge and released about a dozen brown and rainbow trout. Lures included Little Cleos and Black/White Rooster Tails - with debarbed hooks. Flies included Olive Woolly Buggers, Hares Ear Nymphs, and Tan Elk Hair Caddis (#14).

Above is a shot of a juvenille brown, the textbook wild Chattahoochee trout. She had the sparse red spots that we so often see in this river. This is great to see so many of these in this size range becasue it further reinforces the theory being tested regarding wild brown trout reproduction in the tailwater here in metro Atlanta. They haven't stocked these fish in the upper river for 4-5 years, and small ones are still showing up again and again. The standard catchable size rainbows were present as well, pictured below is the SNIT (Standard Nine Inch Trout). It was good to see a few fish so late in the afternoon at the "Indian Triangle", an old Cherokee fish weir that still remains in place today. Its shape creates an almost perfect delta shoal in the river. This spot usually produces large numbers but we were the last boat down (probably #10 at least) the river on Monday, so we only got a few there.

Good times!