Headed to Haiwassee this weekend

[GridWizard]

My daughters and I are headed to Haiwassee to stay the the resort there. I plan to fish the river right outside the back door. But I will be there for four days. Anyone know the area well enough to suggest other rivers to fish?

[Robert1]

Gridwizard:

I don't know the area, but Upper Hi Fly Outfitters in Hiawassee had a good shop, and, like most shops, seemed willing to share their knowledge. You might look them up on the internet and give them a call.

Good luck this weekend. Half the fish we caught in January were from a deep bend hole towards the back of the Hiawassee Trout Lodge property. It's probably 50 yards down from where they are building a new cabin at the back and its the deepest hole on the Lodge's property. You can't miss it. My best success on that hole was from wading across and casting from a small sand/mud bar. My buddy managed to wedge himself under the tree on the near side of the river and actually had better success.

There's also a medium deepness run shortly before the river gets shallow and fast to run under the highway. It has one or two small trees hanging over the far side of the bank and yielded several fish. As I recall, this run is roughly in front of the first cabin on the property (not the office). The whole river looks great, but those were the best two places for us.

I hope you catch one as big as the picture on the web site.:)

Robert

[GridWizard]

Thanks for the great tips Robert

[Jimmy Harris]

GW,

A short drive back over the mountain can put you on the Chattahoochee in Helen or Smith Creek just outside of town. Both should fish well. I would recommend Dukes Creek but at last check they didn't have any slots open until about two weeks from now. You may call them Saturday morning to see if anyone no-shows. Their number is 706-878-3087. All the higher mountain streams are closed this time of year but the ones that are open are really good. A little longer drive northeast will put you on the Tallulah River; also a good choice and a beautiful, easily accessable stream. Finally, about 45 minutes west of you is the Toccoa River tailwater. Good caddis and winter stone hatches coming off right now. Fished it today and had a blast. 90% of the fish were caught on dry flies.

[GridWizard]

Jimmy, good information. I have never fished Smith's so I might give that a try.

Thanks much.

Mike

[GridWizard]

Just an update. We did make it to the HRL. I fished there from about 7:30 am to around 12:00 pm on Saturday morning, at which time I had to take the daughters on a horseback riding adventure. I caught only a few fish that morning. Two were on olive WB and two were on salmon egg flies. The fish on the WB were very good size, one 16" and one 19". Both Bows. They were both very healthy and fought well. The two I caught on the egg pattern were both smaller.

The next morning it was raining and windy, but I fished anyway. I only caught one medium size bow by stripping a WB across the riffles.

Quite honestly, the trip was a bit of a dissappointment, as there are many very large trout in that section of river. But I just could not get a lot of them to take my offerings. Maybe they are fed too well?

On the way home, I stopped a Smith's creek, hoping to try my luck there. I had never been there before, but had heard good things about it. Well, it was still rainy and the kids objected to being left in the car while I fished. So, I only walked the stream a bit. I was surprised at how small in width it is. I only saw one other FF there. I guess the weather scared most of the crowd away.

Anyway, the next time around, I will probably go to Fightentown creek or maybe just rent a cabin on the Toccoa and do another float there. I don't think I will go back to HRL.

Mike