Secrets to the Chattooga DH!!!

[TroutTackler]

From The Dredger:

Subject: Chattooga DH for Newbies
Newbies don't know what they're missing! Maybe this primer will help Chattooga DH newbies to give it a try. We did some "research" before the storm in the backcountry and DH sections to ground truth this report. Trouttackler (a.k.a. David Cannon) assisted on day 1. We landed two handfuls of rainbows, a few browns, and one fat 15-inch brookie. Thanks mainly to SCDNR's Walhalla Hatchery for trout-rearing expertise thru droughts and floods! http://www.unicoiliarsclub.com/
Directions: Take 441 N to Clayton. At the red light at Wendy's/Dairy Queen, hang a right. You'll be on Rickman St, with Wendy's now on the R and Burger King on your L. Take Rickman a half-mile to its end and turn R on Warwoman Rd. Take Warwoman for 20 minutes til it crosses West Fork Chattooga and ends at Hiway 28. R on 28 south and head toward Walhalla. Go two miles, cross the Chattooga North Fork, and turn L into the USFS parking lot. Don't leave expensive, extra gear exposed in your vehicle. Leave most of it at home.
Don your gear, walk past the gate, and go up the closed USFS road 500 yards north (upstream) to the end of the wildlife openings. Take the SC trail along the river, or ford it and then go up the GA bank.
Parking 2: Healthy folks can go back into GA 500 yards, park on S side of 28, and hike in the gated USFS road for 25 minutes. It leads to the river about 1.5 miles into the 2.3 mile DH section. Don't park on GA side right at bridge and hike up; it's beaver ponds and briars.
Gear: Gotta-haves include a buddy, a wading staff and wader belt, waterproof camera (!), rain jacket, and 1-2 flashlights that work. THE RIVER comes out of NC high country, so I now wear fleece under my waders. Carry a 9 ft 5 weight or something close, and your usual fly assortment, especially the wet ones. Bring shot and strike indicators and use at least 9 ft of leader. Newbies oughta fish the heads of pools and runs less than 4 ft deep for best success. Most anglers fail to get down to the fish in the deep pools.
Forgot stuff? Try Reeves Hardware in Clayton.
Technique; Right now the fish are very naïve and hungry. Many methods will work before the trout smarten up in a few weeks and the water temp also slows them down (48 F today). Guys today caught em deaddrifting Y2K'S and small natural stuff. One was swinging a yellow sally in a shallow pool. I caught em on a double bugger rig cast down and across, then stripped back upstream in water less than 5 ft deep.
My size 8 golden retriever was flashy and particularly enticing. In a few weeks, it will take deaddrifted egg flies, princes, and tiny pheasant tails to fool them. Springtime dries are great, but that's another story...
Flows: Always check the USFS Hiway 76 river gauge before coming. All folks can wade at 2.0 or less. Most can handle up to 2.2. Crazy Rabunites will wade to ankles at 2.5 and cast to bank eddies. The river has a big watershed and takes several days to recover after a storm in one or more of the 3 states.
Camps: USFS primitive camps on Low Water Bridge Road (turn right 1.5 miles farther into SC on 28), and on Overflow Road, which follows West Fork upstream at the Warwoman Rd Bridge. Better camping accommodations at Oconee (SC) State Park and USFS Cherry Hill Campground. For cabins, try Black Rock Mountain State Park.
Music: Rabunites believe bluegrass played on Warwoman Rd and in parking lot aids their catch rates....
Conclusion: Maybe this will help more newbies. Folks who enjoy success will "adopt" their favorite waters and will work to conserve them. Good anglers will also take their catching skill and "pass it on" to the newbies who will follow them. Catching leads to conservation, and that benefits all. For more info, check out:
www.gofishgeorgia.com (trout fishing) or www.rabuntu.com (join and get adopted; don't miss the January Rabun Rendezvous) or David Cannon's new book
Good luck! Sincerely, The Dredger - Sore casting arm and wet Hooch waders...

[crash0473]

Hey, Thanks. Just what I needed. Hope to make it up there soon.

[neilm]

Not much going on till late in the day — about 4pm — caught some beautiful brookies on a Y2K.

[goose1]

Thanks for the infomation. I hope to be there next week.

[Windknot]

Dang, Neil! I hate having to explain my moaning during work to non-outdoor folks!

That's one gorgeous brookie.

[Counslrman]

Dredger,
About how much weight were you using. We were using three # 7 split shot with spinners on the weekend of Oct 23-24 . My daughter's boyfriend has not fished much , so we opted for spinfishing on his behalf that weekend. We caught one rainbow at the confluence of the West Fork and North Fork and 5 others at the West Fork where we were camped. The water flow was swift and the level was up.
Normally the water in this photo would be knee to mid thigh deep:

Attachment 5074

We had to use that much weight to get the spinners down and prevent them from skipping across the surface on retrieve.

Tight Lines!
Jimmy

[trout-tiger]

Good info! I've been fishing "the river" a good bit lately, and the high water really isn't as bad as what everyone says as far as fishing goes. Definitely watch your step while wading, but the fish are still very cooperative!

I'll try to post a Fall summary here sometime soon. I'm trying to get a new website put together since my blog has not been updated much recently, so hopefully you guys can check that out.

[kbrunson]

My father and I got up there the first weekend of the DH. We caught nothing but leaves. Anyone know if the leaves are still heavy in the water?

[trout-tiger]

I fished the upper river last Sunday and had no problems.

[bobframe]

Originally Posted by kbrunson

My father and I got up there the first weekend of the DH. We caught nothing but leaves. Anyone know if the leaves are still heavy in the water?

Don't believe the river had been stocked yet. We were up there a couple days before the DH started and it was DEE-EE-AYE-DEE.

Leaves are not a factor as of this afternoon. We found fishing spotty- water level's still pretty high. Must be careful wading-there's a world of difference in 400CFS and 1100 CFS!