By James Bradley:
By James Bradley:The much anticipated Delayed Harvest (DH) season is here! Most of our DH waters are marginal at best as a named trout stream. This means that the trout will more than likely not survive during the warmer water of summer months. The cool thing about this is the win-win situation for fall/winter time anglers with catch and release fishing and those who want to harvest fish before the warmer water periods for late spring.
Georgia’s DH season begins November 1st, and continues through May 14th. The DH sections of these waters are marked with signage. During the DH season, anglers must release all trout immediately and use and possess only artificial lures with one single hook per lure. This means no natural bait, no scented bait and no treble hooks as used on many spinning lures.
Unfortunately, Georgia has only five waters listed in their DH program. They are Amicalola Creek, Chattahoochee River, Chattooga River, Smith Creek and the Toccoa River. These waters are stocked heavily with trout. Sometimes, it can be like catching fish from a barrel. States like North Carolina have over 30 streams listed in their DH program. I can only imagine what the fishing would be like with this number of streams in Georgia under the DH program.
Early in the DH season, these fish will be in pods after stocking has taken place. It is not unheard of to catch 10 even 20 fish from one large pod. These pods will slowly disappear as the fish move and spread out more. A week or two into the season and you can begin catching them in feeding lanes and other normal holding areas..
There is no denying that fresh stocked trout will devour about anything, especially bright, flashy colored flies. A simple setup to search the water with is a standard dry/nymph rig. This rig allows you to use the dry as a surface fly as well as an indicator. The nymph being subsurface is where trout feed about ninety percent of the time!
Dries can be Stimulators, Caddis, Mayflies and so on in sizes 10-14. Droppers (or nymphs) can be a Hares Ear, Pheasant Tail, Prince and so on in sizes 14-16. DH fish do not mind chasing streamers or Wooly Buggers in sizes 8-12 that are stripped across current, or giving a reaction strike to other items like San Juan Worms, Squirmy Worms or other junk flies like colored eggs or Y2Ks. Remember, these fish early in the season will just about strike at anything. As the season rolls on, it will not hurt to have some smaller patterns like Rainbow Warriors or Midges in sizes 18-22.
If you are a first timer wanting to learn to fly fish, hook up with a guide that has been schooled in the art of fly fishing. The best way to get time on the water and learn is from those of us who are professional full-time guides that teach the “art of fly fishing”. If you are new to the area and do not know where to go, give us a call for info over the phone. If big water is intimidating to you or if the Toccoa River DH section is too rough for you to wade, we float the upper Toccoa with drift boats and rafts. Lastly, if you want to go after a brown trout of a lifetime – Give Us a Call, We’ll Hook You Up!
Reel ‘Em In Guide Service is the only Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide in North Georgia’s Historic High-Country region. They have been offering their services to fly anglers since 2001. They have permits for guiding in North Georgia and North Carolina, offer over 7 miles of private trophy waters across Georgia, and operate float trips on the Toccoa River in GA and the Tuckasegee River in NC.