The Trout Capital of Georgia

From its highland origins to beyond its breach of the powerhouse gates at Blue Ridge Dam, the Toccoa River forms the spine of any trout fisherman’s trek in Fannin County, the “Trout Capital of Georgia.” Every branch, creek and stream in its watershed—and the river, itself—is quality-labeled as “trout water” by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. That’s not to say you’ll find trout everywhere groundwater flows in Fannin County.

But you can fish for trout as close as the city limits of Blue Ridge, the county seat located just 100 miles north of Atlanta and 80 miles east of Chattanooga. Less than three miles from downtown, the Toccoa River spills cold water year-round from Lake Blue Ridge. Tammen Park flanks the river’s west side in the shadow of the powerhouse that harnesses the reservoir’s discharge for power on the federal grid. 

Trout are stocked weekly at the site, where bank fishermen soak baits like crickets, red worms, salmon eggs and Berkley’s PowerBait. Fly-fishermen and anglers with spinning tackle wade this first quarter-mile of the tailwater, armed with seasonal fly selections and lure patterns that resemble small baitfish. Others launch drift boats to reach miles more of trout water where it flows through farmland and alongside stunning private homes.

Fifteen miles downstream, the Toccoa River enters Horseshoe Bend Park at the town of McCayesville, which shares the state border with Copperhill, Tennessee. Trout are stocked here, too, on a weekly basis through June. The recreational park setting is perfect for a family outing. Benches, pavilions and a playground shadow rocky shoals and long pools where bait, fly, and spin-tackle anglers find good action in the catch-and-keep setting.

Above Lake Blue Ridge, the Toccoa flows for more than 20 miles from its origin, where Canada and Mauldin creeks converge near the border of Fannin and Union counties. Along its way, the river flows through a patchwork of national forestland where fishermen access the river on foot, by canoe and kayak, at roadside pullouts and recreation sites. Rainbow trout, a fish of the shoals and riffles, are the primary species of trout in the Toccoa, but wild brown trout occupy some of the deeper and darker waters of the river where hemlocks and rhododendrons drape shadows over the water.  

Perhaps more anglers fish for trout on the upper Toccoa at two sites: Deep Hole National Recreation Area, off Highway 60, and at the Sandy Bottoms Canoe Access Site. Both are maintained by the National Forest Service. Deep Hole features campsites and easy river access to a stocking site where hundreds of trout are seasonally released every other week through June.  At Sandy Bottoms, for about a mile’s length, the Toccoa is stocked monthly and managed under “delayed harvest” fishing regulations. From Nov. 1 through May 15, all trout anglers are restricted to using single-hook artificial lures and flies, and all trout must be immediately released unharmed. After May 15, fishing on the riverway reverts to catch-and-keep fishing under all legal methods and regulations associated with trout fishing in Georgia.  

For many anglers, the tributaries to the Toccoa River play the most important part of trout fishing in Fannin County. Big Creek, Noontootla Creek, Coopers Creek, Rock Creek and Fightingtown Creek are the largest of these small streams that hold stocked trout, wild trout or both stocked and wild trout. Public access to these streams is scattered across the Chattahoochee National Forest, where graveled roads often run alongside the streams.

In other cases, fly-fishermen often hike short distances to reach areas where lighter fishing pressure promises a more “remote” fishing experience on these streams and their tributaries. Catches include wild rainbow, brown and the colorful indigenous brook trout. Although they’re not large, the “brookies” hold a special attraction for anglers. Many individual populations of brook trout were wiped out during the widespread logging era of the late 1800s through the mid-1920s. While timbermen knocked down the extensive hardwood forests of the southern Appalachian Mountains, debris and silt choked the streams and the loss of the forest canopy allowed water temperatures to rise. All trout suffer when water temperatures reach more than 70 degrees. Brook trout seek the coldest waters for comfort, food and survival. Years later, as the forest regenerated around many of these streams, fisheries managers replaced the lost brook trout populations with the more hardy rainbow and brown trout. Today, wild brook trout are found only in streams where barrier waterfalls prevent rainbow and brown trout in lower elevation streams from reaching the remote headwaters where they were never introduced.

For more information about trout fishing in Fannin County, see the Reel Angling Adventures website at reelanglingadventures.com, or call the outfitter at 706.838.5259. The Fannin County trout stocking schedule and fishing regulations are available online at georgiawildlife.org or in the 2016 Georgia Sportfishing Regulations booklet.