Are you ready to Go TROUT Fish Georgia? Beautiful weather and fantastic scenery await you in the northern part of the state, and beginning in November, trout fishing on Georgia’s delayed harvest trout streams will be in full swing, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD).
While trout fishing can be found year-round in Georgia, there are five trout streams that are seasonally managed under special regulations called Delayed Harvest (DH) to increase angler success. These streams have catch-and-release regulations from November 1-May 14 and are stocked monthly by WRD and other partner agencies like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and South Carolina DNR. This combination of stocking and catch/release allows for good trout catch rates and high angler satisfaction.
This year, four delayed harvest streams will be stocked with trout. These streams include:
• Toccoa River located on U.S. Forest Service land upstream of Lake Blue Ridge in Fannin County (from 0.4 miles above Shallowford Bridge to 450 feet above the Sandy Bottom Canoe Ac- cess).
• Amicalola Creek on the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area (from Steele Bridge Road downstream to Georgia Hwy. 53).
- Smith Creek downstream of Unicoi Lake (Unicoi State Park).
- A portion of the Chattooga River (from Ga. Hwy. 28 upstream to the mouth of Reed Creek)on U.S. Forest Service land bordering South Carolina.Georgia Trout Stocking Coordinator John Lee Thomson commented, “In an effort to provide ex- cellent opportunities at the other DH sections, and due to current low trout inventories, anglers should note that stocking the delayed harvest section of the Chattahoochee River below the Mor- gan Falls dam will not be able to take place this year.”Between November 1 – May 14, anglers on all traditional delayed harvest streams are restricted to single hook, artificial lures. Beginning May 15, the general regulations to designated trout wa- ters then apply to those streams.
3