FOOTHILLS TU
A Message from our Chapter President
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Over the past years Georgia Foothills TU has made a huge impact in our local community supporting programs and organizations that align with our Trout Unlimited values and principals. Some examples are Smithgall Woods Education Outreach Program, Casting for Recovery, Trout in the Classroom, Project Healing Waters, 4H Youth Kayak Fishing, Trout Camp, and others. We have been very fortunate to have been able to continue our support during this pandemic even though we have had our main fund raiser the Hoot on the Hooch canceled twice because of it. If we wish to continue to support these programs and organizations into the future, we must start planning for it now. The direction things are going now makes it reasonable to think that we should be able to host the ‘Hoot in March of 2022.
Putting on the ‘Hoot is a big job typically accomplished by a handful of club members. It also provides us our funding for the year. We need to decide if we want to host it again or find a new source for obtaining our funding. This is a decision that needs to be reached by the membership.
After last month’s forced postponement due to the gas situation. We will hold June’s meeting on Thursday the 10th at Fish Camp in Smithgall Woods. It is still of great importance that you come and share your thoughts and ideas on how best to move Georgia Foothills TU forward as we transition beyond Covid. In the years prior to the pandemic, club participation had been declining. Now, after being shutdown for a year we need to get things going again. This is OUR club, and it needs to move forward with everyone together. The only way that can happen is with YOUR Input. The CDC and the State have relaxed the social distancing rules for outdoor meetings. We will continue to take a common sense approach to avoiding spreading the virus. I look forward to seeing everyone again.
Bruce
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JUNE
10 Foothills Meeting- Smithgall Woods 6-6:30 social time 7-8 Program
JULY
8 Foothills Meeting- United Community Bank 6-6:30 social time 7 Program 8 10 Lovinggood Creek: Lead- Oconee River. Supports: UGA 5Rivers, Gold Rush, Foothills 17 Wilkes Branch: Lead- Upper Chattahoochee. Supports- Rabun, Savannah River, Middle Georgia
AUGUST
12 Foothills Meeting- United Community Bank 6-6:30 social time 7-8 Program
14 Pretty Branch or Cooper’s Creek: Tailwater with Boy Scouts
21 John’s Creek- Floyd County: Lead- Blue Ridge Mountain. Supports- Coosa Valley and Chattahoochee-Nantahala
SEPTEMBER
9 Foothills Meeting- United Community Bank 6-6:30 social time 7-8 Program 25 Outdoor Adventure Day at Unicoi
OCTOBER
14 Foothills Meeting- United Community Bank 6-6:30 social time 7-8 Program
NOVEMBER
11 Foothills Meeting- United Community Bank 6-6:30 social time 7-8 Program
DECEMBER
9 Foothills Meeting- United Community Bank 6-6:30 social time 7-8 Program
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PROPOSED 2021 CONSERVATION EVENTS
Georgia Trout Unlimited
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July 10th - Lovinggood Creek: Lead- Oconee River. Supports: UGA 5Rivers, Gold Rush, Foothills
July 17th - Wilkes Branch: Lead- Upper Chattahoochee. Supports- Rabun, Savannah River, Middle Georgia
August 14th - Pretty Branch or Cooper’s Creek: Tailwater with Boy Scouts
August 21st - John’s Creek- Floyd County: Lead- Blue Ridge Mountain. Supports- Coosa Valley and Chattahoochee-Nantahala
September 25th - Outdoor Adventure Day: Georgia DNR
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CRAYFISH CREEK
Upper Chattahoochee Conservation Project
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The Upper Chattahoochee Chapter of Trout Unlimited has an incredible conservation project going on Crayfish Creek a few miles downstream along the Chattahoochee River from Buford Dam just below SR 20. This project is gaining a lot of attention on the local, state and national stages.
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UGA 5 RIVERS
Donation Wishlist
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The Georgia Council of TU recently forwarded on a request from the UGA 5 Rivers club. If you have any extra equipment laying around that you wish you could get it to someone who can use it, check out this letter.
Good morning Kathy,
First off, thank you again for inviting us to participate in the GA TU council meeting the other weekend. We were delighted to share what is going on within the club and to learn more about what else is going on around the state. We are extremely fortunate to have such a strong community that supports our efforts here in Athens, and we could not accomplish our goals without the help of those around us.
I have spoken with our executive team to craft a “wishlist” of sorts for the 5 Rivers club. I realize this list is extensive, but donations of ANY size will be helpful and very much appreciated.
- 10 fly rod outfits (rod, reel, line). Preferably 4 or 5 wt setups
- Extra leaders and tippet (3x-6x)
- Fly selections for both trout and warmwater fisheries
- Boot-foot waders. Neoprene or breathable material. Boot sizes 6-12
- Cash/Check donations that we can use to buy gear and take advantage of the fund-matching program that the council has generously offered
Our goal is to create a 5 Rivers Gear Library in which members can rent out club gear for personal trips and return it to our storage locker once they return. This gear will also be utilized for club outings such as our biannual trip to Brevard, NC and frequent outings to the Chattooga and Nantahala Rivers.
Please feel free to forward this list to anyone who you think might be willing to contribute or pass along their contact information and I will reach out personally. Again, we cannot thank you enough for your support of UGA 5 Rivers, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best,
UGA 5 Rivers
Elijah Dwoskin
B.S. Ecology
University of Georgia '22
404-323-5335
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PROJECT HEALING WATERS
Oakwood VA Clinic
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The Project Healing Waters group usually meets the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month at the Oakwood VA Clinic (4175 Tanners Creek Drive, Flowery Branch, GA) at 9:30 AM. Right now, with COVID, everything is halted.
This program could not be offered to our Veterans without the support of the Foothills TU Chapter, the Gold Rush TU Chapter and Unicoi Outfitters. They have really began to grow in numbers and programs because of all of the hard work by the volunteers who are TU members.
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AMAZON SMILE
Charity Designation
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Did you know that you can make on-line purchases and designating our TU as a charity to receive a donation from Amazon as part of the purchase?
To access amazon for the charitable donation you need to go to this link. Your purchase will generate a donation to Foothills TU. Go to the attached link and then save it to your favorites bar and each time you access it and purchase the donation goes automatically goes to us.
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ANGLER MANAGEMENT
Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Intel Blog
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We got this message from our good friend Dredger (aka Jeff) who now takes all the good spots on the streams during the week, but its for good reasons so you get get the most up to date fishing reports.
During my spring trout stream treks I’m running across a lot of metro TU’ers. Right now, In fact, I’m at a windy Smith DH conversing with three longtime UCCTUers. Like me, many of your older members prefer to stay out of the social media frays and are not personally active on sites like Facebook and Instagram.
Feel free to make them aware of the winter resurrection of our fly shop’s blog, “Angler Management.”
It has the same timely angling intel as our social media sites. All of it is entertaining and much of it might help your members, especially new flyfishers, to catch a few more fish.
Why? We live, work, retire, and fish up here in north Georgia. From Jimmy to Jake to Wes and Hunter Pittman( our young buck “grown” by Rodney Tumlin and Mack Martin), fishing is in our blood. And now it’s online, too, for non-Facebookers. Enjoy our UO goodies from bear triplets to Friday fishing reports to the hot flies during my Dark30 trips on both weekend evenings.
Give it a look and a try. We want you returning home to the flatlands happy, and coming back up here soon. On what stream? Well, I don’t believe I said! But you’d better be carrying stimmies, caddis, and cahills as the sun sets!!!
Sincerely,
Dredger
(Charter Rabunite)
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GEORGIA DNR
Fishing Information
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Are you new to town? New to fishing? A terrible fisher?
Fear not, help is available thanks to the Georgia DNR.
Below are a few links to get you started on your way to becoming a professional fisherman or fisherwoman.
Reservoirs:
Trout:
Follow GA DNR:
You can also check out NGTO for Dredgers Weekly Fishing Report"
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NC DELAYED HARVEST
Stocking Dates
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The DH season is now over in NC, but some of those places still fish well into summer like the Nantahala, so don't give up on them yet. There are some really good hatches up there.
Due to the fluid situation caused by COVID-19, some Public Mountain Trout Waters may not receive normal stockings this spring. The full stocking schedule for the season has been temporarily removed. However, please check this page regularly to find locations of stocked waters by week.
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FISHING REPORT
Summer's Here
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Although not officially summer, here in Georgia our summers show up before the official first day. Prior to Memorial Day, things were fairly cool for around here, but no, no no. Summer had to show up. I had high hopes for some additional cooler months of trouting, but here we are and it is only going to get hotter.
Stream temperatures are okay, for now, but that won't last. Keep an eye on it as once it hits the mid 60s, it becomes quite dangerous for most trout unless you plan on making them dinner. The DNR is still stocking streams, but play your cards carefully as all the city dwellers still have that outdoor lifestyle bug and the mountains remain packed. The tailwaters and higher elevation wild streams will continue to produce throughout the summer.
For the tailwaters, I honestly catch fish all day long, but they are a bit shy as the sun gets up. They are great places to float and load up on fish, so get your pontoon, kayak, drift boat or other suitable craft. Get there early as those parking lots get packed with all the sun seekers. I've done well nymphing with more subtle natural nymphs in the 14 to 18 size, but dry action can be had early mornings or late evenings. The rivers are gin clear, so 6x is about as heavy as you want to go. Remember to check those release schedules.
For the mountain streams, mornings are always best as the streams have had all night to cool off versus the evenings when the streams still can be warm. Your north side of the mountain streams will stay cooler as they are in the shady side of the hills. Great dry fly action can be had with Elk Hair Caddis or Stimulators. Sometimes you really need to match the hatch and other times the bigger and bushier the better. Many times you don't need to see them rising to get them to come up. Just keep changing until you get hit.
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FLY OF THE MONTH
Rainbow Yummy
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This fly came to me somewhere in the social media world and it peaked my interest. After a small amount of internet searching, I was able to find the origin of the fly and a shop that sold that necessary materials. Most of the stuff I had, but they carried a couple of critical items. The reason this particular fly was of great interest to me because I was actually on my way up to NY to fish some streams known to have smallmouth bass that ran up from Lake Erie and it is also home to very good eastern steelhead runs with a good amount of wild reproduction thus the need to mimic rainbow smolt. Man this fly proved to be a winner for those smallies. Fortunately, I never broke it off so it landed well over 20 smallies and I attribute a lot of that to the design with the articulation that kept the smallmouth from jumping and spitting the hook. That being said, I really believe this fish can see good use here in Georgia just mimicking baitfish or even places of wild trout. Soon, I'll be adapting this fly to mimic small trout (browns and rainbows) and also bumping up the size to mimic those average sized trout that those big nasty browns in the Hooch feed on. Check this thing out, it takes a bit to get the steps down, but it is not all that difficult to tie.
For tying instructions, check out:
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- Shank: 60 degree Micro Jig Shank
- Hook: Owner Mosquito Hook Size #2
- Bead: Motted Tactical Slotted Tungsten Bead 3/16" in Olive
- Thread: White
- Tail: Olive Marabou
- Body: Olive Simi Seal, White Simi Seal, Senyos Laser Dub Light Olive
- Side Stripe: Pink Goose Biot
- Eyes: Hologram Eyes
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GEORGIA FOOTHILLS CHAPTER WEBSITE AND FACEBOOK |
If you haven't looked at the website lately, check it out. It is up to date and packed full of new information. Check us out. It's where we post all of our information and updates about chapter meetings, projects, fishing outings and any other items pertaining to Foothills.
Also, for even more up to date information, check out our Facebook page. Our Facebook page editor, Ted Jones, does an excellent job at adding new information almost every day. Be sure to "Like" it and share with your friends.
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For all information regarding Trout Unlimited in Georgia, check out the Georgia Council website at: http://georgiatu.org/
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Thank you for your interest in the Georgia Foothill Chapter of Trout Unlimited. We are always looking for new members from the area to join us, so please tell a friend and have them join us at our next meeting. |
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