Contact Steve Westmoreland with questions: stevewestmoreland1@gmail.com. Cell-770-403-0609

June 5th and 6th - GA Trout Camp: Atlanta Fly Fishing School

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

Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests is inviting stakeholders and partners to help establish a collaborative working group to guide the implementation of the Foothills Landscape project. This could include identifying priority areas for projects and best tools and approaches for achieving desired outcomes and monitoring progress. The member-driven working group may also develop new ways to adapt, support, streamline and scope future efforts.

We will be hosting a series of facilitated meetings and conversations to discuss: What is the value of a Working Group? What are the benefits and barriers to participating? What’s possible? Our goal is to find volunteers to participate in a series of facilitated virtual workshops over the spring/summer to co-develop the purpose and structure of the Foothills Working Group.

WEDNESDAY, April 14, 2021: What is the Value of a Foothills Working Group?

 Morning Session: 9-12am - REGISTER

  Evening Session: 6:30-8:30pm - REGISTER

WEDNESDAY, April 28, 2021: 6:30-8:30 pm - What is Possible with a Foothills Working Group? REGISTER

For more information visit our website or contact sm.fs.foothills@usda.gov or Ruth.Stokes@usda.gov or Judy.Toppins@usda.gov

All of the tickets have been sold for 2021! We hope to know the results of the drawing very s

Thank you for your support and good luck to those who did.

Proceeds Benefit Georgia TU Coldwater Conservation and Georgia Trout Camp.

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.

This is the kind of project we need to be proud of as fellow Georgia TU members and should be an inspiration of the good that we do and can do in other places. Check out this fantastic project at: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/38658907b7e1480e84deac6ccf52e559

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.

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.

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.

Fishing Report: https://georgiawildlife.wordpress.com/category/fishing/

Reservoirs:

Trout:

Follow GA DNR:

You can also check out NGTO for Dredgers Weekly Fishing Report"

What a odd month it has been for getting out to fish. We've had tremendous storms causing damage all over Georgia, pushing our rivers out of their banks and then we end with freezing temperatures just a few days ago. Water temperatures have maintained a rather lower temperatures and some of the species I typically target this time of year seem to be a bit delayed with a little on their typical spring time movements.

Speaking of fish moving, there certainly have been some fish moving around North Georgia in the form of fresh stockers. Now, stocker fishing is not for everyone and that is fine, but there are plenty of folk who enjoy dropping a few trout in a cast iron pan for dinner. I find myself still hitting freshly stocked streams for a quick after work session when I don't have time to go hit the old "blue lines". A word of warning though, the weekends will be packed. COVID has pushed more people to the outdoors and trout fishing in North Georgia has seen its share of fresh tourists drooling over images on social media flocking to the cold water haunts on the weekends for their chance at landing giants easily (because the internet never lies). If you do dare go out on a weekend, look to get to your spot on a rock early as the streams start filling up after 10am.

Now, this has opened up some of our DH streams to a little more elbow room than what has been seen this winter. If you've taken a trip to Smith Creek on a sunny day in the winter, then you'll know what I mean. It's been a touch busy. The Chattooga is still a great place to get away from the crowds a bit and you always have all the great North Carolina DH streams as well. It's really getting to be a "hot" time to be on those DH streams as the spring hatches start to pop off. The Chattooga has always been known as a great stream for some late morning and dark-thirty dry fly action and the Nantahala DH has some really good hatches you can hit just right and have loads of fun. Get out there and enjoy the good fishing while we have it because Summer will be here in a blink as the kids only have about 7 weeks of school before they're off until August.

With all this rain creating highwater conditions and the need to combine the current hatches while still trying to use a fly that will float a heavy nymph for dry dropping high water flows, I give you the Neversink Caddis. This might be one of the easiest caddis imitations to tie that I have come across. The fly can be tie in all sorts of flavors, but keep an eye on what will be hatching for the time of year you are fishing. Right now, focus a little more on brown/tan, transition to green for the summer time, orange for fall and then round out the winter with black. This is really a great wild brookie fly in the late spring/early summer as well.

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.

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.