If you enjoy trout fishing in Georgia, you should be a happy camper right about now. Why? Because as of Nov. 1, Georgia’s Delayed Harvest trout fishing season has begun!
Delayed Harvest, or “DH” as it’s often called, is a special program under which portions of certain Georgia streams are managed under special regulations. DH waters are too warm for trout during the summer, but through the winter months their waters cool enough to provide good trout habitat. Georgia’s five DH fisheries (Amicalola Creek from Steele Bridge downstream to GA 53, the Chattooga River from Reed Creek down to GA 28, the Chattahoochee in Atlanta from Sope Creek to US 41, Smith Creek downstream of Unicoi Lake in Unicoi State Park, and the Toccoa River from 450 feet above the Sandy Bottom Canoe Access downstream to a point 0.4 miles above Shallowford Bridge) are managed under artificials-only, catch-and-release regulations from Nov. 1 through May 14. The idea is to provide some great wintertime trout fishing, and a focused stocking program helps ensure that there will be good catch rates and thus lots of smiles on lots of anglers’ faces.
This year there are plenty of stockable trout available, too, and so all five of those waters (including the Chattahoochee section) will be stocked.
“We are excited to resume Delayed Harvest stockings on the Chattahoochee River below Morgan Falls Dam this year, thanks to excellent trout production in our state hatchers, and the low, fishable flows we are seeing in the river currently,” says Georgia Trout Stocking Coordinator John Lee Thomson. “With the Lake Burton Fish Hatchery renovation complete and trout inventories returned to historic levels, the Chattahoochee DH should provide a great trout fishing opportunity near Metro Atlanta.”
One neat things about the Delayed Harvest season is that it gives trout anglers an opportunity to be involved in Georgia’s trout stocking program in a hands-on kind of way. For example, members of several Trout Unlimited chapters have already lent a hand by helping Department of Natural Resources personnel to stock trout into the state’s various DH waters.
Want to try your hand at stocking some trout yourself? There will be opportunities for that coming up too. For example, one day during Thanksgiving week, the hatchery truck will roll into the parking area at the Whitewater Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, where it will be met by a cadre of volunteers (maybe even you!) who will help stock trout into that portion of the “Hooch DH.” All you need to help out is a 5-gallon plastic bucket and some waders (or clothes you don’t mind getting wet).
When will this happen? The exact date has not been nailed down as of this writing, but watch websites such as North Georgia Trout Online (ngto.org) or various Georgia Trout Unlimited chapter websites for details on the exact date and time. I’ll do my best to let you know here, too, as soon as I find out.
These volunteer-assisted stocking events are an enormous amount of fun, and I remember one in particular. I was there with bucket in hand and my much-loved but by now somewhat bedraggled fishing hat perched atop my increasingly hairless head. It’s an old hat, and it really is looking kind of battered these days, but I like it and it fits and it helps keep me warm.
The assembled volunteers made quick work of stocking several thousand trout – and once the stocking was done the fishing commenced. Yes, it’s okay to fish on stocking day, even right after the fish have been put in. In fact, I encourage it. It can make you feel like God’s gift to fly fishing, and sometimes we all need a little bit of that sort of thing.
Anyway, I’d rigged up my rod with the idea of catching a few before heading back to the house. But mostly I was just wandering around enjoying the moment – and that’s when I noticed a dad with his two young daughters. The kids, who were probably about 6 and 8, had been helping stock fish, and they’d worked hard.
Hmmm, I thought. Here’s a chance to have some fun.
I approached the dad, introduced myself, and asked if he would mind if I hooked a fish on my flyrod and then let one of the kids bring it in.
“Can we, daddy?” the oldest asked excitedly – and the dad said sure!
We were standing in shallow water just a few yards from a spot where lots of newly-stocked trout were holding in the current, so it took just a moment to fool a fish into taking the fly. Once I hooked it, I made great ceremony of putting the rod in the hands of one of the kids. I showed her how to bring in the fish, then netted it and held it for photos and happy congratulations all around.
Then…
“Can I do it again?” she asked. Her dad nodded yes. I flipped the fly out into the flow again and in less than a minute had another trout on the line. She landed that one too. More pictures, more high fives.
Then…
“Can I do it again?”
This went on for about a half dozen fish. But Younger Sister was watching.
She looked at me and said, “Mister, that’s a funny hat.” Ahh, flattery will get you everywhere! But that was only preamble. The real question came next:
“Can I catch one too?”
“How about it?” I asked the dad, and he said “Sure!” – and so I hooked another trout and this time handed the rod to Younger Sister. She too did a great job, encouraged more or less constantly by Older Sister, who by now of course was an experienced veteran. It was great!
Younger Sister landed four or five, and then it was Older Sister’s turn again.
And that’s what we did for more than an hour. I’d hook a trout and give the rod to one of the kids, who would then bring in the fish. It was enormous fun, and we kept at it for quite a while until the kids got cold and we finally called it an afternoon.
Later, another fly fisher mentioned that he’d seen me helping the kids catch all those fish.
“Didn’t you mind not landing them yourself?” he asked me. “Didn’t you miss getting to fish yourself?”
Well, no, I didn’t miss it. I didn’t miss it at all. It was a hoot helping those two catch those trout, much more fun than it would have been to catch them myself. Besides, I got a great story out of it.
But they got a lot more. Those two kids had more fun than the law allows – out-of-doors, standing in a river, discovering must how much fun fishing for trout can be – even if your mentor is the dude in the funny hat!
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