Sorry about the lack of activity for the past month or so, but it seems like sometime I just can't keep up with everything. I have been working my butt off fishing on both the Toccoa and here at home on the Hiwassee. Here's a quick report on with a few pics mixed in as well
Thx,
Bill
Hiwassee River Jan. 24, 2014
With all the rain that we have had over the past month The Tennessee Valley Authority has been operating both turbines at Appalachia Powerhouse around the clock 24/7. The average flow rate that we are seeing is around 3000 cfs as well as a few events where the flow exceeded 6500cfs. Now this really doesn’t help any anglers who prefer to wade fish, but let me assure you its actually great for the river. The high water flows help spread out many of the stocked fish along with flushing out any extra debris that builds up here and there. Currently we have a good spread of fish from the powerhouse all the way down to Patty Bridge. That’s 18 miles of trout filled waters that we get to play with.
Water temps are averaging around 52 right now and they may drop a little more if we keep getting hit hard with these cold snaps. On the bright side the colder weather can bring on a shad kill, which we have not had yet. There were a few days where we had blue backs being washed through the gorge during a high water event, but as soon as the spill ended so did the blue backs.
Anglers can realistically expect to have decent day of fishing any time right now. The bite has been better in the later part of the day when it finally warms up a little. I have noticed that right after a one of the cold snaps come in that the bite becomes very subtle. Streamers have been the name of the game for the past several weeks. We have been fishing a variety of zonkers and buggers in a wide range of colors, nothing huge, but a size 6 has been the best for me. On average we are seeing a good mix of fish, still mostly rainbows with a few brookies and browns mixed in.
