The Toccoa tailwater has been pushing a little bit of extra water lately due to an issue with the dam. I thought since I was going to be in Blue Ridge over the long weekend I might give it a float. I set up my one man toon the night prior and set the alarm for 5:30. Just before going to bed, one of my kids got sick, and my wife suggested that perhaps going fishing in the morning was not a good idea. I turned off the alarm. Around 9:00 a.m. the next morning our oldest was feeling okay, so I got the yard pass. I had everything rigged up - I went down to Tammen Park and prepared to launch. I was surprised - the water did not seem any higher than the normal zero generator flow. I talked to some folks at Tammen and was advised the water was low. I had come too far not to fish, so I put in. I wanted to get away from the crowds so I paddled on down towards the first really good spot. There was a canoe with three bait chuckers anchored up pulling fish after fish, and loading them on a stringer. I saw a couple of nice fish, but decided to keep floating. I was also nervous that if the water really was at normal zero generator flow, I would end up on the water for 8-9 hours. I floated and fished for a while and got nothing. I started with a big western stonefly pattern that I picked up from Montana. Not even a hit or a chase. I then switched to a big ugly streamer that I had tied the night before. Still, nothing was hitting as I floated and fished.
About 2 miles into the trip I stopped at a nice riffle and tied on a black streamer type pattern I tied a while back. I immediately caught a small brown. A few casts later I caught a 14 inch brown - a nice fish. I then moved on down to another nice run. I started getting strikes on my black streamer, but missed a lot of nice fish. I got a few more to hand, but lost some really good fish. I then decided to start making time, and paddled my toon down until I got to the golf course. I lost a few flies floating and fishing, and ended up with a big wire stonefly on the end of my line, and landed a few more. I ended up with a 1/2 dozen - all browns.
The fishing was slow, but I had a good time. It turns out, the water was slightly higher than normal, as I made it the whole nine miles in less than 6 hours and never once had to drag the toon. I only stopped to fish two or three times. I'm looking forward to the Fall on the Toccoa Tailwater.
