Chattooga River Fishing Spot
- Elevation: 580'
- Last Modified By: vinny60 on 09/11/09 09:16 AM
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Chattooga bass fishing offers some real variety. Largemouth bass, spotted bass, and redeye bass are all found in northwest Georgia. A trip down the Chattooga will produce all three species. Largemouths are the most common bass species caught in the river, but spotted bass run a close second. The Chattooga does have large numbers of small but feisty redeye bass, and they are easily caught by focusing your effort on the shallow, swift water they prefer. Largemouth bass and spotted bass also prefer certain types of habitats. Largemouths are most often caught in the deeper pools and deep holes in the bends, especially if there are some logjams available to lurk in. Spotted bass like deeper water too, but usually prefer a little more current than largemouths are willing to tolerate. The first depth break below a shoal is usually the best place to find spotted bass. These areas often have boulders and rock ledges, both magnets for spotted bass. Bass fishing the Chattooga is a rapid-fire style of fishing. As is typical with river fish, the bass are extremely aggressive and will usually hit a fast-moving lure like a buzzbait or spinnerbait all day long. Since the river isn't very wide, you will be making short casts, but lots of them. The best way to fish the Chattooga is simply to let the current move the boat along while you throw to everything you see. The really prime places to catch fish though are the bends. A straight stretch of river with shoals, logjams, and creek mouths will hold a few fish, but put the same type of structure in a section that twists and turns, and get ready for some fast action. Lure selection is simple. A bag of purple or black six-inch plastic worms, a white or chartreuse buzzbait and spinnerbait, and your favorite topwater plug in any pattern is all that is needed to catch fish 99% of the time. If there would be anything to drop off the list, it would be the worms. A Texas-rigged worm will definitely catch fish, but it is a lot less efficient at covering water than the faster moving baits. A boat ramp is available at the Alabama Highway 35 bridge in Gaylesville, Alabama.
Chattooga River Description
The Chattooga River runs through Alabama and Georgia.Believe it or not, Georgia has two Chattooga Rivers. Both are fine rivers, each in their own right. One Chattooga River is widely known throughout the Southeast for its white water rafting and stellar trout fishing. That Chattooga River, part of the Savannah River drainage and flowing to the Atlantic Ocean, is in northeast Georgia and forms a portion of the South Carolina - Georgia border. Another Chattooga River flows virtually unnoticed through Walker and Chattooga counties in northwest Georgia, enters Weiss Lake in Alabama, and eventually reaches the Gulf of Mexico at Mobile, Alabama. On the Chattooga, the best fishing is downstream of Trion, and floating is the best way to go. Another dam is found near the town of Lyerly, but getting past this low-head dam is no problem. A portage of just a few steps will get you around it, or at low flows you can just drag over it. The dam is sort of interesting in itself, since at one time its small generator, long since removed, brought electrification to the village of Lyerly. The old dam is a popular spot with anglers today. Other than road crossings, there is no public land along the Chattooga's banks, so to fish the best holes, you need to get there by boat. The river is full of shoals. Within just a few miles of Weiss Lake, there are still places where even a john boat must be dragged over the shoals to reach deeper water. Between Trion and Weiss Lake, there are seven road crossings where the road right-of-way can be used to access the river. All these crossings can be reached off of U.S. Highway 27 or Georgia Highways 100 and 114.
The Chattooga River (also spelled Chatooga, Chatuga, and Chautaga, variant name Guinekelokee River) is the main tributary of the Tugaloo River. Its headwaters are located southwest of Cashiers, North Carolina, and it stretches 57 miles (92 km) or 92 km to where it has its confluence with the Tallulah River within Lake Tugalo, held back by the Tugalo Dam. Both Rivers combine to make the Tugaloo River starting in Lake Yonah. It begins in southern Jackson County, North Carolina, and then it flows southwestward between northwestern Oconee County, South Carolina and eastern Rabun County, Georgia. The "Chattooga" spelling was approved by the USBGN in 1897.