Fly Fishing in Georgia

A regional note specific to this state: the trout fishing here is concentrated in a single river corridor, and the state agency has invested heavily in that corridor, which is why the catch rate is consistently high and the average fish size is larger than the national average. Georgia trout fishing is a small but technically fascinating tailwater fishery built on the cold-water discharge of two US Army Corps of Engineers dams. The state has two main tailwaters: the Chattahoochee River below Buford Dam, and the Toccoa River below Blue Ridge Dam. Both tailwaters produce trophy rainbow and brown trout, with the Chattahoochee holding the state record rainbow trout. The state's trout program is administered through the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and the agency stocks both tailwaters seasonally with rainbows while maintaining a self-sustaining brown trout population on the Chattahoochee. A regular Georgia fishing license is required, and the cost is $15 for residents and $50 for non-residents, and the daily limit is 5 trout combined in most waters with special regulations on the Chattahoochee tailwater. The unique regional quirk is that the Chattahoochee tailwater is the only trout water in the world that runs through the suburbs of Atlanta, with public access within 30 minutes of the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.