Drifting the Tuckaseegee

Butch Martin sent in this report from his float trip on the Tuck this past week:


There's a lot of high water around this past week.  Most of the larger streams are way too high for wading and, if not, they're too muddy to fish.  When conditions like this are present, floating the river in a drift boat is often the only safe way to get a trip in.  On Friday, I took Trudy Johnson and Linda Bennett to the Tuckaseegee DH in North Carolina.  Even there the river is too high to wade.  Duke Power is running water in the Tuck almost 24-7. 

This nice brookie was caught by Trudy on her second cast of the day.  There were three more fish in this size category caught on this trip.  We had a 30 fish day even in the wind, rain and cold.  The river had been stocked a few days before out trip so the fishing was very good. 

When you float the Tuckaseegee, you'll notice two things right off.  First, the fish don't turn off during generation like they do on the Toccoa.  Second, you have very little competition from other anglers.  The Tuck is a big wide river and a drift boat is the best way to fish it during these times

Autumn Fishing Reports

Hello Folks,

It’s been a while since I have been able to post any new fishing stories. I’ve been fishing, but I have mainly focused my time and energy into my new family member.

But, recently (11/6) I floated the Toccoa DH on one of the coldest days I’ve fished this season. Fishing was sort of slow with the mid part of the day being the most productive. Meat –n- Tater flies still fooling fish.

The new stretch of Mountain Town Creek, Mountain Town Plantation, is a special place. The quintessential North Georgia trout stream and it has all the fixings! Pocket water, fast riffle sections, deep slow pools, long shallow runs, you name it, Mountain Plantation has it. Look out NCF, MTP is beginning to change my opinion about where I go to get away. It’s absolutely packed with hungry trout and the opportunity to fish for them over a variety of fishing situations.

I’ve had a few trips on the Tuckasegee DH this fall since it opened, and it finally gave me a good trip last week. Jim C. and I floated it Friday October 27^th after the rains that finally lifted the water level up to “Just Floatable”. Steadily caught fish all day hooking and fighting a 20”+ Brown that Jim winched to the boat once before making a power run that ended up in the trout’s favor. But, I know where he is!

All in all, it has been a good fall. Especially since the heat has subsided and we are finally able to wet our lines in water lower than 70dgs. Next trip will be the newly reborn Toccoa River to see how the fishing is.

Till Then,

J Byrd

-Life is short, fish as often as you can!

Tuckasegee River DH Opens October 1st

Stay tuned for next week.

Outdoor writer, photographer and recent book author, David Cannon http://cannonoutdoors.com/ and I hitch up the Clacka Craft and head up to the Tuckasegee DH to see whats going on. Should be a good time as the two of us look for eager fish willing to pose for a few pictures and eat a few fake bugs as we open the 2009 North Carolina Delayed Harvest season.

J Byrd

A not so great Tuckasegee trip

Well, I had to settle a curiosity that had been bothering me all summer about one of my favorite tail water rivers. And despite people telling me that it is not worth fishing, like the legend of Wooly Swamp, I just had to find out for myself.

So my brother and I headed up to Webster, NC to spend the day prospecting on the Tuckasegee DH section. We launched the boat around 8:00am with at least 8 rods rigged up with everything from pencil poppers for bass to small nymph dropper rigs for trout. Now my drift boat has been known to resemble a battleship with all the rods sticking out of it, and Saturday was no exception. We fished hard and with reckless abandon for our own health and well being, but at the end of day, we were broken and longing for Monte Alban's Mexican Restaurant there in Franklin. We did catch a few trout but did not see or catch any bass. Its a shame too because there is so much good water on that section.

Most interesting observation was the water temperature. I realize that there is a long distance between the DH section and the two separate powerhouses that release water down the Tuckasegee, but knowing what I know about Hydrology, I was a little surprised. At 8:00am with the East Fork running 500cfs, the water temp was 62F. Which I thought was a little warm for that time of day. The release stopped around 1:00pm and by 6:00pm the water temp was up to 68F. On days that there is no generation, I could easily see the temps in that section hitting +70F.