Great Day on the Toccoa: 5/21

[Rainbow Warrior]

My Dad, our friend Ty, and I floated the section of the toccoa from the dam to curtis switch. As I was waiting for the shuttle I managed 8 or 9 fresh stockers in front if the stairs at Tammen. They all wanted a small #16 prince variation. A few boats had launched as we were waiting, so when my Dad got back we gave them some time to get further down stream. I was the first on the oars when we set off. It didn't take too long before we were into some of these.



We picked up a few as we were drifting the slow pool below the 515 bridge. After passing this pool we got out and waded at the next few shoals. We needed to start making better time because we were running late, so we kept going after wading only a little. I had a nice 14-15" rainbow get off during a jump. A little bit down stream. I had a good hit and set the hook. Immediately a big head came up like a great white in all of the shark documentaries. I was in awe. I had serious doubts as to being able to land the fish. I had him on 5x tippet and was using a 7' 3 wt. Luckily, the place I hooked him didn't have many logs he could get into. After about 5 minutes I got my first full body view of the fish. It was huge! He kept manking long runs and a bunch of head shakes. After about a 15 minute fight we had the fish in the net.



I didn't realize how much of a hog he was until he was in the boat. I had never dealt with a fish of this caliber. We taped him at 24". He was hard to hold onto. Here's a few other photos of him.



and then the release.

He hit a #14 soft hackle hare's ear. After letting him go it was slow for a long time. I was rowing, too. After about 3.5 hours of only catching a fish here and there it turned back on. My dad managed to break off a fish that was easily pushing 20". We landed some more average fish. After a while Buck Henry came out of a cabin and introduced himself. It was good to meet you! The area down stream of his place was on fire! We had quite a few double hook ups as we went through. Then, we had to put the fishing gear up and make haste towards the ramp because it was getting dark. We passed a lot of great water. We need to manage our time upstream better next time. Oh well. It was a great day for sure!

[narcodog]

What a great day you had. Big fish and you and your Dad enjoying each other.

[Ky Tim]

Nice fish, good pictures and I enjoyed the story. As a dad of a 16 year old, I wish I could get him out fly fishing with me, but right now his interest lie elsewhere. Relish those times with your dad.

[Hoosier]

Need to frame that pic of you and your Dad and your hog. That is priceless.

[Rainbow Warrior]

I was thinking the same thing. I kept the fly he hit to put it in the frame!

[Jswitow]

That is quite a fish! Definitely need to have a nice shot of that one printed. That is one you will look back on all your life...
Best and thanks,
John

[MBB]

Who do you use as your shuttle?

[Rainbow Warrior]

We usually will bring up two cars because we dont live very far away, but if you call Unicoi Outfitters in Blue Ridge they will hook give you a local guys' number.