From the Mountains to the Sea, Georgia is Hooked on Bass

Georgia has a diversity of bass that continues to reel in anglers from across the nation. As the only state in the nation with six of the seven black bass species, Georgia stands out as a bass angler’s paradise. This fall, regardless of where you are in the state, bass fishing opportunities abound, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division is providing anglers with some helpful bass fishing information.

“Bass are a favorite species for anglers, and while people are most familiar with largemouth bass, it is by no means the only bass angling opportunity in the state,” says John Biagi, the division’s chief of Fisheries Management. “We encourage all anglers, beginners and experienced, to get out this fall, enjoy the weather and fish for bass – and don’t forget to take a kid fishing!”

Several species of black bass are fall favorites, including largemouth, smallmouth, shoal and spotted bass. Redeye and Suwannee round out the six available black bass species here in Georgia.

The knowledge of where to go is just part of the ammunition necessary to becoming a successful bass angler – having the right equipment is the other component for success. For species such as largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, the division recommends using a six-foot medium action, spinning outfit spooled with 8-10 lb. test line. Next, you need to determine if you will be fishing top-water or deep-water. The top-water bite typically is best in the early morning and late evening.

During fall, bass key in on shad forage while feeding up for the winter. Floating or shallow running baits resembling small shad, minnows or blueback herring will entice bites from all three bass species. For deep-water bass angling, use 1/4 - 3/8 oz. jigheads with your favorite plastic curly-tailed grub or plastic shad lure skewered on it (recommended colors: green pumpkin and watermelon seed), Texas or Carolina rigged plastic worms and lizards, jigging spoons, deep diving crankbaits, live nightcrawlers or minnows. Deep-water angling can be utilized year-round, but can be especially effective in summer and winter when fish move offshore in a lake or reservoir.

Another fall favorite, striped bass, often confused as one of Georgia’s six black bass species, actually belong to the temperate bass family. Anglers can find some exceptional striped bass fishing in Georgia, including native coastal river populations.

When fishing for striped bass in Georgia’s estuaries, one should come equipped with a medium-heavy spinning outfit (20-30 lb. class) with one of the new small diameter superlines. This will assist in getting the bait to the bottom where striped bass are feeding on shrimp (Oct.-Nov.). Effective lures include 1/2 - 3/4 oz. bucktail jigs, 1 oz. rattle traps and 1 oz. swim shads.

For bass fishing throughout Georgia, the division recommends the following fishing spots and the species to pursue at each:

· Lakes Hartwell, Nottely and Lanier – Oct.-Dec. is a great time to catch spotted and largemouth bass on these major impoundments. Anglers should target deeper offshore areas of 10-30 ft. of water and structures such as standing timber, submerged islands with woody cover (brush and stumps) and rocks. Bass will often suspend over open water at these depths, feeding on shad and blueback herring.

· Chattahoochee River (below Morgan Falls Dam) – Fall provides excellent largemouth, spotted and shoal bass fishing on the Chattahoochee. Anglers can take many approaches – jon boats, wading and float tubes to get close to their favorite species. Fly-fishing also is a productive method for bass on the river.

· Lake Oconee – Largemouth bass are plentiful during fall on this reservoir. Anglers should concentrate on tributary arms such as Sugar Creek, Lick Creek, Sandy Creek and the upper ends of the three major tributary arms (Oconee River, Apalachee River and Richland Creek). Concentrate on depths less than five feet.

· Lake Richard B. Russell – Largemouth and spotted bass fishing is excellent during the fall when water temperature drops into the 60s. Concentrate on major creek arms where you’ll find bass following schools of baitfish (threadfin shad) as they migrate into creeks.

· Lakes Varner and Black Shoals – The upper half of these reservoirs are great spots to fish for largemouths, though there is no one particular hot spot. Light line and smaller lures are more effective at Black Shoals as the water tends to be clearer.

· West Point Lake – Serious largemouth bass anglers need to head to this lake to test their skills. As water temperatures cool, areas to target include creek mouths and points, the upper end of the lake and around the numerous blown down trees in the water.

· Big Lazer Public Fishing Area (PFA) – If you like fishing for largemouth on a smaller lake, give this 195-acre PFA a try. It’s intensely managed to produce extra pounds of bass. In the fall, bass often are caught in shallow to medium-depth water near structure and drop-offs in the coves or off the main channel.

· Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center/Marben Farms PFA – Bass fishing always picks up in the fall as bass become more aggressive when the water temperature drops. Bennett and Fox lakes are the best place for “lunker” size bass and anglers should concentrate on fishing flooded timber and calm waters in the mornings for their best chance at this PFA.

· Ocmulgee PFA – This new PFA is well on the way to developing into a trophy bass destination. Some of the bass in the reservoir have grown to more than 10 pounds in just about three years! Currently, the average size bass is 6.5 pounds. The standing timber left in the lake during construction and the aeration system, which creates a current for the lake, concentrates bass for anglers. Points, underwater high spots, standing timber and thicker cover will be good areas for anglers to target. Top-water baits fished around the edges of thicker brush are recommended for early morning while fishing swimming lures around the brush edges or pitching weedless baits into the thick brush may be best for later in the day.

· High Falls Lake – This 650-acre lake is an untapped resource for largemouth bass – quality bass catches are frequent, with an occasional “lunker” reeled in as well. Buck Creek is the most popular spot for largemouth anglers and fishermen are encouraged to target boat docks and aquatic vegetation mats.

· Coastal Rivers – Fall is the best time to fish for stripers in Georgia’s coastal rivers as they are moving down river as water temperatures drop, feeding on the abundantly available bait, such as shrimp and menhaden, in estuaries. Anglers should concentrate on fishing the upward current side of any bridge piling or structure. Most strikes occur within one ft. of some sort of structure, so get lines in there tight to get a bite.

· Toccoa River – The Toccoa River watershed is the best place to hook a homegrown smallmouth. They are present in the river just upstream (south) from Lake Blue Ridge, in the reservoir itself, and in the warmer, lower half of the lake's tailwater near McCaysville. Tossing a herring-imitating crankbait or a live crawfish toward rocky banks and points in the reservoir is a best bet for Georgia bassers wanting to add this species to their list of caught fish. More information is available in the Lake Blue Ridge fishing prospects, www.gofishgeorgia.com .

· Ochlockonee River – As the rarest of Georgia’s black bass species, Suwannee bass are most abundant in the Ochlockonee River in south Georgia. (They are also present in the Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers). Anglers wishing to pursue these feisty fish would be advised to use light tackle with plastic worms or small spinnerbaits. Anglers fishing for Suwannee bass on the Ochlockonee River should concentrate on areas south of Thomasville. Canoes and kayaks are the preferred craft for maneuvering the small, black, tree-laden waters of the Ochlockonee. Three boat ramps are located in this stretch of the Ochlockonee: Hwy. 19 in Thomasville; Hwy. 93 below Cairo; and Hadley’s Ferry off of Midway Rd.

· Flint River – Shoal bass are one of the signature species of the Flint River. Shoal bass can reach weights of over eight pounds and are an exciting challenge in the swift water. Shoal bass can be caught on a wide variety of lures, and some of the favorites are small swimming minnows, spinner baits, top water poppers and Texas-rigged worms and lizards. A favorite technique involves floating or motoring to a major shoal and then wade-fishing the pools and swift runs with spinning tackle or fly rod. Wading the shoals is particularly suited to fly-fishing. Just bring your six to eight weight bass or trout rod and plenty of wooly buggers and poppers.

· Ocmulgee River – Shoal, largemouth and spotted bass provide excellent fall fishing in the Ocmulgee River both upstream and downstream of Macon. Shoal and spotted bass are more common above Macon, though shoal bass also are found below the Fall Line and are fairly common as far south as Warner Robins. Preferred shoal bass lures are small to medium swimming minnows, spinner baits, poppers and artificial worms. Largemouth are the predominate black bass below Macon and good catches are possible using the right techniques. Most of the larger snags along the bank, particularly in areas of low current velocities, are home to one or more largemouth bass and they can be fooled with a lightly weighted plastic worm or lizard cast as close to the structure as possible. Spinner baits, medium Rapala-type crank baits, and plastic jerk baits are also effective but the key is triggering the fish to leave the cover to hit your bait.

· Savannah River – Largemouth bass are abundant in this river downstream of New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam to the estuary. When the river’s flow is low, good numbers of fish can be found around woody debris along the banks and diversion structures within the main channel. As the river’s flow increases and water fills backwater areas of the flood plain, fish tend to occupy sloughs and tributary creeks where water current is quite slower than in the main channel. When fishing these backwater areas, smaller lures and plastic worms tend to be effective, as a more subtle approach more often triggers strikes in these quiet, slow-moving spots.

· Ogeechee River – The Ogeechee is home to a very healthy largemouth bass population. Methods used in other coastal rivers will be effective here but anglers must scale down the size of their vessel and equipment in order to access a large portion of river above the tidal area. With many sand bars and fallen trees extending across almost the entire river, a lightweight, shallow-draft boat is essential in order to find the many miles of remote stretches of river that exist in this system. Also, with a low tree canopy reaching out over the river in many spots, a shorter fishing rod can be quite advantageous when trying to make that perfect cast.

For more information on each of the six species of black bass, check out Georgia’s Black Bass brochure online at www.gofishgeorgia.com . Also, log on for more bass fishing tips, fishing destinations and other bass-related information.

Take Me Fishing™! A recent national survey indicated that 87 percent of Americans believe
fishing and boating have a positive effect on family relationships. So take your family fishing and you will always have something in common.

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Delayed Harvest Trout Streams Open Nov. 1

North Georgia offers few better ways to observe fall foliage beauty than a trip to a trout-filled delayed harvest mountain stream. With more than 4,000 miles of trout streams and three species of trout, there are fishing and simultaneous leaf-viewing opportunities closer than you think. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division highlights the five delayed harvest streams available to anglers beginning Nov. 1.

“Georgia trout streams are designated as seasonal, year-round or delayed harvest, and different streams offer varying populations of rainbow, brown and brook trout,” says the division’s Trout Stocking Coordinator Perry Thompson. “The delayed harvest streams have special regulations from November 1 – May 14. Since these delayed harvest streams are regularly stocked and the trout are caught and released, catch rates remain high, making them a great destination for new and seasoned anglers alike.”

The five trout streams managed under delayed harvest regulations are the Toccoa River located on U.S. Forest Service land upstream of Lake Blue Ridge in Fannin County (from 0.4 miles above Shallowford Bridge to 450 feet above the Sandy Bottom Canoe Access), Amicalola Creek on the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area (from Steele Bridge Road downstream to Georgia Hwy. 53), Smith Creek at Unicoi State Park, the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta (Sope Creek, downstream of Johnson Ferry Road, downstream to the Hwy 41 bridge) and a portion of the Chattooga River (from Ga. Hwy. 28 upstream to the mouth of Reed Creek) on U.S. Forest Service land bordering South Carolina.

“Remember, these streams are catch and release only during the delayed harvest season and also are restricted to artificial lures with one single hook from Nov. 1 – May 14,” Thompson adds. “When May 15 rolls around, harvest is allowed under the general regulations pertaining to designated trout water.”

In addition to the excellent fall fishing opportunities delayed harvest streams provide, there also are ample year-round trout fishing opportunities in a number of Georgia streams. These designated year-round streams are open to fishing throughout the year.

Blue Ridge Tailwater: This tailwater is actually a stretch of the Toccoa River located downstream of Blue Ridge Lake in Fannin County and in many trout fishing circles is considered both blue-ribbon trout fishing and Georgia’s best kept secret. Anglers will find good numbers of both rainbow and brown trout, with an occasional trophy-sized fish caught. Most anglers prefer to float from shoal to shoal and then get out and wade to fish. Ultralight spinning gear and small spinners, such as rooster tails and panther martins, are best bets. Anglers should keep safety in mind – high water and strong currents can occur when the dam’s turbines are on. Keep a close eye on the water level and return to boats immediately if it starts to rise.

Noontootla Creek Watershed: This watershed offers some high quality year-round fishing for wild brown and rainbow trout, with many of its tributaries offering a chance at a wild brook trout (a real plus since most other brook trout waters are closed to fishing after Oct. 31). Both Noontootla and its tributaries are managed under an artificial lure only regulation and have a 16” minimum size limit in order to “recycle” the 8”-12” trout that make up most of the population.

Dukes Creek: This stream, located on the Smithgall Woods-Dukes Creek Conservation Area offers year-round trout fishing by reservation (706-878-3087). All fish caught here must be released immediately and anglers must only use artificial lures with barbless hooks. The stream offers a great chance at a trout over 20 inches, so bring your camera for a quick shot before release. Best time to fish is after a rain discolors the water.

Chattahoochee River: For good trout fishing close to metro-Atlanta, the Chattahoochee River downstream of Buford Dam offers family-friendly and close-to-home, year-round fishing for stocked rainbow and brown trout and wild brown trout. Despite the recent rains, fishing in the Chattahoochee River will continue to be good and Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area parks offer good bank, wading and boating opportunities. Be aware that some National Park Service parks downstream of Morgan Falls Dam are closed due to recent flooding. Contact CRNRA (678-538-1200) to learn about park closures. The river will be stocked through the fall months to keep angler catches high. Year-round harvest is legal from Buford Dam to Sope Creek. Best fishing is at low flow when the river is clear to slightly stained.

Some additional notable year-round trout streams include the Conasauga River, Tallulah River and the Chattooga River.

To download free Georgia trout stream maps and other trout fishing tips, or for additional trout fishing information, visit www.gofishgeorgia.com . Anglers must possess a current Georgia fishing license and a trout license to fish in designated trout waters.

Take Me Fishing! ™ A recent national survey indicated that 87 percent of Americans believe fishing and boating have a positive effect on family relationships. So take your family fishing and you will always have something in common.

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Trout Need Trees Too!

Cold, clean water, adequate cover, plentiful food, and trees; these are just some of the requirements for good trout habitat. While many people probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the living requirements for the brook trout, fortunately for the ‘brookie,’ as the fish is affectionately known amongst anglers, there are some people that do. They not only care about the fish’s habitat needs, but they are willing to spend time doing something about it.

On August 1st, 27 volunteers spent the better part of their Saturday building structures in Stover Creek, a cold-water trout stream in Fannin County, to provide for the habitat needs of the brook trout. “This completes a two year brook trout enhancement project on Stover Creek that included the strengthening of a natural barrier and the installation of 45 habitat improvement structures,” said Jim Wentworth, U.S. Forest Service Biologist for the Blue Ridge Ranger District out of Blairsville.

Stover Creek is a typical cold water stream winding for 1.5 miles through the Chattahoochee National Forest in Fannin County. Volunteers from Trout Unlimited worked with U.S. Forest Service and Georgia Wildlife Resources Division personnel to install wedge dams, cover logs, stream constrictors and channel deflectors within Stover Creek. “Each of these structures has a purpose,” said Wentworth, “Some are designed to provide cover for the trout to hide from predators and some are designed to create pools and faster flowing water to improve feeding and reproduction.”

Brook trout have declined across their range throughout the eastern United States for a number of reasons including poor land use practices, degraded habitat, and the introduction of non-native brown and rainbow trout which can often out-compete native brook trout. In Georgia almost all of the cold water trout streams are located on the Chattahoochee National Forest. In recent years the U.S. Forest Service in cooperation with the Georgia DNR and Trout Unlimited has worked to restore brook trout habitat on a number of these streams.

The Stover Creek project was a cooperative effort involving biologists from the state, the U.S. Forest Service and volunteers from several local chapters of Trout Unlimited. The project was funded by a Gold Rush and Oconee River Chapters of TU Embrace-a Stream grant and a U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture grant. Over the last two summers, Trout Unlimited volunteers provided over 700 hours of donated labor to the project. “Thanks to volunteers who are willing to give up their weekends to do hard physical labor in a cold, wet stream, we hope to improve the brook trout’s chances and increase the population in this stretch of Stover Creek,” Wentworth said.

Another aspect of providing for healthy habitat for the brook trout is to ensure proper management of the surrounding forest. Maintaining healthy stream-side forests prevents sediment and pollutants from entering the stream and also provides adequate shade to maintain cold water temperatures that brook trout require.

For additional information on trout populations in north Georgia, please visit the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest website at www.fs.fed.us/conf.

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UGA Study Reveals Ecosystem-Level Consequences of Frog Extinctions

In some parts of the tropics, frogs are the most abundant land vertebrates. This peculiar-looking casque-headed tree frog is one of the estimated hundreds of species of tropical frogs.

Photo by Scott Connelly/UGA

Streams that once sang with the croaks, chirps and ribbits of dozens of frog species have gone silent. They’re victims of a fungus that’s decimating amphibian populations worldwide.

Such catastrophic declines have been documented for more than a decade, but until recently scientists knew little about how the loss of frogs alters the larger ecosystem. A University of Georgia study that is the first to comprehensively examine an ecosystem before and after an amphibian population decline has found that tadpoles play a key role keeping the algae at the base of the food chain productive.

“Many things that live in the stream depend on algae as a base food resource,” said lead author Scott Connelly, a doctoral student who will graduate in December from the UGA Odum School of Ecology. “And we found that the system was more productive when the tadpoles were there.”

The results, which appear in the early online edition of the journal Ecosystems, demonstrate how the grazing activities of tadpoles help keep a stream healthy. The researchers found that while the amount of algae in the stream was more than 250 percent greater after the amphibian population decline, the algae were less productive at turning sunlight and nutrients into food for other members of the ecosystem. Without tadpoles swimming along the streambed and stirring up the bottom, the amount of sediment in the stream increased by nearly 150 percent, blocking out sunlight that algae need to grow.

The study is part of a larger effort known as the Tropical Amphibian Declines in Streams (TADS) project, which also involves researchers from Southern Illinois University, Drexel University and the University of Alabama. The project is now in its third round of funding by the National Science Foundation and was initiated by Catherine Pringle (UGA Odum School of Ecology) and Karen Lips (Southern Illinois University) in 2000 through a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) from the NSF. Connelly and Pringle are monitoring in-stream effects of the population decline on algae, while other team members are studying how the loss of frogs impacts other organisms and the transfer of energy between streams and the terrestrial communities that surround them. Preliminary data show that the number of snakes that feed on frogs, for example, has plummeted after the population decline.

“We were there before, during and after the extinction event and were able to look at the ecosystem and measure how it changed,” said Pringle, Distinguished Research Professor in the Odum School and study co-author. “Very rarely have scientists been able to do that with respect to any organism.”

The chytrid fungus responsible for declines has steadily marched southeast across Costa Rica and through much of Panama like a storm front, killing up to 90 percent of frogs in afflicted streams. In 2003, the team set up research sites on two streams in the pristine and lush highlands of Panama. One study site had already suffered a catastrophic amphibian decline, while the other had a healthy population but, based on its location, was directly in the path of the fungal disease.

In the first stage of their research, Connelly and Pringle assessed ecosystem changes that occur when tadpoles are experimentally excluded from small areas of both the healthy stream and the frogless stream. They found that the absence of the tadpoles resulted in more sediment and less productive algae.

In late 2004, frogs in the formerly healthy stream began dying. The team reassessed the stream and found that impact of the frog die-off was even greater than they had predicted in their exclusion studies. “We predicted the direction of the change,” Pringle said, “but underestimated its magnitude.”

The UGA research team is continuing to monitor the health of the streams to get valuable, long-term data. So far the stream has not rebounded. “It’s still sad going back,” Connelly said, to which Pringle added: “Once the frogs die, it’s like an incredible silence descends over the whole area. It’s eerie.”

To date, scientists have not found a way to stop the spread of the fungus in the wild. Broadly applying a fungicide to an entire watershed, Connelly said, would kill beneficial fungi that are necessary for a healthy ecosystem.

But scientists can cure individual frogs in captivity by simply swabbing them with a fungicide. Connelly has worked to protect frogs through Amphibian Ark, a global effort supported by zoos, botanical gardens, aquariums and research institutions that aims to ensure the survival of amphibians by collecting and breeding them. The Atlanta Botanical Garden is one of the key breeding sites.

“The one speck of hope is that if we’re able to collect some of these rare animals, we can cure them,” Connelly said. “As long as we have the money to keep a breeding program going, in the future it might be possible to reintroduce them into the wild.”

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