Here is the second video of our series of videos we have put together from out trip into North Georgia. The Cohutta Wilderness. Just a fun little video. But I must warn those out there that have sensitive ears, the is a bit of foul language in this video....I know it's hard to believe that a couple of guys fishing used some bad language, I was shocked myself...haha......
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Showing posts with label Camping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camping. Show all posts
Video Of Our Drive Into The Cohutta Wilderness
A few weeks ago my buddy Marshall and I went to North Georgia to hike into the Cohutta to do some trout fishing on the Conasauga River. I blogged about this, but at the time no video was ready to post. Now I have it ready, or should I say I have Video part 1 ready. I will be posting the other videos soon. You can check out all our videos at youtube. www.youtube.com/riverhunters
Oh, by the way, there is some bad language in this video. Might not want kids to hear some of this foul language.
Oh, by the way, there is some bad language in this video. Might not want kids to hear some of this foul language.
Sweet Article.
Here is a article I found on a site called "Canoe Camp Fish". Pretty basic but great article none the less.
To Contact this author contact@canoecampfish.com
River Fishing For Smallmouth Bass
When river fishing for smallmouth bass, I have a standard approach I use for a new river.
Start Paddling Upstream.
Yes I said upstream! If you float downstream, you are likely to get very far away in a hurry, without getting a good feel for the river. After exploring upstream, you can then check downstream. Troll a small floating Rapala if possible, weighted down with a small split shot about 1.5 ft ahead. If there is too much current or if it is too shallow and rocky, you may not be able to troll. You may find some good spots on the way to your destination. If you have 2 poles, try trolling a different bait on the 2nd pole, provided it won't twist your line too much.
Identify "Likely" Spots
Likely spots include
*
Any place where there is an eddy (dead spot), back current , behind large rocks, or below falls. This is the fish's perspective: They, like us, strive to do the minimum amount of work for their supper. They would rather sit in a dead spot near the edge of the current and wait for the nearby current to bring supper to them.
*
A shaded spot. They also like to hide in the cool darkness provided by large rocks, weeds, or submerged trees & logs. They just sit and wait for unsuspecting prey. Since Smallmouth Bass prey upon crayfish, and crayfish like rocks, bass will also be in rocky locations.
*
A spot where fish bite while you are trolling. I have found certain "unlikely looking" stretches of a river to consistently produce by trolling through them. Often times these will be quiet deep stretches of a river with possibly some underwater structure like rocks or logs.
Fishing Techniques
Here are some of my favorite methods:
*
Cast small #0, or #1 Mepp's Spinners into or in front of the dead spots.
*
Cast sinking 1.5 inch Rapalas and "twitch" them in, reeling in the slack. Also try a weighted down floating rapala.
*
Try a jig with a twister tail. I like a chartreuse or pearl colored tail with a chartreuse jig, but in some places I have found a bright orange jig with orange tail to work well.
*
Try night crawlers or leeches on a hook with split shot or with a bobber. I always try this type of live bait before leaving an area. In some cases it is the only bait that will produce.
*
Try other baits like small spoons, spinner baits, etc. I fished one naturally turbid river where the best bait was a small blue and silver imitation Little Cleo made by Viking Tackle (now out of business) that I bought at a local gas station. Every river has its lure!
Keep checking up river as far as you have time or desire.
Fish Your Way Downriver to the Landing
OK, now only spend your time again stopping at places that produced fish when you fished your way up. If the current is not too extreme you can also troll your way down river.
Fish Downriver From The Landing
You will do the same thing you did as you fished upriver except you now have a feel for what is a "good" spot and you also know what is a "good" bait.
Try to avoid going to far! If you find a hot hole about 2 miles down and you fish it till dark, you may have a very interesting time paddling back home against the current! I've been there ;)
To Contact this author contact@canoecampfish.com
River Fishing For Smallmouth Bass
When river fishing for smallmouth bass, I have a standard approach I use for a new river.
Start Paddling Upstream.
Yes I said upstream! If you float downstream, you are likely to get very far away in a hurry, without getting a good feel for the river. After exploring upstream, you can then check downstream. Troll a small floating Rapala if possible, weighted down with a small split shot about 1.5 ft ahead. If there is too much current or if it is too shallow and rocky, you may not be able to troll. You may find some good spots on the way to your destination. If you have 2 poles, try trolling a different bait on the 2nd pole, provided it won't twist your line too much.
Identify "Likely" Spots
Likely spots include
*
Any place where there is an eddy (dead spot), back current , behind large rocks, or below falls. This is the fish's perspective: They, like us, strive to do the minimum amount of work for their supper. They would rather sit in a dead spot near the edge of the current and wait for the nearby current to bring supper to them.
*
A shaded spot. They also like to hide in the cool darkness provided by large rocks, weeds, or submerged trees & logs. They just sit and wait for unsuspecting prey. Since Smallmouth Bass prey upon crayfish, and crayfish like rocks, bass will also be in rocky locations.
*
A spot where fish bite while you are trolling. I have found certain "unlikely looking" stretches of a river to consistently produce by trolling through them. Often times these will be quiet deep stretches of a river with possibly some underwater structure like rocks or logs.
Fishing Techniques
Here are some of my favorite methods:
*
Cast small #0, or #1 Mepp's Spinners into or in front of the dead spots.
*
Cast sinking 1.5 inch Rapalas and "twitch" them in, reeling in the slack. Also try a weighted down floating rapala.
*
Try a jig with a twister tail. I like a chartreuse or pearl colored tail with a chartreuse jig, but in some places I have found a bright orange jig with orange tail to work well.
*
Try night crawlers or leeches on a hook with split shot or with a bobber. I always try this type of live bait before leaving an area. In some cases it is the only bait that will produce.
*
Try other baits like small spoons, spinner baits, etc. I fished one naturally turbid river where the best bait was a small blue and silver imitation Little Cleo made by Viking Tackle (now out of business) that I bought at a local gas station. Every river has its lure!
Keep checking up river as far as you have time or desire.
Fish Your Way Downriver to the Landing
OK, now only spend your time again stopping at places that produced fish when you fished your way up. If the current is not too extreme you can also troll your way down river.
Fish Downriver From The Landing
You will do the same thing you did as you fished upriver except you now have a feel for what is a "good" spot and you also know what is a "good" bait.
Try to avoid going to far! If you find a hot hole about 2 miles down and you fish it till dark, you may have a very interesting time paddling back home against the current! I've been there ;)
Hiking the Cohutta Wilderness, and the Conasauga River.
Take a drive and head on over to North Georgia. Why? To hike into the Blue ridge Mountains. This is exactly what myself and a friend accomplished Marched 22 - 28th 2010.
Cohutta Wilderness
We began our drive on Monday morning March 22nd, 2010 about 7:30am. Not a long drive, only 426 miles, we took out time and made a few stops along the way. Coffee was going right thru us......the day was gray and cloudy, and as we passed thru Knoxville, TN. we saw it was snowing, this actually made us excited to get on the mountain(Cahutta Mountain).....and that's what it was doing as we drove up the pass to the trail head, snow, snow, snow. It was so awesome, we would begin our hike in while it was snowing all around us.
The trails are steep and rocky, but not a bad hike at all. We started at the Hickory Trail Head, which is accessed by FS road 630 in Crandall, Georgia. It is a beautiful place to go. The river is awesome, clear, clean in that area.....this was early spring so plants and animals where just getting out...trees were not turning green yet.....so awesome to be in that area.
Trout Fishing
This was why we went. For the trout. I had been doing some reading and thought we would find out if it was as good as we expected. I am gonna just say that the fishing was hard, and we did not do well. Those native trout are shy and skittish. But I am not convinced there are a whole lot in there. I mean, it's not a stocked fishery, but I expected at this time of year a lot more action, let me just say we did more fishing that catching,......but that's ok and that's the way it goes sometimes....but it's a beautiful river and the area is awesome....I just don't think there a huge numbers of trout there....we did our better fishing as we traveled up stream, closer to the head waters....
The Cahutta wilderness inside the Chattahoochee National Forest is a great place to go hike and camp. But we noticed a lack of respect for this place by other visitors. There was a lot of small trash left by others. Not a welcome site in a place like this....You might read that this place is hard to get into. But that is just not true. Lots of trails, and easy access. I say go visit, take a hike and you will be in heaven. Just do us all a favor and and pick up the trash you see. please. This is what we did, and others should do it as well.....
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