GEORGIA VOL. 2, NO. 8 I AUGUST, 1967 ~ GEORGIA ~ GAME&FISH August 1967 Volume II, Number 8 Contents Pick Your Trout Stream ... . Jim Tyler 1 The Sweet Song of the Rivers Jim Morrison 5 Crappie Fishing ... Night Style Claude Hastings 8 August- The Day Before Christmas Eve . . Joe Kight 10 Buried Treasure ... Inches Deep? Jim Tyler 12 Meet Your Commissioner Jim Morrison 15 Sportsmen Speak 17 Sportsman's Calendar 17 Lester G. Maddox Governor George T. Bagby Director, State Game & Fish Commission COMMISSIONERS Judge Harley Langdale, Chairman Valdosta-8th District Rankin M . Smith Vice Chairman Atlanta-5th District William Z. Camp, Sec. Newnan-6th District Charles L. Davidson, Jr. Avondale Estates-4th District James Darby Vidalia- 1st District Leonard Bassford, Augusta-lOth District Richard Tift Albany-2nd District J. B. Langford Calhoun-7th District William E. Smith Americus-3rd District Clyde Dixon Cleveland- 9th District Jimmie Williamson Darien-Coastal District TECHNICAL SERVICES DIVISION Jack A. Crockford, Assistant Director Leon Kirkland, Fisheries Chief Hubert Handy, Game Management Chief Robert S. Baker, Special Services Coordinator LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION Bill Cline Deputy State Chief, Atlanta David Gould Deputy State Ch ief, Brunswick GEORGIA GAME & FISH STAFF Jim Morrison, Editor Dean Wohlgemuth, Managing Editor Jim Tyler, Staff Writer J. Hall , Staff Writer Ted Borg, Photographer * * * Georgia Game and Fish is the official monthly magazine of the Georgia Game and Fish Commission, published at the Commission's offices, 401 State Capitol, Atlanta, Georgia 30334. No advertising accepted. Subscriptions are $1 for one year or $2.50 for three years. Printed by Stein Printing Company, Atlanta, Ga. Notification of address change must include both old and new address and ZIP code, with 30 days notice. No subscription requests will be accepted without ZIP code. Articles and photographs may be reprinted. Proper credit should be given. Contributions are welcome , but the editors assume no responsibility or liabtlity for loss or damage of articles, photographs, or illustrations. Second-class postage paid at Atlanta, Georgia. Register All Boats? A Good Idea. Will a rock float? No. Will a sailboat turn over? Yes. Can an overloaded row boat capsize? Yes. Can a ma n stand up in a canoe? Yes. Will he drown? Maybe. Does a I0 horsepower boat have to be registered ? No, but a J0\12 horsepower boat does. Does th at make sense? No. Since 1960, Georgia law has provided that all motorboats of more than 10 horsepower must be registered with the State Game and Fish Commission. Registration of boats serves two purposes: identification and revenue raising. A registered motorboat must bear an identification numb_!!r which can easily be read at a distance, and is different from that displayed on any other boat, just as automobile tags are. The number is on file with the State Game and Fish Commission, enabling the owner of the boat to be easily and quickly identified. The importance of such a number is illustrated by a recent case on Lake Allatoona which is cited by Game and Fish Commission Director George T. Bagby. Rangers found a boat capsized in the lake with a large bole in the bottom, but since th e boat was not registered , there was no way to determine to whom it belonged or if the operator was missing. "Our men didn 't know whether to look for bodies, or what to do," Bagby said. In addition to identification of the boat, its operator, or passengers in a possible emergency situation, registration numbers aid wi.ldlife rangers in enforcing boating safety laws, especially in the case of reckless or intoxicated boat operators. Witnesses can write down the boat number and report it to rangers. Also, boat theft is made more complicated by registration numbers, decals, and certificates. But the primary importance of boat registration is to provide a means of fin a ncing law enforcement of boating safety laws and regulations. In this way, only members of the public who benefit from boating safety laws are required to pay for sa fety enforcement. However, under present Georgia laws, onl y boat owners with more than I0 horsepower are required to register their boats. Therefore, only these boat owners are paying their fair share for the enforcement of boating safety laws, even though rangers spend a great deal of their time and effort checking unregistered boats for required safety equipme nt, e pecially life preservers. Tn fact, more drownings occur among occupants of sma ll unregistered boats than to occupants of larger, safer, registered craft. For instance, rangers must patrol sailboat regattas, even though these boats are not required to register with the Commission and pay nothin g toward the cost of keeping rangers on the lake. Rowboats and canoes are especially dangerous craft, yet they ca nnot be identified by registration number, and their owners pay nothing for efforts to protect the lives of their passengers, even though rangers may spend long, bonechi Lling, wet hours dragging the river bottom to locate the drowned bodies of their crews. Some 72,000 registered motorboat owners are paying their fair share of the lake patrol cost, paying from $5 .25 to $15.25 for a three-year registration certificate, depending on the lengt h of their boat. Estimates by the G ame and Fish Commission place the number of unregistered boats who do not pay their way at close to 40,000 or more craft of all shapes, sizes, and methods of propulsion. Requiring these boat owners to continued on page 16 ON THE COVERS: Here is Georgia's wonderful world of rivers . .. just two examples of the unexceLled variety of fishing in Georgia. On the front cover, Game & Fish staff writer Jim Tyler casts into the cool, clear water of a gravel lined pool on the Coleman River in Northeast Georgia's Rabun County, one of the mountain forest streams described in Jim's story on the opposite page. On the back cover at the opposite side of Georgia, the Suwanee River ambles along through magnificent cypress trunks that Stephen Foster had never seen when he picked the name of the Suwanee out of an atlas for the opening line of "Old Folks At Home," one of the most popu.lar songs ever written. In next month's issue, Jim Tyler will treat readers with a visit to the Suwanee, the favorite off-duty fishing spot of wildlife ranger Walter Booth of Homerville. Photos by Dan Keever. PHOTO CREDITS: Ted Borg 8, 9; Dan Keever II; b. 13; Joe Kight t. 10; Jim Morrison 5, 6, 7, b. 10, 15 ; Jim Tyler I , 2, 3, 4, t. 12 & 13, 14. Which will it be? Find a steep running, crisp, sparkling pure creek confined to a very narrow stream bed cut from the high rock mountains. The water flees headlong down little waterfalls, crumple into a fizz of bubbles, then rushes to yet another fall. Sometimes the wate r hits a fair sized pool at the bottom of such a fall , and, for a distance, the water loafs along. Here you can find small brightly colored native trout. The going is rough to get them and the fi sh are small. Yet who is going to argue size when a wild trout is taken from a fair ylike pool rounded by moss flecked boulders in the mountain shade of tall , silent trees, the creek singing in your eyes and ears? Or do you prefer a somewhat wider, slower trout stream? Here, the water slows a bit, but still scurries right along. You have your choice of more and larger pools to fish and the riffle areas running washboard patterns over black and golden hued rocks can sometimes be fished with success. The going isn't so rugged . The terrain slopes steeply, for say a hundred yards, but gives you relief when it hits a small valley, a meadow, sometimes pasture land, and coasts, barely gurgling to itself, then is off again, tumbling over a nd between rocks. The rocks are usuall y smaller, not many boulders, and by wading most of the time, yo u can fish quite nicel y. The medium sized stream has more living room for fish, more food. Every now and then, if you know what you're doing, you might snag a good size trout. And in a good many of these streams, hatchery trout have been stocked to make sure you catch a teninch-plus fish occasionally. You will come across other fishermen , sometimes a group of them. Undoubtedly, you have lost the isolation and unique beauty of the high mountain stream, but you will not be scenic short changed. Then, like old men lumbering along with heavy loads, there are the large rivers. They gather in all the waters th at have drained from the highlands, and with pronounced slowness, in comparison to the laughing, dancing high country streams, they plod along and are trout waters until they reach regions where the water temperature gets too warm for trout. But, really, even a large trout river doesn't plod along for a long dista nce. It has stretches of deep length y pools, but also stretche of quick moving water. The pinning rod angler has more room to work the rivers. but the fly fis herman pulls his share of trout from them. The fish ca n be, a nd are. large r. You have to wade or float the trout rivers. So, yo u have three types of trout streams to choose from. That's a start. ow let me hit yo u with this. Robert K. Franz, while working with the Commi sion in the middle 1950's, walked out and surveyed the streams in that area of north Georgia where trout might possibly be. He listed 813 streams with names. Of course, this included rivers, streams, creeks, and branches. ow here is what I'm getting at. Before you slam out of your home town hot after th at "finn y fatale," the trout, pick yo ur stream. There are big ones, med iumsized ones, a nd small ones. And any one of them probably has at least a few trout in some section of its length. To sweeten this vast trout network, the State Game and Fish Commission stocks hatchery reared trout in 159 of the streams. Many of the tocked streams contain a year round trout population, but the streams are tocked so su mmer fishermen can catch more trout than the streams could naturally produce. All the treams contain rainbow a nd brown trout, and the headwaters of a few of them hold wild , native brook trout. See the chart accompa nyi ng thi art icle for their names, relative size, and probable fishing luck. I asked Claude Hastings, Regional Fisheries Supervisor for the Commission , and Carlton ichols, his senior biological aide, to tell me the relative size and probable fishing luck of all the I 59 strea ms. Claude looked at me, rolled his eye . Carlton just gave a sma ll chuckle. Anyway these two, although professing the difficulty of such a task , relented and did so. Claude, a professional fisheries man, and Carlton, who has worked 17 years with the Georgia trout, based their opinions on personal fishing experience and scientific fi h population studies (both love to get over a fl y rod on a trout tream). They added that some of the streams travel just a short di tance before joining anot her stream. And treams can vary in size in a short distance because tributaries flow in making the stream larger as it proceeds to lower elevations. When you have a stream picked out, then you have to find out if you can get to it to fish. This requires first hand exploring, or you need a detailed map to show locations and, also, to show if the land is privately owned. The best bet are the U. S. Geological Survey topographical maps obtained from the Georgia Department of Mines, Mining, and Geology, 19 Hunter St., S.W. , Atlanta, Georgia 30334. They are available for 75 ~ apiece. The Greenville 17-4 map and the Rome 16-6 map cover most of the Georgia trout water . The Game and Fish Commission, 401 State Capitol Building, Atlanta, has free maps that outline U. S. ational Fore t land in north Georgia. ational Forest la nd is pub lic and open to everyone. Still if you want to fish a stream that runs through private land, a knock on the landowner's door, a mile, and a polite asking, man y times turns the trick. Remember, you are automatically trespassing if you do not have permission to be on the land , even if it isn't posted. And as no Georgia trout strea ms are con idered navigable. the stream bed is owned by omeone. State Game and Fi h Commission Wildlife Management Area strea ms are located on ational Forest lands. Consider. Over 40 % of the total number of trout stocked in Georgia streams are stocked in wildlife management area streams. This surel y accounts for fishermen on area treams averaging a catch of four trout per day. Outside the area , tream fishermen average a catch of 2.5 trout per day. Surprisingly, Claude says . as a whole. fishing pressure is less on area streams compared to the pressure on out ide treams. for both nat ive and tocked trout. Still, the easily accessible and heavily stocked area streams can ometimes have scads of fishermen. They catch fish. though. so it just depends on what kind of trout fishing yo u enjoy and whether yo u feel management area stream worth the I a day permit. Management areas Blue Ridge, Chestatee Chattahoochee, Lake Burton, and Warwoman, have trout streams small to medium in size, and all have head water portions with native trout swi mming about. The Georgia Trout Regula tion , available from all State Game a nd Fish Commi ion offices, includes a map and written descriptions of each area. Two other stream choices are available to trout chasers. "Catch and relea e" streams are a rather recent modernization of trout fishing. On oontoot ley Creek. a nglers catching a trout under I 6 inch es in length are required to release the fish , unharmed, back into the st ream, Here the emphasis is entirely on the sport of fishing. Very few trout over 16 inches are caught. o trout are stocked there, so it is principall y a fun stream. You mi ght catch more fish on fishing-forfun streams, but yo ur take home creel 2 A bo1e: A medium si-ed trout stream offers more water and bigger fishing hole.\ for Carlton Nichols. Most medium sized streams are stocked with hatcherv trolll somewher!' along their length. Ll'/t: Small waterfall.\, pool.!, riffle area, clear water- here is a trout stream. Right: Large trout riler.\, such as thio~ stretch of the We.11 Fork Challooga Riler, offer ji.1hermen a chance to hook a ltmker trout. The Challoo!la is open for fishing year-round. Bottom: Trow fishing fun come.1 in many different fornl\. Lon Gap Pond is a trout fi~hing area re1trictecl to women, chilclren, honorarr !tee n1e holders, and phv1ical/v handicapped persons. The CommiSI"ion like1 to see en,.,.one hme a chance at trow. Thcpond ir lowted on Law Gap ( rl'C'k in thr Chauahoochec Wildlife Management Area near Helen, Georgia. Wildlife Rtlnger Arthur Abanatln ( tandin? on the bridge) is re pomihle for both the thought and con~trm tiOII of the po11d. Be/ou A prel/y trout hole, a /itlered !ltream hank Some fi5hermen think only of them 1elves. will usua ll y be empty. Fishing-for-fun streams are limited to a rti fici al lures. So are Waters Creek, Jones C reek, and a section of Colema n Ri ver limited to artifici als, a lthough the 16 inch limit does not appl y on these streams. The mo re heav ily fi shed strea ms are stocked more heavily in certa in a reas a nd are ca lled " put a nd take" waters (asteri sk on ch a rt). The Comm iss ion " puts" the tro ut in some sectio ns of the strea ms and by heavy f ishing pressure, a nglers " take" the stocked trout o ut in a short period of time. Ra inbow and brook trout a re stocked in these areas. Claude says this is the onl y place brook trout are stocked . H e limits the a reas where brooks are stocked because he doesn't want to "mess" up the nati ve brook trout popul ation . Brook stockers do not norm all y overwinte r a nd do not spaw n successfull y. Jf they are not caught out of the streams by la te fa ll, most die one wa y or another during the winter mo nths. Claude also worries about road buildin g in the mounta ins. Gouging out a road along a mountainside does two thin gs to trout . It opens a nothe r ave- nue for vehicu la r a nglers, and it ca uses heavy loads of silt (small dirt pa rticl es) to be flushed into the steam, knocking down their trout ca rrying capacity a nd freque ntl y destroying the a bi li ty of trout eggs to hatch in the stream. T rout, like the rest of the wild a ni ma ls outsi de the confines of a zoo, must look forw ard to more problems as ma n furth er encroaches their doma in . Sometimes, I believe, the overa ll picture of trout fishing is oversold . I mean mounta in fishing, like fi shing an y other place in the world, ca n have its bad days . And let's face it. With more people flocking to the mou ntains, more a nd more pressure is going to be put on the trout. But ri ght now, tod ay, yo u ca n, with a li ttle p la nning, define yo ur trout pleasure. Yo u might get a ba ng out of trout fishing in a n easy to get to stream a ro und a bunch of folks, or you m ight be the kind that wants to get way back a nd be by yourself, and enjoy catching small wild trout. It's your choice. GEORGIA STREAMS OUTSIDE M A N AGEMENT AREAS S TOCKED WITH M OUNTA IN TROUT (Streams on wi ld life m anagement a reas a re heavi ly stocked, but not included in this list; see story for in form ation on them) MURRAY COUNTY Strea m Jacks River (Beach Bottoms) Sha nty Cree k Holly Cree k Size of Str eam la rge smal l med i um FANNIN COUNTY Bi g Cree k me dium Coo per Cree k la rge Conasauga Ri ve r med ium Cutcane Cree k smal l Fi gh ti ng To wn Cree k medi um Hemp town Creek med ium Hotho use Creek sma ll Jac ks River large Litt le Fightin g Town Cree k med ium Litt le Skeenah Creek smal l Noo ntoo tl ey Cree k large Sea Cree k sma ll Skee nah Cree k smal l Stanl ey Cree k mediu m Suga r Cree k small Tumb ling Cree k smal l Wi lscot Creek smal l GILMER COUNTY Anderson Cree k Big Turniptown Creek Broa dtown Creek Clea r Cree k Eas t Mou ntain town Cree k Littl e Rock Cree k Mo untaintown Creek Ow ltown Cree k Rock Creek Rolst on Cree k Tic kanetl ey Cree k Turkey Cree k med i um me d i um med i um medi um medi um smal l l ar ge small s ma ll smal l me dium medi um PICKENS COUNTY Di sh roo m Cree k Joh n Pendl ey Cree k small smal l DAWSON COUNTY Amicalola Cree k Bi g Ami ca lola Cree k Cochra n Cree k Fall Cree k Littl e Ami calo la Cre.ek medium medium small s ma ll sma ll UNION COUNTY Ark agua Creek Big Cree k Bitte r Cree k Butternut Cree k Canada Cree k Cooper Cree k Coosa Creek Eas t Fork Coosa Cree k Hat che t Cree k medium med ium small smal l med ium la rge medi um small to medium small Fis hing f ai r f air goo d fair fair t o goo d goo d poo r fa ir fair fa ir fair good poor fa ir to good poo r t o fai r fair fair fa ir poor fair f ai r f ai r poor fair fair fa ir goo d poor l air f ai r good fair poo r poo r f air f air f air goo d f ai r poo r fair poo r poo r goo d fair t o good fair fair fair Hel t on Cree k l vylog Cree k Mt . Airy Cree k small sma ll sma ll fair f ai r poo r Mulky Cree k smal l poo r Nottely Ri ve r large goo d Suches Cree k sma ll poo r St ink Cree k smal l poor Toccoa River large f air Towns Cree k medium fai r Wes t Fork Coosa Cree k small fai r Wes t Fork Wo lf Cree k sma ll fair Wil dhog Cree k small fa ir Wo lf Cree k medium good Youn g Cane Cree k sma II poor LUMPKIN COUNTY Boggs Cree k smal l fair Chest at ee Ri ve r la rge goo d Cane Creek Cave nder Cree k Clay Cree k Dicks Cree k Etowah River small f air sma ll fair small fair medium f air la rge fai r Hurri ca ne Cre ek Jones Cree k Mill Creek sma ll mediu m sma ll fa ir goo d f air Mil l Creek (t r ibu ta ry t o Hurr ican e Cree k) sma ll f air Ni mb lewi ll Cre ek medium good Pr uitt Cree k small poor Ward Cree k smal l f air Yahoo la Cree k medium fair TOWNS COUNTY Bra ss Town Creek small poo r Center Soa pst one Cree k small poo r Fodder Cree k medium fair Hiawassee River Hi ~h Sh oa ls Cree k lar ge small f air t o good goo d Hightower Cree k medium poo r t o large Hog Creek small poo r Little Hightowe r .Creek smal l poo r Mi ll Creek small t o fa ir me dium Owl Cree k small f air Sca t away Creek small poo r Swal low Creek mediu m poo r Tallulah River lar ge good WHITE COUNTY Chatt ahoochee Ri ve r lar ge goo d Chi ckamauga Cree k medi um fair Crai g Cre ek s ma l l f ai r Crumb ly Creek sma l l fai r Dukes Cree k medi um fa ir Smith Cre ek small to fair t o good medium Spoilca ne Creek smal l f air Town Creek medium fa ir RABUN COUNTY Bai ly Branch smal l poor Blacks Creek small f air Betty's Cree k Bi g Creek medium medium good good Cheche ro Creek medi um poor Crow Cree k Cut t in gbone Creek s ma ll small fai r poor Darn ell Cree k medium good Dicks Cree k Holcomb Creek Kelly Creek Ke en er Cree k small medi um smal l small fair good fair good Li ck Log Cree k Little Pers im mon Cree k Li ttl e Ten nessee Ri ve r Ma ssa r Cree k Moccasin Cree k* Mo rs in ~il l Cree k small small medium small medium sma ll f air goo d go od fai r goo d f air Mud Cree k Patt erso n Creek Persimm on Cree k Pl umorcha rd Cree k Popco rn Creek Reed Cree k Rickm an Creek Sco tt Creek Ste koa Cree k medium small medium medium medium small small small medi um f air to good f ai r fai r good ~ood fai r fair fair poo r Sli ck Shoa ls Creek Ston ewa ll Creek Tal lulah River Ti ge r Creek Timp son Creek Wa rwoma n Creek* We.s t Fork Che tt ooga Rive r Wi Ideal Cree k Worl ey Creek s ma l l small lar ge medium medium medium l ar ge med i um smal l poor fair go od poor f air t o good good good goo d goo d HABERSHAM COUNTY Goshen Creek medium good Li ttl e Panther Creek med ium f ai r Panthe r Creek medium f air Rape r Creek sma l l goo d Sogue Cree k me di um good FORSYTH, FULTON AND GWINNETT COUNTIES The Chattahoochee River below Buford D am of La ke L anier is stocked with trout. T he ri ver is large, fi shi ng is rated good . *Areas on th ese strea ms are designated " put and take" secti ons. You would be more likely to catch trout in these areas due to th e hea vy stocking. However, you would a lso be more likely to find a number of fi sherm en th ere also. ,_ 4 Georgia's famous 'tive?~~s a'te the best place to fish during the hot summer mo1~ths What can compare with th e beauty of a ri ver? Georgia has 17 large ri vers th at ramble over th e State for more than 3,000 miles. Sweet song of the Rivers By Jim Morri son H ave yo u ever stopped to consider how ma ny songs yo u have hea rd of that mention a river or a stream , either in their titl e or in a line or two? Need examples? How about "Down by the O ld Mill Stream," or "Down by the riverside, do wn by the riverside. goi ng to lay down my burde n, down by the ri verside." Getting more re li gious, there's "Shall We Gather at the Ri ver," or the line from "Swiog Low Sweet Chariot," ... "1 looked over Jo rda n a nd what did I see .. ." Still serious, there's "Old Man Ri v- er, " a nd ''Flow Gently, Sweet Afton. " On a lighter vein (or current) there's 'Crui ing Down the Ri ver," or " Beat Your Feet on the Mississippi Mud." One of the most famou of all is the opening line of Stephen Foster's immortal "Old Folks at Home," which begin s "Way down upon de Swanee ribber. far, far away, dere's wha my heart is turning ebber, dere' where de old fo lk stay." P icked for the song olel y fo r its musical name, the Suwanee is ju t one of more th a n I 7 la rge rivers and hundreds of smaller freshwater streams in Top: During the hot .1ummer monrh.l. especially A UfiUSt, ri~ er fishing is the besr fishing available wheu lake and pond fishinR gts the doldrums. Flat Shoals on the Flint Ri1er between Gay and Concord is a popular hot day fishing and swimming spot. Abme: Wouldn't vou wade on the Fourth of July for a strin,~er like this? A. 8. Hicks of Atlanta caug/11 thi.1 stringer of two- to three-pound hr11s in the Flint Ri1er shoals, using /i1e hellgrammites for bait. Georgia tha t bea r equ all y beautiful names, m any of Jndi a n origin , th at fall on the ea r with the magic lilt of a ba bblin g brook leaping over moss-covered stones deep in the hidden recesses of the fo re t : names li ke Ala paha, A Itamaha, Ca noochee, C hattahoochee, C hestatee, Etowah, or Oc hlockonee. Even more deli ghtful are the quaint names of many smaller, but equ ally famous fis hing trea ms like Ichawaynochaway, Kinchafoonee, Towa liga, Tall apoosa, Coosawattee, Conausauga, Tallu lah, and Chattooga. T he list is a lmost end less, run ni ng from the mountai ns of Nort h Georgia to the flat piney woods of the coasta l plain. And in these streams can be found some o f the finest fishing in the world . . . and some of the worst. Stream fis hing depe nds on a great variety of fa ctors, especia ll y the effects of the activities of ma n o n it, and the effect of weather and easonal conditions. Tha t ri ver fi hing is a popular sport in Geo rgia is unde ni able. A 196 1 survey sho wed th at mo re tha n 4 6 per cent of a ll G eorgia fishe rmen fish some time during the yea r i!l a wa rm water stream, a n estima ted 398,000 fi shermen . There are many reasons for this. For one thing, ma ny G eorgia ns, especiall y in large sections of Southeast G eorgia, do n' t have a nywhere else to f ish except in small far m ponds, since there a re no la rge a rti fic ia l impo undme nts in th at po rtio n of the sta te. River fishing is popular with many a nglers because of the greater va riety of fis h that can be co mmonl y ca ught there in comparison to a sm all po nd o r a large artificia l reservoi r. For insta nce, more than 22 d iffere nt species of game fi sh are found in the Fl int River alo ne, incl ud ing large and " mall" mouth bass, black and wh ite crappie, jackfish , white bass, warmou th , redear, bluegi ll, rock bass, bluespotted sunfish, redfin pickerel, cha nnel catfish, white catfi h. fla thead catfish, bowfi n, etc. A nd perhap most impo rta nt of all , river a nd st ream f ishing is usua ll y nea r o r at its best at the times when lake and po nd fi hi ng is a t its worst, es pecia ll y d uri ng th e hot summer m onths. Du rin g Jul y, Augus t, a nd September, the river a nd st rea m genera ll y a re the best fishing avail abl e. La ke fishing is gene ra ll y con fi ned to ea rl y in the mo rning o r late in the a fternoon for bass a nd white bass, prima ri ly on schoolin g fish, with the exception o f night f ishing for crappie. In the lakes a nd ponds, the wa ter temperature is considerably hotter, and fish are feeding and moving much less than earlier and later in the year at cooler water temperatures when their body metabolism is faster, requiring more food in a shorter period of time. The lakes frequently stratify into layers of hot and cold water, and the small forage fish that bass feed on move down during the day, taking the predators with them , except in the afternoon when bass congregate on schooling shad moving to the top. In the flowing streams, the water doesn't stratify, and forage fish and the species that eat them are still scattered over the entire range of the stream, making the fish more accessible to anglers closer to the surface or bank. Then, there's the factor of physical comfort. In August, it's hot on the lake or pond, so there's nothing cooler than floating down the river under the shade of the trees, or actually wading right into the water up to your armpi ts. The water isn't cold enough to chill you, but it is pleasantly cooling on a bot day, as any boy knows who has leaped into the old swimming hole on the creek on a hot Fourth of Jul y! What fish do you fish for on a stream? Name it - it's there to catch: bass, bream , crappie, catfish, suckers, bowfin , and many others. How do you fi h for them ? Try casting, spinning, or fly tackle. For bait, use worms, crickets, hellgrammites, crawfish, cut bait, stink bait, doughballs, topwater plugs, spinners, flies, popping bugs, spoons, rubber balloons, or cigarette filters! Whatever it is, chances are good that you can catch fish on it somewhere, sometime, in a Georgia river. Obviously, you have to go river fishing at the right time of year, and when the water conditions are right. Streams may quickly muddy up after a hard rain. Since most game fish are sight feeders, muddy water decreases visibility, and results in poorer fishing, especially for bass. In many South Georgia rivers, high water conditions cause the rivers to overflow their normal bank , spreading the water, and the fis h, out into the surrounding low-lying swamp areas, thus mak ing fishing poorer than when the river is back in its banks, concentrating the fish in a smaller area. If you reall y want to catch fish at the river, don 't waste your time by going when it's out of the banks or mudd y. Check the water conditions yourself, or call someone who lives near the river or crosses it during the day to get a report on water conditions. The local ranger is a good prospect. As a rule, during late August, September, October, and early November, most Georgia rivers are low and clear, due to seasonally normal slack periods of rainfall. For this reason, fishing is best at these times, although unexpectbest at these times, although rains can change the picture suddenly. If you aren't familiar with the fishing available in a particular river, try to find someone who has fished it before for information, or write to the State Game and Fish Commission at the State Capitol, or contact the local wildlife ranger. While man y Georgia rivers have fine fishing, especially in the early spring or late summer and fall, there are some entire rivers and sections where fishing is almost non-existent because of pollution from silt coming from farm land , mines, or roadsides, or because of industrial and municipal pollution. This problem is especi all y acute below large cities. For instance, there is little or no fishing available on the Chattahoochee River for miles below the city of Atlanta, or on the Ocmulgee below Macon, even though both rivers have good fishing above the cities. There are numerous other such examples that could be cited with equal justification. However, improved farming and soil conservation practices, as well as tighter enforcement of water pollution regulations, offer hope for improved river fishir:g in Georgia in future years. Generally speaking, the best river and stream fishing to be found in Georgia is in the southeastern and southwestern portions of the State, but this does not mean that there are not good fis hing streams in middle and north Georgia, even though they are not as well known and have fewer fishermen. Many of these streams are small enough , with shoal areas extensive enough , to make wading safe and practical , although some of them , like the Coosa, are too bold for wading. In areas of these rivers where shoal areas are scattered enough to allow boat fishing, the State Game and Fi h Commission is actively improving fisherman access by constructing hard-surface boat launching ramps. (See the July, 1967, issue of Game & Fish for a list of completed ramps.) However, the best fishing in many streams frequently is in the middle of the shoal areas that can be waded, especially for bass. Eddy pools, where the current runs backwards, are also good spots. Overhanging limbs or trees that have fallen in the water are always good bet for bass, bream, and crappie. What are some of the better fishing rivers, and what can be caught there? Naming them all would be impossible in an article this short, si nce there are over 2,818 miles of major rivers and more th an 3,000 miles of smaller tributary warmwater streams. Only the most outstanding can be mentioned. Excluding the trout streams of northeast Georgia, there are many popular streams that have trout in their colder headwaters, that become bass and bream streams in the lower reaches. For instance, the Toccoa River and the Hiawassee River are both trout streams that become the home of the true Northern smallmouth bass before they leave Georgia to join the Tennessee River, providing excellent stream fishing. The Chestatee and the Chattahoochee above Lake Lanier are good spotted bass streams. Further to the west, the Coosawattee is a fine stream for spotted bass, largemouth bass, redbreast bream, and Continued on Page 16 Top: Landing a fighting Flint Rher smallmouth ha.1s in swift water is an exciting adl'enture. t.1any Georgia rilers ha1e exten!Jile shoal area1 shallow enough to wad' during the Slllnmer mo111hs when the water is pleasantly cool. A hol'e: Floating on a cool rinr lined with green trees i.1 a plea.\ant wav to fish. Small hoafl' and canoes are e.\celient for stream fishing, especially if any shoals are around. CRAPPIE FISHING. NIGHT STYLE By Claude E. Hastings Fisheries Biologist o Mo t of our crappie fishi ng in Georgia consists of hordes of fishermen running around madly in the spring, throwing minnows and jigs into shallow water at crappie while they a re spawning, or looking for spawning sites. After the pawning season is over, the crappie move to deeper water, and most of the fishermen that have been after them decide crappie fishing is over for the year and either quit fis hing until the following spring or start fi hing for some other kind of fish. However, a small but select group of these fis hermen know that their fishing for crappie isn't over, but that their tactics will have to be changed. These fishermen turn to night fishing. They know that night fishing can and often will produce just as many or more crappie as daytime spring fishing. Our large reservoirs in Georgia have black crappie and white crappie sometimes but not necessarily both in the same reservoir. Since both species are found in the same types of places and since both species can be caught in the same manner, this article will treat both as one. The first thing that must be done is to locate the crappie. Crappie are found in schools, and unless one of these schools can be located a lot of unproductive fishing is going to result. Crappie prefer dark places. There are two pl aces where you are likely to find thi s if the water is deep - bridges and large boat docks. Since mo t boat docks are privately owned and are not open to fishing without perm ission from owners, bridges are your best bet. However, not all bridges offer good crappie fi hing. The best method of locating crappie "hot-spots" i by inquiring from wildlife rangers, sporting goods store personnel , and other fi hermen. T hese places can be located much faster in this manner than with the trial and error method. Both dock fishing and bridge fish ing can be done without the use of a boat. Howeve r, in some places 1t IS illegal to fish from bridges, making the use of a boat necessar y. The only specia l equipment that is needed at night is a good lantern and a means of ha nging it directly over the wa ter. Ropes are used to hang the lanterns from bridges. Hooks that hang the la ntern over the side are used on boats. One theory is that the la ntern attracts insects and plankton, which attract small fis h. The small fish a re supposed to attract large numbers of crappie. I have not been convinced of the truth of this theory. l believe that the light ac ts more as an aid to the fisherma n in seeing what is happening. and a an aid to the crappie in eeing the lure or bait. Crappie have been caught on many different kinds of baits and lures, but there are two that are most reliable minnows and jigs. Jigs popularly known as " Doll Flies" are excellent. For you fishermen who like to use minnows, select a small minnow - l lh - 2 inches in length. Crappie prefer sma ll minnows . 1 have seen fishermen using minnows 3 - 4 inches in length a nd wondering why they were not catchi ng fish while everyone arou nd them was having a fie ld day using smaller minnows. A lso, if yo u have a choice of different kinds of crappie minnows, select a fathead minnow (also ca lled blackhead) if yo ur dealer has them. They are not as shin y as the golden hiner which most dealers sell , but they live longer and crappie seem to prefer them. I prefer a yellow jig ~G to lf.J2 ounce in weight. I like a chenill e bod y and a maribou tail on the jig. The hook size should be a fo ur or six. If you are tying your own jigs, tie the tail short - barely beyond the bend of the hook . If you buy your jigs, clip the tai l off short if you fai l to catch a nything with the longer tail. My next choice is the same jig in white. But if you take jig fishing seriousl y, get yourself a good selection of the small er sizes ( up to Vs ou nce) in different styles , colors, and color combinations. This may seem strange to stress variable colors for ni ght fis hing, but I have seen failure turned into success many times by changing to a jig which differed only in color. The depth a t whi ch crappie may be found often varies from night to night and often varies considerably during the same night. It is necessary for you, the fis herma n, to try fis hing at different depths until you find them . Since they are found in schools, if yo u catch one yo u wi ll probably catch several. The methods that are used in fishing minnows or jigs are very important to yo ur success. It is true that there a re some nights when all you have to do is heave you r bait into the water an d pull out crappie. These nights are fun , but they are rare. Most of the time it takes a fis herman using good methods to consistently make good catches. When using minnows, use a good livel y minnow and hook it lightl y through the back with a f ine hook. The purpo e of the fine hook is to do as little damage to the minnow as possible. Some persons hook their minnows in the tail or through the lips a nd make good catches. I hook in the back because I seem to be able to m ake better catches in thi s manner. Fish at different dept.hs, either with or without a float. If you use a float, use a sma ll one that wi ll offer the least resistance whe n the bait is taken. Use a li ght line (4 - 6 lb. test) and a very mall sinker. When a crappie takes the bait, all ow the fish to have the bait a few moments (varies from night to ni ght ) and then lift the rod a nd hook the fish. It is not necessary to jerk the rod becau e crappie are ea ily hooked . Crappie are sometimes mood y a nd will not take minnows fished in conventio na l manners. If you are fish ing at such times, vary your fishing methods. Try moving your minnow slowly from side to side. If this doesn 't work, give your minnow a little more action 8 by giving a short jerk once in a while. The crappie has been belittled by I've seen this wake them up. If still no many fis hermen for not having the success, hook your minnow in the tail, fighting qualities of some fish , and pinch off the front half of the minnow, it's true that it doesn't give the fight and move it up and down and from side that some fish give, but catch it on light to side slowly. This method has been tackle when the water bas warmed successful for me several times when I up and it has thawed out of its winter couldn't take them in any other way. chill, and the crappie is a respectable Probably the most successful way - combatant. And, anyone who has eaten although not the most popul ar way - crappie won't quarrel about its flavor, of catching crappie at night is with so why not burn the midnight oil on jigs. The selection of equipment is very the lake this summer? - important in using jigs. To be most suc- cessful, an ultralight spinning rod with a good, smooth-operating spinning reel is needed. This often makes the difference between feeling and not feeling the strike of a crappie when fishing deep. I use a four pound test line. There are several successful ways of using jigs at night. Probably the most successful and the most nerve-wracking way i to fish the jig straight up and down. The nerve-wracking part comes from havi ng to fis h it so slowly. Lower the jig to approximately 25 feet and slowly - very slowly - reel or lift the jig straight up. Don't use any weight other than the jig unless the wind is blowing and then more weight will be needed to keep the line straight. Other- wise you will not feel the strike. When you are retrieving the jig slowly, strikes are sometimes hard to detect, so strike fast if you feel anythi ng out of th e ordinary at all. When you connect with a fish, you then know the ap proxi- St11dic1 hi' the ,\tate Game and Fi1h mate depth to fish. From then on drop yo ur jig below thi s depth and bring it up through the school of fish very slowly. This fishing very slowly - extremely slowly - is usually very im- Commi.11ion .1l1<111 that ni~ht crappie fi.lhing d11rin~ till hot .11/!llmcr montl11 t>rodtln'.\ more fish per ho11r than fishing in the dol' durin~ other month.1. U.1in~ a light from a hrid<:t' help.1 to allract fi.lh. portant and an absolute necessity in 3 The Hmtings prefer jigs that they tie winter months. for til! m.\e/1es in weight.\ 110 hemicr tha11 If no strikes occur using this method , I 8 ounce to I 32 ou11ce. } ellow and white try cast ing the lure allowing it to sink to different depths before starting individual retrieves. Again fish slowly. Mo t persons catch few crappie on jigs are their fa1orite colon, hut others sometimes work well. There are mall'' commercial !>rands of ji~~ that catch til' many crappie, hut are mort