N. Georgia Trout Fishing

[Dances with Mice]

Last August I dis-organized a trout fishing / picnic at Upper Hightower Trout Farm - the Clou9 Hostel. It was a lot of fun.

If you could have been there and weren't, you should have.

Sunday, August 19. PM for further information.

Be patient waiting for a reply, I'll be out of town (http://www.juggle.org/festival/2007/index.php) next week.

[Wonder]

Let me see what I can do! Sundays are a little tough for me to get off, but may be do-able if it is a later afternoon thing.......and if I can find a ride........
I'd love to get back down to GA for a night!

[2Ply]

Any more info on the Cloud 9 event?

[Skidsteer]

Is the 'adult beverage' policy the same as last year?

Prolly a good idea to spell it out for us ne'er-do-wells. ;)

[Dances with Mice]

Any more info on the Cloud 9 event?

Precision Planning, DWM style:

Arrive at Upper Hightower Trout Farm / Cloud 9 precisely around 11 AM to 2 PM on Sunday August 19th with a cooler containing your beverage of choice and a covered dish to share at a picnic. Bringing a folding chair wouldn't be a bad idea, bringing your own plate and eating utensils would be a really, really good idea.

If you get there on the early side you'll catch a fly tying demo and fly casting lesson. You're also more likely to be captured on film.

Fish catching may commence at any time. Here's the deal:

It's $5 / pound as pulled from the lake. Almost all of the fish caught last year were in the 1 pound range. There may have been a 2 pounder pulled out.

Catch as many as you want / can afford. Be aware that it's addictive. Last year one lady was catching trout as if she was going to give them away as Christmas presents or something.

Fish cleaning by the Hightower staff is free.

Freezing and vacuum packing of fish to take home is available for a small fee.

Use of spinning rods and bait is free.

Rental of fly fishing rods is available for some ridiculously low price (like $1 / hour or so).

No fishing license / trout stamp is needed.

Keep what you catch. No throwbacks. Catch and release only with prior approval of the pond owners.Carry your cleaned fish over to the smoker and spend time listening to hiking stories, playing with alcohol stoves, playing fetch with the dogs, or throwing a boomerang until the fish are ready to eat. Last year we also toured Cloud 9.

Eat. Drink. Be merry.

If you are a member of the GATC or a guest of a GATC member then please keep the drinks soft.

If don't sign the GATC release form (oops!) then you're just a regular patron of Upper Hightower who coincidentally arrived during a GATC event and you are free to pull the tab on anything you wish.

Last year everyone finished the day smiling and stuffed with fresh caught smoked trout and good eats. Then a thunderstorm quickly ended our picnic and everybody scrambled for their cars. I took home two entire smoked trout that were leftovers. That was pretty cool since I only caught a single one pound fish!

It's really a lot of fun and it shouldn't be confused with anything resembling a serious fishing trip.

Skids - you want to see a full-sized Trangia setup? I'll bring mine.

[Skidsteer]

...Skids - you want to see a full-sized Trangia setup? I'll bring mine.

Cool. We'll take photos of our singed eyebrows and post them in Zelph's exploding stove thread.

[Wonder]

Anyone going from southwest VA? I'd like to hang with hikers at my old GA home........

[galaleemc]

Frank and I want to open Cloud9 Hostel style to anyone coming for this gathering Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th. $25 PP/PN or camping and treehouse $10 PP/PN, Bunkhouse for overflow $20 PP/PN.

Please call us just to give us an idea of head count - GATC members get first dibs.

Alcohol is allowed with respect to GATC. We require moderation and containment with respect to our Trout Farm Guests - many of them are children. (however, last year we had the whole place to ourselves)

I will see if I can make Trout dip ahead of time!

Trout are about the 1-3 pounders right now.

[StarLyte]

Y'all have a good time and I would love to see those photos!

Old fisher-gal here. My dad taught me how to filet fish after I learned how to walk. Then I got smart and started charging him and my uncles a nickel a fish to filet....

Wonder, I hope you make it down there girl.

[Dances with Mice]

This is a great deal and I'd be all over spending Sat night in Cloud 9 but I'm over-committed. I'll be driving a load of stuff to my daughter's college in middle Georgia that Saturday. I'll be doing it then instead of this weekend because this weekend I'm leading a rafting trip for the GATC and spending Sat night in a rental cabin near the AT.

We'll be spending a little bit more for a whole lot less.

But I'm passing your offer on to others in the GATC who have contacted me about the fishing trip via e-mail.

[Heater]

Precision Planning, DWM style:


Keep what you catch. No throwbacks. Catch and release only with prior approval of the pond owners.

"Catch and release only with prior approval"? :confused:

I think I would have to have the "prior approval" becase I will throw the small ones back. Especially if I am being charged for them.

I understand that this is a fish farm but catch and release is a concept that should not be discouraged.

:mad:

[Dances with Mice]

"Catch and release only with prior approval"? :confused:

I think I would have to have the "prior approval" becase I will throw the small ones back. Especially if I am being charged for them.

I understand that this is a fish farm but catch and release is a concept that should not be discouraged.I guess further clarification is in order:

This isn't a breeding pond, it's stocked with legal sized trout. The smallest fish there are around a pound, probably more, which is not a small trout. If someone is fishing with bait the fish will swallow the hook and there is no way to unhook it without damaging the trout.

Fish biting artificial flies have a chance to be released if the fisherman is skilled enough to set the hook at the right time. If you can convince the owners that you are experienced enough to set the hook in the lip and know how to handle a fish you may be allowed to catch and release but they can't take that chance with everyone who drives onto their property or they'll have a lot of dead fish floating in their pond the next day.

Since I was only planning to catch a single fish to share at the picnic last year I was hoping to catch a small one. I was praying I wouldn't beat Wonder's record because I didn't have that much cash on me.

[Wonder]

Having worked at said trout farm, the chance of catching a trout and not damaging it are very low.
It will seem like they're fine at first, but then you get floaters the next morning. Just why not keep it so it will at least feed someone.
Either way, I think that you will be happy with the size of fish you get. They are healthy and georgous fish!
Darn, I gotta go get my liscense

[Dances with Mice]

I should have said this earlier: There really are no small fish in the pond, there are some monsters in there and then there's some that just aren't that large. 'Small' is only relative to others in the pond.

A 'small' Hightower trout won't fit on a plate. A 'small' fish from this pond would be larger than most of the keepers you'd catch from local trout streams.

[Wonder]

Make sure you check out my "keeper" in the Cabin:D:D

[galaleemc]

Make sure you check out my "keeper" in the Cabin:D:D

We were just telling group looking at purchasing Cloud9 yesterday - this trophy is NOT included in the sale!

As stated on our website "catch and release for experienced anglers". Emphasizing what DWM has already written.

If we have a play with fly rods - perhaps we will allow some catch and release if we see you have experience. But you gotta keep and pay for the ones that won't make it! Even barbless hooks can damage a fish beyond surviving after the fight they put up.

Also note and we will tell everyone Frank is closing the trophy pond down today. WAY TOO HOT & if we want the fish to survive we have to transfer them into the large pond. There are about 50 fish - 5 pounders. More than likely one pounders will be caught as they are more numerous in the pond. The biggest fish this year has been 5 pounds - not like the last two years.

Remember Cloud9 is open hostel style the 18th and 19th. Laura

[cannonball]

My daughter caught a 6lb 13oz trout there last summer. Does that mean she is a "little Wonder"?:eek:

[Wonder]

You may not want to wish that on your daughter........

[Dances with Mice]

Also note and we will tell everyone Frank is closing the trophy pond down today. WAY TOO HOT I was at Goose Creek Cabin's pond last night with a GATC group that did the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway (http://www.brscenic.com/) trip yesterday. GCC has a shaded pond. Still, the fish were all lined up at the water inlet but weren't feeding. We finally caught enough for supper. They started biting really late in the evening as the temperature started to drop.

We not only had enough for supper, we also made trout sandwiches for a hike to Raven Cliff Falls (http://georgiatrails.com/trails/raven.html)this morning.

I haven't heard back from anyone in e-mail about staying Saturday night. The GATC Newsletter has had the event listed as a day trip for a couple months now.

[Dances with Mice]

Last call, y'all.

Yesterday at about this time I was pushing a broken Dominican Republic taxi cab down the middle of what passes for a highway there. After a refreshing drink of cold coconut juice and dirty water sold by a street vendor who helped me push the taxi, we reloaded our luggage into another taxi and took off for the airport. Five minutes later we did a u-turn in the middle of the highway, uh, make that "highway" (they use upright palm trunks to mark potholes in the road, it's more like an auto slalom) and rushed back to retrieve my passport from the broken cab, then took a windy mountain road to the airport. On that road they don't mark the potholes or else they'd deforest the island of palm trees. Somewhere on that mountain road I realized that drinking that coconut stuf was a really, really, really bad idea.

I am so ready to relax beside a trout pond. In the mountains. With a gentle, nicely paved road leading right to it. You cannot believe how ready!

[generoll]

so tell us, treat or filter? enquiring minds want to know.

[FatMan]

The wife and I will definitely be in the area tomorrow so we plan on stopping by.