New to the forum, old to Allatoona. Looking to fly fish!

[thurtt1]

Hey everyone,


I've been fishing Allatoona for the better half of 22 years, having grown up in the area, with conventional spinning gear. I recently got into fly fishing last year and haven't had the opportunity to hit Allatoona yet. I've got a 5/6wt rod with rio wf5f line. Any tips on fly fishing the lake? Patterns to consider? Fly line/reel setups? I'm also looking to build a 6wt over the year, having recently picked up some wf6f SA Sharkwave GPX line for a deal. Reel recommendations for <$100 would be clutch, including extra spool. My targets would certainly be spotted bass, small hybrids or stripers, and possibly some gar and carp.

I'm used to fly fishing up in the GA mountains for trout but have never tried on a big body of water. Would streamers be my best bet for targeting bass or should I look into some topwater plugs for early morning summer and spring fishing?


Any advice would be helpful! I look forward to making contributions to this forum community, these tend to be the best concentration of info you can find nowadays. Thanks!

[Bob Smith (Porko)]

You may want to give the folks at Cohutta Outfitters, in Cartersville a call? I am not a flyfisherman myself, but I would bet if anyone could answer your questions it would be them.

[leapnlineman]

Don't be afraid of using that #6 line on a 5 weight rod. You just might be surprised at how well it works. If you can find it I like a WF Bass bug Tapered line. Talk to David & Christie at Natures Tackle Box in Hiram, they themselves started out as trout fishermen but have developed into avid bass fishing. David built me a custom made 6 weight rod that I absolutely love and has tied me some custom flies for panfish and bass.

[1kicker]

Fly fishing is a lot of fun. In the mid 60's I would fly fish every Wednesday from noon to dark carrying three fly rods with three different size top water poppers. Would go up the river from little river landing and fish at that time a lot of overhang near the water and I would destroy the pan fish. Had good luck with bass on the large popper but because of all the quick action in was hard to put the pan fish size popper down. I know a lot of the overhang no longer exists where I went and other than ocassionally now picking up a fly rod to tease the carp and bream around my dock I seldom venture out for panfish. Would have to go look at size rod and line I used as it has been awhile back.