Georgia Fly Fishing Blog

Posted By Kent Klewein on November 21, 2009

Public Noontootla Creek Rainbow - Photos By: Capt. Joel Dickey

Joel Dickey gave me a ring yesterday saying he wanted to get out on the water for a few hours.  He would be moving back down to the Florida Keys in a couple weeks and he wanted to hang out a little.  Due to generation, high water, and closed streams we settled for fishing the public water on Noontootla Creek.   For those of you who don’t know, Noontootla Creek has not been stocked since the 60s and has a healthy wild population of brown and rainbow trout.  Most fish average 6-12 inches with occasionally a bigger mature 16+ inch trout every once in a while.  However, the fact is that there are quite a few big trout in the Noontootla Creek.  They’re just smart as hell and generally see you coming well before you make your first cast.  It can be a humbling place at times, but some days it also can be magical.

Joel and I didn’t have much time to fish and I told him about a small section of water that I had seen some big fish in, a couple years back.  That incident ended in me spooking the trophy before I could get my flies to it.  This time around, Joel and I would take a different approach.  We would use each other to our advantage and work as a team.  This spot I was talking about is absolutely perfect trout water.  I”m talking long tapering gravel tail with a deep long pool at the head.  Upstream of that is fast turbulent water that most trout would find too fast for pleasure.  It tends to stack the fish up in this one spot.

We decided our best option was to see if we could climb the bank and spot any fish in the tail.  Being that Noontootla Creek trout are so spooky one random cast could blow out the entire hole.  We creeped up the bank and gazed over the Rhododendrons together, almost instantly in rhythm we said “Right There”.  It was a huge rainbow trout that we guessed was at least 20 inches long.  Along with the big trout, were a few other smaller fish that we could see.  It was Joel’s turn and he headed back down the bank to make a cast.  I kept my eye on the monster and coached his cast to the long red stripe in the water.  From his vantage point all he could see was glare.  Out of my amazement Joel’s first cast was spot on and I watched his indicator drift right over the fish.  His flies however were drifting a few feet to the left of the fish.  The big trout moved on Joel’s flies but did not commit, but another trout that we did not see came out of no where and sucked Joel’s soft-hackle nymph in.  The fish was around 13-14 inches and had brilliant colors.  We snapped a few photos and Joel said it was my turn.

Wild Hen on Public Noontootla Creek - Photos By: Joel Dickey

I adjusted my rig a little and waited for Joel to climb the bank and see if the big monster was still chill-in.  The monster was still there and Joel coached me on where to present my fly.  The first cast was good on distance but a foot or so too far to the left.  My second cast was right on, and about the time Joel said “the fish ate”, I set the hook.  Neither of us brought a net since we didn’t think we were going to be encountering a fish of this size.  Luckily, Joel waded down below me and miraculously tailed the fish in the fast current.  WOW!, that was freakin awesome we thought, as we cradled the trout to snap photos and remove the hook.

The trout was a very old female rainbow that we estimated at least twenty inches long.  The crazy thing was when we landed her she was spewing eggs into the water.  We had seen some suspicious fanning when we sighted her but the eggs totally confirmed our theory.  It really is great to see fish reproducing in GA streams.  This hen was my biggest by far on the public section of Noontootla Creek and it was very rewarding.  I’ve seen fish in there of that size, but I’ve never sight fished and landed one that big.  It was a unique fishing memory that will stick with me for a long time.  It was also a very sentimental memory for me since  Joel Dickey is going to be leaving for the Florida Keys for good.  It would be our last time to fish together for trout for quite some time.  And I can’t think of a better way to end it sight-fishing to wild trout together.

Fresh Rainbow Roe from the Hen

Noontootla Creek Trout

Click on the Photos Above for Larger Views

Keep it Reel,

Categories: Fly Fishing
Tags: fly fishing blog, Fly Fishing Noontootla Creek, Fly Fishing Photography, Joel Dickey, Kent Klewein, Monster Rainbow on Public Water, Noontootla Creek, Noontootla Creek Public Water