Conserving, protecting and restoring cold-water watersheds of North Georgia.
TRENDING NOW ...
Cohutta Fishing Company Fishing Report 03-03-23
Cohutta Fishing Company Fishing Report 03-03-23
Cohutta Fishing Company Fishing Report 03-03-23
Dream Trip 2023 -- Get Your Tickets Now!
Cohutta Fishing Company Fishing Report 03-03-23
Cohutta Fishing Company Fishing Report 03-03-23
'Nex Gen' Inspires Budding Fly-Fishing Anglers
Cohutta Fishing Company Fishing Report 03-03-23
'Nex Gen' Inspires Budding Fly-Fishing Anglers
The Legacy and Future of Women in Conservation
Giving Away Game-Changing Fishing Tips and Rewards for Fishing in Georgia
'Nex Gen' Inspires Budding Fly-Fishing Anglers
Become a Trout Fest Vendor
Giving Away Game-Changing Fishing Tips and Rewards for Fishing in Georgia
Giving Away Game-Changing Fishing Tips and Rewards for Fishing in Georgia
Giving Away Game-Changing Fishing Tips and Rewards for Fishing in Georgia
Giving Away Game-Changing Fishing Tips and Rewards for Fishing in Georgia
Giving Away Game-Changing Fishing Tips and Rewards for Fishing in Georgia
Don't Tie Yourself Up In Knots
GDNR Weekly Stocking Report -- 02-20-2023
GDNR Weekly Stocking Report -- 02-20-2023
GDNR Weekly Stocking Report -- 02-20-2023
GDNR Weekly Stocking Report -- 02-20-2023
GDNR Weekly Stocking Report -- 02-20-2023
Trout Camp Applications Underway
GDNR Weekly Stocking Report -- 02-20-2023
TU BUSINESS MEMBERS SUPPORT LOCAL/NAT'L INITIATIVES
TU BUSINESS MEMBERS SUPPORT LOCAL/NAT'L INITIATIVES
TU BUSINESS MEMBERS SUPPORT LOCAL/NAT'L INITIATIVES
TU BUSINESS MEMBERS SUPPORT LOCAL/NAT'L INITIATIVES
Shop Local -- Enjoy Discounts
TU BUSINESS MEMBERS SUPPORT LOCAL/NAT'L INITIATIVES
Shop Local -- Enjoy Discounts
Member Fish Pix & More
TU BUSINESS MEMBERS SUPPORT LOCAL/NAT'L INITIATIVES
Shop Local -- Enjoy Discounts
LAST CALL: GET YOUR DREAM TRIP TIX TODAY!
YOU CANNOT WIN IF YOU DO NOT PLAY
Let’s “Get er Done!” ... Sales of Dream Trip tickets end soon.
Don't miss your chance to win the 2023 Dream Trip, while supporting Georgia Trout Camp, June 4-9. For just $10 a ticket, you could be the winner of the 2023 Dream Trip promoted by the Georgia TU Council:
GRAND PRIZE
- 5 days – July 23-28, 2023 – hosted fishing in Idaho, including a float trip on the Madison River, 6 nights lodging, in the middle of some of the most famous trout waters in North America.
- $500 in travel expenses
- New gear! – Winston or Orvis rod/reel, fly line, flies and fly box
Plus: 11 Runner-Up Prizes ... including fly-fishing gear, fly-fishing instruction, guide trips, flies!
"We have two weeks left – let’s keep the momentum going!!! If every GA TU member bought one ticket we would be on top of Mt. Everest!" says Georgia TU Council chairwoman Kathy Breithaupt.
Get your Dream Trip tickets here. And be sure to mark your purchase as a credit to Blue Ridge Mountain Trout Unlimited #696.
Dream Trip winners will be announced March 18 at the Georgia TU Council meeting in Blue Ridge.
TU & FFI Team Up on New youth outreach
'Nex Gen' educates and inspires budding fly-fishing anglers
Trout Unlimited’s Headwaters Youth Program is collaborating with Fly Fishers International (FFI) to engage and inspire youth and novice anglers interested in learning more about fly fishing.
This “Next Gen” outreach program is being funded by the YOT Full Circle Foundation and will educate and inspire the next generation of fly-fishing enthusiasts through a series of videos, tutorials, and social media campaigns. The program will not only teach essential fly-fishing skills and instill an enduring conservation ethic, but it also will empower adult volunteers and instructors to engage youth and their families through fly fishing. This collaborative endeavor capitalizes on the respective strengths of each organization and will be supported by a select working group that includes representatives from the target audience.
“Trout Unlimited is thrilled to partner with FFI and take our youth outreach and education to the next level,” said Chris Wood. “Educating the next generation of anglers and conservationists has long been one of TU’s top priorities, and this new collaboration will further our efforts by making resources and information readily available to any young person interested in the lifetime sport of fly fishing.”
Stay tuned for ways your chapter or council can connect with and benefit from these new resources.
The Legacy and Future of Women in Conservation
A FREE TU WEBINAR:
The Legacy and Future of Women in Conservation
Presented by Barbara Luneau, who fills the roles of mother, wife, professional, angler, and volunteer leader. Barbara has been an active Trout Unlimited volunteer since 2007, she has filled multiple leadership roles in her local chapter, St. Vrain Anglers and the Colorado state council, where she serves as Vice President and chairperson of the Headwaters Youth Programs committee.
On the volunteer front, Barbara has been active in leadership, habitat restoration and teaching youth. She is a skilled angler and fly-tyer that takes great joy in sharing with and teaching others about the natural systems that support healthy watersheds and fisheries. Her angling journey has taken her around the world and into the wonderful community of anglers that make up this sport.
Since retiring as a petroleum geologist in 2020, Barbara fills her time with friends, volunteering, fishing and gardening. She lives near Longmont, Colorado, the traditional lands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute nations.
calling all vendors for Blue Ridge Trout Fest 2023
Won't you join us as one of 100 vendors !
You’re invited to apply for an exhibitor’s tent/booth site at the 5th annual Blue Ridge Trout & Outdoor Adventures Festival – the Official Trout Festival of Georgia. Trout Fest returns to downtown city park in Blue Ridge, Georgia from 10 am to 6 pm, on April 29, 2023.
And Trout Fest ‘23is quickly approving a selection of 100 vendors to serve more than 4,000 visitors expected to pass through the festival gates.
Trout Fest ‘22 spreads across downtown city park in Blue Ridge serving trout fishermen, river sports enthusiasts, and outdoor recreation fans of every kind seeking fun, food, wildlife art, outfitter gear/clothing, guide services/information, recreational services/programs of many kinds, and staged LIVE MUSIC!
Trout Fest is an all-volunteer event that showcases the historic district of Blue Ridge and Fannin County -- the Official Trout Capital of Georgia -- increases the public's knowledge of trout and the conservation of cold-water environments and resources, and benefits the cold-water programs associated with Blue Ridge Mountain Trout Unlimited. Event promotion services include rack cards, posters, banners, advertising and more distributed across a wide range of resources and social-media channels!
CAST-FISH-PADDLE-FLOAT-RIDE-HIKE-CAMP-CLIMB-BIKE
New! Trout Fest Activity Zone opens up a world of outdoor fun for our visitors with a fly-casting range, climbing walls, mountain bike demos, a trout-fishing pond, long-saw crosscutting, axe throwing, gem mining and more!
New! Trout Fest Program Tents ... present expanded programs including mountain biking, hiking and kayaking. Professional fishing guides, kayak outfitters, mountain bike pros, hiking experts and more tell our visitors what they need to know for a successful day of outdoor recreation in and around Fannin County -- the Trout Capital of Georgia!
Atlanta Fly Fishing School returns ... with a new, free fly-fishing instruction program -- the casting, the bugs, the water, the fish!
Trout Fest Food Court ... features new and returning food trucks/services, and our Beer/Wine Garden features craft brews from Grumpy Old Men Brewing Company in Blue Ridge.
New! Trout Fest Sound Stage ...presented by Troncalli Subaru and Blue Ridge Blues & BBQ in concert, 3-6 pm, with Atlanta's the Kurt Thomas Band and local artists the Shannon York Dillinger Band opening the afternoon show.
How You Can Join Us
Blue Ridge Trout & Outdoor Adventures Festival is a trout-fishing and outdoor adventures event, staged on park grounds from 10 am to 6 pm on April 29, 2023 in Fannin County, Georgia. All exhibitors (including non-profits) should review the Trout Fest website at BlueRidgeTroutFest.com, then download (from the website) and submit an exhibitor’s application for approval and processing by the Blue Ridge Trout & Outdoor Adventures Festival Committee (BRTF EVENT COMMITTEE). The BRTF Event Committee reserves the right to approve/permit exhibitors and limit exhibitors’ to their services outlined on the exhibitor application. Multiple exhibitors may not share exhibitor sites. Only exhibitors, organizations and products that are approved by the BRTF EVENT COMMITTEE will be permitted on site at the event. The application deadline is March 31, 2023.
Participation as a vendor provides for exhibitors to reach into each of our managed social-media channels. Exhibitors’ company names, logos and links will be featured on the event website at BlueRidgeTroutFest.com. Exhibitors can post, share and like content on the festival’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Every post/like/share deepens the festival’s reach into a growing range of contacts and exposure across our social media channels to build a bigger, better Trout Fest for everyone.
See you at Trout Fest!
Thanks a bunch for your interest and participation in Trout Fest ’23. Vendor services will ramp up on April 1 with updated information on load-in/load-out, placement and more.
Hook’ em!
Bob Borgwat
Event coordinator, Blue Ridge Trout & Outdoor Adventures Festival
Giving Away Game-Changing Fishing Tips and Rewards for Fish!
FORECASTING FOR FISHING
At some point in your life, you probably wondered - "it sure would be nice if I could tell what the fishing was like on my favorite lake." Guess What? YOU CAN, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD).
Check out the annually updated Fishing Forecasts for 31 Georgia reservoirs and 19 rivers for best bets, technique tips, maps and more. Read More HERE.....
REEL IN YOUR REWARD WHILE FISHING
Almost 300 Georgia Angler Awards were earned last year, be sure to get yours in 2023! Angler Awards are for catches that meet or beat a specific weight or length for a species. Read More HERE....
MORE INFO:
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Questions? Give us a call at 1-800-366-2661
Visit us at georgiawildlife.com
Headquarters address:
2067 U.S. Highway 278 SE
Social Circle, GA 30025
The True Cast
WANNA FLY FISH? DON'T TIE YOURSELF UP IN KNOTS
Knot tying doesn't have to be the limiting factor to you getting into the sport.
TROUT CAMP 2023
Boys & girls , age 13 to 15, learn & practice the sport of fly-fishing and study sound conservation
The Georgia Trout Camp was founded in 2004 by the GA Council of Trout Unlimited. Chairman Charlie Breithaupt, Secretary Kathy Breithaupt, and Executive Committee member and owner of the Atlanta Fly Fishing School, Mack Martin, proposed the idea to the GA Council Executive Committee in September of 2003. A unanimous decision was made to support the Camp financially and philosophically.
The mission of Trout Camp, June 4-9, is to introduce boys and girls ages 13-15, to Trout Fishing and Coldwater Conservation ideals. Our Camp is a six-day overnight camp, and we are housed at Tallulah Falls School in Tallulah Falls, GA. We skipped 2020 due to Covid concerns and had a weekend camp in 2021. In 2022 it was business as usual with our typical 6-day 5-night camp.
The camp is supported financially by the GA Council of Trout Unlimited, private donors, and camper tuition. We have made every effort to keep our costs reasonable for the campers. Our tuition which includes room and board, transportation, and equipment is $700. The cost per camper does not cover the expenses, so we supplement our finances with our Fly-Fishing Dream Trip raffle that we have held successfully since 2005.
We accept 12 campers and average about 30 volunteers. Since 2004 we have graduated over 400 young conservationists and anglers. We also enjoy our Young Mentors. These are select Camp graduates who would like to return to camp for a mentoring experience. Our volunteers are TU members (who have an approved background check) who are invited to join us during the day, and spend the night in the dorm, as space allows. Meals are included.
Our curriculum includes: Casting, Knot Tying, Fly Tying, Stocking the River or Stream with the Department of Natural Resources, Stream Entomology, Stream Etiquette, Reading the Water, Conservation Work with the US Forest Service and GA DNR, Equipment and Maintenance, Camaraderie, Fun and Fishin’!
Learn more about Trout Camp online.
See you on the River!
Kathy Breithaupt, Ph.D.
Chairman, GA Council of Trout Unlimited
support your local tu business members
Right here in Blue Ridge and the surrounding North Georgia region, four of the strongest supporters of Blue Ridge Mountain Trout Unlimited and Blue Ridge Trout & Outdoor Adventures Festival (aka Trout Fest -- the chapter's primary, annual fundraising event) have chosen Trout Unlimited Business memberships as part of their support for TU at both national and local levels.
We hope you are passionate about supporting TU Business members. They are partners in TU who help spread our conservation to their angling communities — they are truly our representatives on the water. In return, TU features them in its quarterly magazine, lists them on the national website and give them free Trout Unlimited gift memberships to share with customers, clients and partners who stand behind TU's mission to protect, reconnect and restore the trout and salmon resources we love so much. These businesses put their money where their mouth is and give back to the resources they love and depend on.
Local support of BRMTU by TU Business members include the Atlanta Fly Fishing School, Blue Ridge Fly Fishing School and Reel 'Em In Guide Service. Each is a significant contributor to the education, conservation and community outreach programs of BRMTU.
- Atlanta Fly Fishing School is a TU Business member of COHUTTA TU an original and ongoing DIAMOND-LEVEL sponsor of Trout Fest. AFFS is responsible for attracting thousands of visitors to Trout Fest who enjoy the fly-fishing instruction offered by certified instructors. Thousands more from all over the world have chosen Atlanta Fly Fishing School, based in Cumming, GA, to improve their casting and angling skills, and they keep coming back for more.
- Blue Ridge Fly Fishing School is a TU Business member of BRMTU and joined Trout Fest in 2022 as a BRONZE-LEVEL sponsor. Owner Becky Hulsey also joined the Trout Fest 2023 organization committee. Becky and her husband, David, are both FFF-certified fly-casting instructors and are locally based in Blue Ridge, operating guided fly-fishing services across the North Georgia mountains. We look forward to her participation and bringing her skills to Trout Fest next spring.
- Reel 'Em In Guide Service is a TU Business member of BRMTU, operating guided fly-fishing service on many local private and public trout streams in Fannin and Gilmer counties., including more than 4,500 miles of fishable water in the Chattahoochee National Forest.
- Alpharetta Outfitters is a TU Business member of UPPER CHATTAHOOCHEE TU, operating fly-fishing services (retail & guided) in Alpharetta, GA, and has participated as a vendor at all five of the annual Trout Fest events in Blue Ridge. The staff shares its passion for fly fishing with every angler—novice or advanced, young or old, man or woman. A not-for-profit business, any extra income after expenses goes to monthly donations to various organizations and individuals.
Across the country, more than 400 great TU Business members support us financially, physically and in every other way. They donate to their local TU chapter banquet. They show up to support us at the planning and zoning board meeting. They email their elected representatives in the state house when we need them to do that. They fly to DC to testify on Capitol Hill. They’re our hometown businesses and we should support them.
Check them out in the back pages of TROUT magazine or search for them by state on our website. You’ll find a vast array of opportunities for your holiday shopping. The best fly shops and outfitters are there, of course, and we’ll come back to them. But there are great gear manufacturers like Winston, Scott, Fishpond and Vedavoo. There are great businesses that produce apparel like FisheWear, Damsel Fly Fishing and Simms. There are commercial fishermen, wineries, breweries, investment managers, media professionals and insurance companies. Every one of them is an ardent supporter of what we do to protect, reconnect, restore and sustain coldwater fisheries across America.
But at the center of it all are the businesses that form the nucleus of fly fishing and conservation, the fly shops, guides and outfitters who are the heart of fly fishing in any community. These are small family-owned businesses that trade on Main Street, not Wall Street. When you buy that holiday gift from our local TU Business members -- Atlanta Fly Fishing School, Blue Ridge Fly Fishing School and Reel 'Em In Guide Service -- you’re supporting local families and local communities. But maybe just as important, you’re supporting another TU member, a teammate in the greatest coldwater conservation organization in the world.
Check them out. Buy some gear. Book a trip. Buy a gift card. You’ll be glad you did, and so will the fish.
Support local TU Business members who give back to Blue Ridge Mountain TU.
Shop local -- Enjoy THESE serviceS/products from our members
Outfitter/guided wade/float fishing and fly-fishing/fly tying instruction, fly-fishing gear, flies/fly-tying materials, outdoor clothing, accessories and more.
Outfitter/guided wade/float fishing and fly-fishing instruction, fly-fishing gear, flies/fly-tying materials, outdoor clothing, fishing kayaks, accessories and more.
Outfitter/guided wade/float fishing and fly-fishing instruction in Georgia, North Carolina & Tennessee
Outfitter/guided wade/float fishing in Georgia and North Carolina. Fly-fishing instruction for beginners to advanced anglers.
Outfitter/guided wade/float fishing and fly-fishing instruction in Georgia.
Fish pix & more
Chapter member Bob Borgwat landed this redfish in December among the mangroves in Ozello, Florida.
Chapter members Jim Reich and Bob Wetzsteon traveled in mid-July to Buras, LA, to tackle redfish, spotted seatrout and sheepshead with WB Outfitters.
Anticipation was rising at first light for chapter members Jim Reich and Bob Wetzsteon while crossing the Mississippi River near Buras, LA, in July.
BRMTU member David Cargile said it was a spectacular take by this rainbow on a June Bug dry fly. Caught and released on June 29 on Noontootla Creek.
Chapter member Harmon Smith shows off a fine South Holston River brown trout caught during the members' trip in late spring 2022.
Chapter VP Mel Richardson landed this redfish in summer 2022 in the waters off the North Carolina co