November 2019

There's more than fly-fishing  

 -- archery, biking, birdwatching, interpretive programs, geocaching, hiking & hunting -- going on at 

Smithgall Woods State Park.

Learn more in our 

 conversation with Kathy Church, Program Director @ Smithgall Woods State Park.  

9 am ... November 9

Faith Presbyterian Church

56 Mountain Street

Blue Ridge, Georgia

(Click here for calendar details)

• Nov 9 -- Blue Ridge Mountain TU Chapter Meeting, 9 AM, Faith Presbyterian  Church
• Nov  15 -- Trout Fest Committee Meeting, 3 PM Chamber of Commerce Meeting Room
• Nov 16  -- Annual Hike and Help the Hemlocks treatment day. 9 AM to 3 PM.  Long Creek Falls, Stover Creek & Noontootla/Three Forks 
• Dec 7 -- Christmas Dinner, details TBA
• Dec 18 -- release of trout from the Trout In the Classroom Program, Tammen Park/Toccoa River

 BRMTU's funding program supports the Trout in the Classroom school project at Fannin Middle School. And the trout are  is growing up! Hatched from eggs, the young trout are swimming nicely and feeding well. Great job all involved! 

Trout (or Salmon) in the Classroom (TIC or SIC) offers students of all ages a chance to raise Salmonids in a classroom setting and then release them into a nearby stream or river.  Caring for the fish fosters a conservation ethic in the students, and the act of walking to a streambank and directly releasing the fingerlings into the water makes a concrete connection between caring for the fish and caring for the water.

Visit TroutInTheClassroom for more information. 

The Upper Chattahoochee Chapter

of Trout Unlimited was awarded the Gold Trout Award at the recent annual meeting of Trout Unlimited in Rogers, Arkansas. The Gold Trout Award, TU's highest award for chapters, recognizes the top chapter across the United States (out of 386) that took innovative and thoughtful approaches over the year to building community and advancing TU's mission.

Selection for the Gold Trout Award is judged on the following areas:

• Conservation Impact;
• Communications;
• Member and Community Engagement;
• Fundraising; and
• Volunteer Leadership Development.

The first trout stocking of the season takes place Friday, Nov. 1, on the "delayed harvest" section of the upper Toccoa River ... and you can help!

BRMTU has long been given the opportunity to help stock the Toccoa River in fall as the "delayed harvest" season opens up annually on Nov. 1.  

Volunteers for this year's stocking 

should arrive at the Sandy Bottom canoe/kayak site  9:15-9:30 am. High water will limit this first stocking to bankside access only. Wear your wading gear and bring your easy-to-carry buckets, coolers and large plastic bins easy to carry fish to the riverside.

Team leader: Sam Miller, 404-580-4121

What a great job this year on Rivers Alive 2019 that marked outstanding cooperation between public volunteers, service organizations, government agencies and the  membership of Blue Ridge Mountain Trout Unlimited! Your combined efforts and partnership grows physical once a year on the waterways of Fannin County -- the Trout Capital of Georgia -- and the surrounding mountainlands.  Wire, concrete, car parts -- even a pool slide! -- was among the tons of trash collected on Oct. 12 along many sections of the Toccoa River and its tributaries. 

Rivers Alive takes place every fall to create awareness of and involvement in the preservation of Georgia's water resources. Help us clean our rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands by joining in support of Rivers Alive next year.