CHATTOOGA RIVER
Three miles from any road access and deep in the Ellicott Wilderness, the Chattooga National Wild and Scenic River exits North Carolina to form the uppermost section of border between South Carolina and Georgia. From Ellicott Rock, the tri-state border marker for which the wilderness is named, to the U.S. Highway 28 bridge, the Chattooga offers more than 10 miles of backcountry trout waters, and deep, dark pools throughout those 10 miles support fine populations of brown trout.

No trout are stocked upstream of the Burrells Ford bridge, three miles south of the border, and wild browns are the main attraction. Downstream of the bridge, the river contains a mix of wild trout and stocked fish, including 20,000 brown trout that are stocked as sub-adults every fall.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Wildlife Resources Division and U.S. Forest Service stock this section by helicopter to help spread the fish over several rugged and remote miles of river. Between Burrells Ford and Big Bend Falls, three miles downstream, wild fish make up roughly two-thirds of the brown trout population. Below the bridge, helicopter stocked fish become predominant.

Brown trout enjoy good nourishment in the Chattooga. Insect hatches are far better than on most Southern Appalachian rivers, and populations of crawfish and various small fish offer great forage for adult browns. The river's drop-pool character also creates great brown trout habitat in the form of massive pools, some of which offer sanctuaries because there is no practical way to fish them.

The result is that the browns grow to good sizes. Fish up to about 20 inches show up from the North Carolina line all the way to the state Highway 28 bridge, according to Dan Rankin, upstate fisheries biologist for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Big fish are least abundant in the wild trout waters and hardest to catch near the Burrells Ford bridge because of heavy fishing pressure.

Stocked rainbows make up the biggest part of the catch near Burrells Ford and in the delayed-harvest section, which is the final three-mile section of trout waters upstream of the Highway 28 crossing. Because browns predominate in other areas, fishing can be a feast-or-famine affair. The browns' fussiness and disdain for feeding in bright daylight make one of the South's finest trout streams sometimes seem like it has no fish in it.

That said, when the Chattooga is right, it can be an absolute gem, with wild browns coming up to snatch insects (and dry flies) from the surface. And while dry-fly fishing can be great, anglers increase their odds of doing battle with big browns by stripping a big streamer or by spin-fishing with a Rebel Wee-Crawfish or a minnow-imitating plug.

The time of the day also is important. The Chattooga is far better late in the afternoon than at any other time. Anglers who fish through early afternoon and even those anglers who get off the river an hour before dark miss the best hour of the day. Truly the best way to fish the Chattooga is to backpack in, camp deep in the backcountry and fish until the sky is black.