Fly Fishing the Tallapoosa River

One of my favorite things to do off of Lake Martin is fly fishing on the Tallapoosa river. The Tallapoosa is what feeds Lake Martin and creates the Lake. But, very few people know that if you just drive a few miles northeast of Alexander City and a little north west of Dadeville, you can access some of the most beautiful fishing the state has to offer.

That’s true. If you check out public boat ramps like the one that is at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, where Highway 49 crosses over the Tallapoosa River, you’ll find one of the great spots to access the river.

A Day of Fly Fishing

Back in April, my dad, Walter, and I took a day off. Well, I took a day off of work, and he took a day out of his schedule of talking to people in downtown Alex City to instruct both me and the guide in the fine art of fly fishing for bass on the Tallapoosa River.

As always, I think the best way to do this is to hire a guide from East Alabama Flyfishing. On this day, we fished with Chris “Murph” Murphy, and he did a great job. Even though I live here and fish here a lot, I do not have an inflatable drift boat. So, personally, even though I’m a “local”, I think it’s better to hire a guy that has the best gear and does this a lot.

This proved true yet again with Murph. He did all the work, supplied the gear, and all we did was show up ready to fish. I did take my own rod, but that’s about it.

We took it easy while Murph rowed and steered us towards the best spots on the river, coaching us on our casting and spot placement.

The Excitement of Fly Fishing Native Fish

The big fish were hungry, and I caught the two biggest Alabama bass I’ve ever caught in my life on that one trip. We were catching them mostly on streamers. The exciting part was I got to see both of those really big fish eat the fly.

I’m usually not very good at keeping my eye on my fly when I’m fishing streamers. I read a lot about these people that watch fish come up and follow the fly, approach the fly, eat it, etc. I am just not that skilled. However, I don’t know what was working for me this day. I could see both of those big fish come out from under logs to smash my streamer.

That’s not to say that Alabama bass were the only things biting. We did catch several Tallapoosa redeye bass, which are native to this drainage. It’s always fun to me to catch a Tallapoosa red eye because I know how long they have been here and how special it is that they are unique to our river drainage. The older I get, the more I like to catch native fish where they have always been as opposed to interlopers of any sort.

This may sound crazy to fly fishing purist, but to me, it is as exciting to catch a Tallapoosa bass here as it is to tie into a cutthroat on the Yellowstone River or a brookie in the Smokies.

Yes, brown trout are fun and can get really massive. But, at one time, their ancestors were swimming in Deutschland. Give me fish that have been here since De Soto, and it’s just more exciting to me.

East Alabama Fly Fishing

As the world gets smaller with the Internet, social media, it just means more to me now. Everything can be everywhere with enough time, effort, and money, so doesn’t it make it more special when we experience new places and their native flora and fauna?

If you agree with me, you might want to take a trip down to Tallapoosa. East Alabama Fly Fishing has a great set of guys to help you do that. You don’t have to fish, if you don’t want to. They’ll let you ride and just soak in the nature if that’s your thing.

Flyfishing the Tallapoosa River