Sebrune Greene caught this stringer of channel cats on the lower Hooch using rod-and-reel tactics. Photo by Stephen E. Davis

Like many anglers, veteran Chattahoochee catfisherman Robert Garrett has lost fish because of straightened hooks. But neither he nor anyone else fully realized the size of fish now swimming in the waters below the Walter F. George Lock and Dam.

"Last year," he said, "I caught several blue cats from the river weighing more than 20 pounds, with the largest weighing 27 pounds. Even though I had fished there for years, and had my hooks straightened, it wasn't until I met a commercial fisherman at the Franklin Landing that I understood why. He had just caught a 66-pound blue catfish on a rod and reel."

While not exceptionally large for the species -- the current world record is a 121-pound, 8-ounce blue caught on Jan. 16, 2004, in Texas by Cody Mullennix -- the 66-pounder shows how well blue catfish have adapted to the fertile Chattahoochee River. According to fisheries biologists, blues found their way into the drainage when heavy rains burst farm pond dams in the spring of 1990. Seven years later, biologists began to see large numbers of blues in the lower river.

As the blues worked their way downstream, flatheads worked upstream from Lake Seminole. The latter species was introduced into the Flint River in the 1950s and until recent years had not entered the Chattahoochee. On Garrett's last trip for flatheads, which was below the Andrews Lock and Dam, he caught 40 flatheads with an average weight of 3 pounds. His biggest weighed 17 pounds.

Now that blues and flatheads overlap, the lower river offers excellent fishing for these species, as well as channel and white catfish. On a good day, skilled anglers can expect to catch a mixed bag of whiskered fish weighing 100 pounds.

PICKING THE BEST TIME
Stretching for approximately 52 miles from the Walter F. George Lock and Dam to the tri-border of Alabama, Florida and Georgia, the lower Chattahoochee is actually two pools with their elevations controlled by the dams at Fort Gaines and Columbia. The former generates electrical power; the latter maintains the water level for navigation. The dams are separated by a distance of 29 miles. Daily fluctuations range from a maximum of about 16 feet below the Walter F. George Dam to up to eight feet below the Andrews Dam.

Obviously, this tremendous change in water flow affects fishing. According to Sebrune Greene, who is known by fellow anglers as "C," the strong current is key to catching big stringers.

"If they are not generating," said the long-time catman, "don't even go fishing. If they are, the fish will feed anytime of the day or night. Fishing is great whenever the water is flowing. But the best times occur during the first hour as the water rises and the last hour as the water is receding.

"The flowing water causes the fish to move into current breaks, and it moves the forage around," Greene added. "This situation causes a feeding frenzy. And when the generators stop, the fish realize that it's going to end, so they gorge themselves again."

Garrett has a slightly different approach to fishing current, one that is focused on the type of fishing he's planning.

"Because the water level fluctuates so much," he said, "wait a couple of hours until the water level has stabilized. If you put your gear out before they start generating, it may be underwater after the water rises. But if you plan to fish with jugs, wait until they stop generating. The current slows, but there's still enough to move the jugs. I like them to move, not wash away.