Football games, county fairs, colorful leaves, apple cider, the whitetail rut --fall brings a plethora of pleasant thoughts to most people's minds and everyone's list is a little bit different. For many Georgia sportsmen, fishing is not super high on the list. They associate that sort of fun mostly with spring or summer.

Bull red drum show up all along the Peach State coast in the autumn months. Photo by Jeff Samsel.

For anyone who likes to catch fish, though, overlooking autumn's offerings is truly a serious mistake. Fall brings some of the very best opportunities of the year on many different waterways, and because so many sportsmen have hunting on their minds, crowds tend to be light.

We've scoured the Peach State with fall fishing in mind and selected five of the finest opportunities available from the mountains to the coast. Each is different from the rest in terms of the setting, the techniques and the kind of fish targeted. The common denominator is excellent fall fishing action. Chattooga River Trout

Autumn offers double delight on the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River in Rabun County. First, the river's fine population of wild brown trout spawn at this time, making the biggest fish in the river less wary than normal. In addition, the "delay period" of the delayed harvest section begins on Nov. 1, with three miles of river heavily stocked, but open only to catch-and-release fishing with single-hook artificial lures. Adding even greater value, the river tends to run at a nice level for wading during October and November, and temperatures are normally comfortably cool.

Some brown trout can be found throughout the Chattooga's run along the Georgia/South Carolina border, but the best populations of wild fish are found in the first handful of miles below the North Carolina border. Just downstream of the best wild brown waters, semi-wild fish, which are helicopter stocked as fingerlings, also attempt to spawn and provide similarly good fall prospects.

The most practical access to the upper Chattooga is at the Burrells Ford bridge. From parking areas near the bridge, all access is by foot, but trails on the South Carolina side follow the river both up- and downstream. A reciprocal licensing agreement allows anglers to fish either side of the river with a valid license from either state.

Catchable-sized rainbows are also stocked below the bridge, but wild browns are the main attraction to many anglers who venture to the upper Chattooga in the fall.

Unlike other times, when mature browns are usually in deep, dark holes, are very hard to reach, and active only under low-light conditions, brown trout are apt to be almost anywhere this time of year. They are much more likely than normal to be spotted cruising, especially near gravel bars that offer spawning habitat.

Good flies for autumn browns are bushy attractor dry flies, terrestrial patterns and Woolly Buggers. Spin-fishermen do well with Rebel Teeny Wee Crawfish, minnow-imitating plugs and small spoons.

The delayed harvest section of the Chattooga, which is located well downstream of the best wild trout waters, extends three miles from the mouth of Reed Creek to the State Route 28 bridge. Except right at the highway bridge, all access is by foot travel. This is a fairly large and beautiful section of river that offers exceptional trout habitat through the cool months, and fall fishing can be outstanding.

November can be especially good because the trout have just been stocked and are not yet "educated." Anglers can use a lot of different approaches and enjoy good success. It's worth stressing, though, that only single-hook artificial lures may be used or possessed on these waters beginning Nov. 1.