I’m going to see some relatives this fall and want to fish. I have went with a guide in Allatoona once and will probably have to go that route again. But has anyone fished the Etawah river or have any of you Georgians fished Lake Allatoona before.  I may have access to a boat other than going the guided trip route.

I would be happy catching some catfish or any bass especially strippers.

I am not super experienced on Allatoona, but I have never thought of it as a great catfish lake.  Stripper fishing can be good on live bait in the summer, but they dramatically lower lake levels every year starting in September.  But it is usually not too bad until mid October and that can make stripper fishing more challenging depending on boat traffic.  If you have access to a boat and trailer, I would recommend Lake Lanier.  Stripper fishing is usually pretty good and I rarely get skunked on largemouth.  It would be an hour or so away depending on traffic.  If you want catfish, I don’t have a lot of options for you.  I go to Lake Oconee or the Flynt River when I want that kind of a tussle.  But both are pretty far from where you’re gonna be.

Thanks   Seems like the lower water level would make fishing better

Strippers are down at the Clermont Lounge on Ponce de Leon.

Allatoona is known to locals as the Dead Sea, but you can catch some nice crappie, bass and stripers there

5-10 years ago the striper fishing on the Lower Etowah was excellent. It's not as good as it used to be. I'd still rather be on the river than the lake though. Guides still run the section up from Rome to roughly Hwy 411 in Cartersville and I'm sure they're still catching striper using shad. Since Striper Soup(bait shop) closed anglers that aren't using a guide have to cast net their own shad. You can catch striper with bucktails but a cut shad is the way to go.

If you go on this section during the weekend expect large floatilla's of tubers all day.

Very little striper fishing up the river this time of the year, they are back down the lake in deeper water. In the spring though up the river is the place to be when the fish make a spawning run.  

OP you would be well served to hire a guide if you actually want to catch some fish. Try First Bite, they are on Allatoona and Carters Lake daily.   Allatoona has some decent striper and hybrid fishing, largemouth is spotty, crappie can be good over structure. Knowing where the structure is can be a challenge without local knowledge. When I've fished exclusively for striper it has been a watch the graph or bird activity to find baitfish kind of fishing, they don't use structure the way other species do.

I was fly fishing with my son on the etowah yesterday but think the Cartecay is better for fly.

Where will you be staying when you’re here, the Etowah, Hooch are closer in. Limited experience fishing the lakes around here.