Trout fishing the Cartecay: stocking, licenses and private water

Georgia DNR stocks the Cartecay River in Gilmer County, Georgia, once a month from March through August. That comes from DNR’s 2026 trout stocking list, which puts the Cartecay in its Table 3 group, “stocked once each month from March-August.” The river has no special regulations, so statewide trout rules apply. The harder question is where you are allowed to stand, because most of the banks are private.

The 2026 stocking schedule

DNR stocks the Cartecay and two of its tributaries. The table shows what its 2026 list says for each.

The Tickanetley and Clear Creek lines come from the same DNR list (DNR, DNR). A “Turkey Creek” also appears in DNR’s twice-a-year group, but the PDF layout leaves its county unclear, so we are not counting the Turkey Creek that feeds Clear Creek as stocked.

DNR says stocking overall begins in March and runs through October, and that each water’s frequency depends on area, fishing pressure and summer water temperatures (DNR). Statewide, DNR says 160 streams can be stocked with rainbow, brown and brook trout, grown at three state hatcheries and one federal hatchery (DNR). It does not publish the exact stocking spots on the Cartecay.

One 2026 date is on the record. DNR’s weekly stocking report for April 20 to 24, 2026 lists the Cartecay as stocked on April 23, along with the Coosawattee, the Ellijay River, Owl Town Creek and Tickanetley Creek in Gilmer County (DNR weekly report, archived). The weekly report is the place to watch during the season.

The rules on the water

The Cartecay is a plain trout stream. In DNR’s trout map data it has no special regulations, no delayed harvest, and no heavy-stocking flag (DNR map data). It is not on Georgia’s 2026-27 list of special-regulation trout streams (Georgia eRegulations).

• Season: open year-round, like all of Georgia’s designated trout waters (Georgia eRegulations).
• Limit: 8 trout a day, brook, rainbow, brown and their hybrids combined (Georgia eRegulations).
• Gear: one handheld pole and line, no live fish for bait, and no seining or trapping baitfish (Georgia eRegulations).
• These regulations run from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 (Georgia eRegulations).

You will also see the Cartecay called “primary” and “secondary” trout water. That is a water-quality label from Georgia EPD, primary above the mouth of Clear Creek and secondary below it (Georgia EPD rules). It governs things like streamside buffers and ponds, not your creel.

Licenses and what they cost

Resident anglers 16 and older need both a Georgia fishing license and a trout license to fish designated trout waters or to fish for or keep trout (Georgia eRegulations). Nonresidents 16 and older need the nonresident versions of both (Georgia eRegulations).

Prices are from Georgia eRegulations and its trout license table. DNR says both licenses can be bought at GoOutdoorsGeorgia.com (DNR).

Fishing for bass? Georgia’s designated trout waters list for Gilmer County covers all streams not listed elsewhere, with a few named exceptions, and the Cartecay is not one of them (Georgia eRegulations). Our reading is that you need the trout license on the Cartecay even when you are after bass. Confirm that with DNR before you rely on it.

Where you can legally fish

DNR’s own warning applies here: many trout streams are on private property, you are responsible for knowing when you cross a property line, and you need landowner permission before entering or fishing private land (DNR).

The public option is the Rich Mountain WMA Cartecay Tract, a DNR property that lists river fishing among its activities (DNR). You need a hunting license, fishing license or Lands Pass to use it, so your fishing license covers entry. Its launch is at the end of Canoe Launch Road off Ga. 52; our river access page has directions.

Georgia Wild Trout, a guide service, says Cartecay trout are mostly found above Highway 52, where the river runs entirely through private land (Georgia Wild Trout). It says the river is stocked along its bridges but wading access is very limited (Georgia Wild Trout), and that Clear Creek is stocked at the Blackberry Mountain Bridge (Georgia Wild Trout). No official source calls any of those bridges public access. On Tickanetley Creek, the same guide says the water is almost entirely private, with public sections only in the uppermost reaches below Springer Mountain (Georgia Wild Trout). For more, see who owns the banks.

Private guided water

Reel ‘Em In Guide Service runs catch-and-release fly fishing on a private, trophy-managed half mile of the Cartecay on a 200-acre farm about 15 minutes from Ellijay (Reel ‘Em In). It is private, paid, guided water. A half-day “Farm on the Cartecay” trip is listed at $375 for one angler or $525 for two, with a 3% credit card fee (Reel ‘Em In). You still need your Georgia fishing and trout licenses.

Bass and stripers lower down

The lower river warms up. Georgia Wild Trout says the sections near Ellijay hold more redeye bass, seasonal striped bass and other warmwater fish in summer than trout (Georgia Wild Trout). It also says Carters Lake stripers run up the Coosawattee to the Cartecay each spring on a false spawning run (Georgia Wild Trout).

On redeye bass, a 2018 DNR blog post says they are found in the Coosawattee, Conasauga and Etowah rivers, and USGS places the Cartecay in the Coosawattee subbasin (DNR blog). Georgia’s statewide black bass limit is 10 a day, with no more than 5 of species such as Coosa or shoal bass (Georgia eRegulations). Our fishing page keeps the current list, and water levels and safety has the live gauge for planning a day on the river.

Questions people ask

Written by the Cartecay River Guide Editorial Team. AI tools help us draft; people check every fact before it publishes.