River Through Atlanta
Chris Scalley started River Through Atlanta Guide Service in 1994. He was inspired by the thriving flyfishing guide industry in the Rocky Mountain West where he took his first drift boat trip down the Snake River in Jackson Hole WY in 1991. Chris approached Gary Merrimen at The Fish Hawk Fly Shop about his ambitions to start a guide Service on the river and Gary hired him as an employee in the shop.
During this time there were rumblings of a DNR fishing regulation change on the Chattahoochee River below Buford Dam downstream to Peachtree Creek to a year-round trout season. In 1995 the Georgia DNR did away with a closed season on the River and we have not looked back! Because of our mild climate and our late trout spawn it was a perfect match for anglers. This was one man show for 10 years where Chris worked landscape and remodel construction during the winter to make ends meet.
Slowly the business was built up over the years and weekends were so busy that in 1998 I hired my first guide and purchased an additional drift boat. Now we use dozens of boats and guides for trips going 7days a week 365 days a year if clients so desire. My Brother John and I grew up duck hunting locally in the Chattahoochee River Watershed on private leased wetlands. After spending many hours on the River with our clients the subject of hunting often came up while fishing. In 2005 we began offering local Ga duck hunts and also regional Tennessee River flyway hunts just two hours west in Alabama.
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