Connasena Creek, Georgia
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On The Fly Freshwater
May 2025
Article and photos by Jimmy Jacobs
There are a few instances when an adjunct to the fishing proves the highlight of visiting a trout stream. Just such a situation can be found in northwest Georgia on little-known Connesena Creek, a tributary of the Etowah River.
Located in Bartow County, just north of the historic village of Kingston, the stream derives its name from a Cherokee Indian family that lived on its shore. Connesena translates from their native tongue to be “dragging canoe” in English. This creek offers one of the more unusual trout fishing options in the Peach State.
Positioned at the juncture of the Ridge and Valley geophysical region with the Piedmont Plateau to the south, Connesena is at the edge of trout country in the North Georgia. Unlike most of the lowland creeks near it, however, it can support trout for part of the year. That ability ties into a lot of the history that makes this flow interesting.
Nestled against the boundaries of the Beretta Shooting Grounds that are owned by the first-rate golf and shooting resort of Barnsley Gardens, the stream runs through a 40-acre strip of county-owned property along Hall Station Road. This Springbank Green Space Park has roughly one mile of the creek.
The spring run at Spring Bank.
The name Springbank comes from a pair of circumstances. First of all, the site of the Springbank Academy, a 19th-century young ladies finishing school, was situated along the creek. Also, a spring flows from out of a bank, just behind where the academy once stood. That spring is also the reason that trout can be stocked in the stream. During the fall through spring, water as cold as 58 degrees makes a short run down to empty into Connesena Creek. Based on that, the Georgia Wildlife Resource Division stocks the stream with rainbow trout twice each month from April to July 4.
The stream is stocked with rainbow trout in the spring and early summer.
The ladies school was located on the antebellum plantation also called Spring Bank that was owned by Rev. Charles Wallace Howard. He later served as a captain in the 63rd Georgia Infantry of the Confederate Army. On a personal note, my great-great-grandfather Nathan Jacobs was a private in that same regiment.
A number of other facts sets apart Connesena Creek and the tract on which it flows. The second largest oak tree in the Peach State grows near the stream. This also is an area that has a rich Civil War history. The armies of the Union’s Gen. William T. Sherman and Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnson crisscrossed the area during Sherman’s march toward Atlanta.
Another connection to that war is found in the form of the Howard Family Cemetery near the creek. It holds the grave of Everett Julio, who painted The Last Meeting of Lee and Jackson on the eve the Battle of Chancellorsville, probably the most iconic work of art to come from that period. He was teaching art at the Spring Bank Academy when he passed away in 1879 and was buried in the family plot.
Finally, near the lower end of the stream on the public property, an old grist mill stands on the hillside near the creek. Unfortunately, the name of this mill has been lost, since there are no records of who built or ran it.
As for the fishing on Connesena Creek, access is good to the stream, which has a few deeper holes along its course. The creek has a very mild gradient with bend pools separated by very mild riffles. A hiking trail runs downstream from the parking lot to the mill site, with several access points. Obviously, the best time for fishing here is in the spring months when it is being stocked. There likely is very little, if any, carry over of fish through the hotter summer months.
Finding Connesena Creek involves driving north from Kingston on Hall Station Road. When the driveway for the Beretta Shooting Grounds appears on the right, turn into that drive and immediately cross the bridge over the stream. The parking area for the green space is on the left. All of the public access to the creek is downstream from this site.
The old mill at the lower end of public access.
Be aware that in an effort to control past problems with loitering, the Bartow County Parks and Recreation Department at 31 Beavers Circle in Cartersville now requires visitors to obtain a free parking pass before venturing to the area.
