Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report - 12/26/25

Here’s your UO New Year’s fishing report, courtesy of several friends and staff members who were able to hit the water this week.

Region trout waters remain droughty low and crystal clear. Thankfully, they are much warmer than normal due to this recent stretch of pleasant weather. Hit them before next Tuesday, when winter returns via a sub-freezing cold front.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=02330450&legacy=1

Streams are so warm that a couple of our reporters even had luck on dries over the holiday.  Both blueline  wilds and Delayed Harvest stockers looked up during the last few warm days. Some of the DH stockers are big, too! Tailwater fish are cooperating, as well.

Our lake anglers took some time off, so we’ve got no breaking news on reservoir action. We expect it to be pretty good, too, during this warm spell.

Our Christmas tales are detailed in our weekly fishing report, right here:

http://blog.angler.management/

(Link in bio)

Note that we’ll take a little time off for the new year, closing our stores at 1PM on the Eve and all day on the 1st. It’s back to our normal hours on the 2nd. Wes has your Tuesday nights covered during January and February. 

Happy New Year to all of you, our dear fishing friends!

Helen: 706-878-3083. Open 8-5 daily.

Clarkesville: 706-754-0203. Open 8-5 from Monday thru Saturday.

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com

Wes’ Hot Fly List:  

Dries: parachute blue wing olive, tan elk hair caddis, small tan chubby, parachute Adams. 

Nymphs & Wets: 

DH Stockers: twister egg, ruby midge, pheasant tail or Frenchie, diamond midge, rainbow warrior, Duracell, micro girdle bug.

Mountain streams: zebra midge, soft hackles, micro mayfly, prince nymph, hares ear.

Streamers:

Black and olive woolly buggers, Sparkle minnow, barely legal, UV polar Jig.

Reservoir Bass & Stripers:

clouser minnow, low fat minnow, Cowen’s somethin else.

Headwaters:

They’re low and gin-clear, but warm enough to encourage residents to look up. Here’s the Hooch at our Helen shop at 7:30 this morning;

UO buddy Weston hiked high above Helen this morning (26th) and treated himself to some wild bows and specks. A small jigged leech worked in deeper pools while some dries worked in runs and shallow pools.

Delayed Harvest:

We had mixed reports at the shop. Again, the success rates were dependent on angler expertise.  A Smith Creek angler came in the shop today to resupply and said he had a fun morning on that creek. He said that most of his nymphs were ignored, but fish really liked his small tan dries. Most were big and some were trophies, and he complimented GAWRD on the size of their December DH stockers.

UO buddy Athens Jay said: “Unseasonably warm weather got me thinking that trout might be getting frisky. I used some excellent information from UO’s recent blog posts and headed to north Georgia. I started with a double nymph rig under a strike indicator and had good luck all through the middle of the day. I even had a fish munch on my indicator! Water was low and clear and most fish were found in deep runs. The fly of the day was a jig style variation of a Hare’s ear with a gold tungsten bead. I tied this based on some information from Blog contributor Ryan Hartley. 

I also caught several on a peach-colored egg. It was a good day.”

Stockers: 

Your best bets are the two tailwaters for summer holdovers and  just outside the DH stream boundaries to catch the wash-downs and swim-ups after flood events. 

Private Waters: 

We had some successful trips prior to our Xmas break. While low flows make the fishing really challenging, the warmer water temperatures have the fish active. 

UO-Helen manager Wes: “Here are my fishing reports from last weekend.  I fished on Saturday morning with repeat clients Brad & Colin on the Soque. Despite the cold temps the fish were very cooperative. Small tungsten weighted eggs and midges were the best flies.

I fished Sunday morning with a duo of lady anglers on the Soque. It was their first time fly fishing and they did great! Small tungsten egg flies were our best flies as we saw several fish on redds in the riffles. A root beer midge was also a productive pattern.”

Rabunite “Dr Tom” chimed in: For Christmas my son hired Jake to take us to Rainbow Point on Soque.   Much fun!  Jake had the perfect temperament and we both caught nice fish.  Makes me want to find a stretch of stream myself to grow some big ones!”

Tailwaters:

Remember that our GA trout tailwaters (Hooch, Toccoa, even Smith DH) run a bit warmer due to their stored lake waters, which haven’t fully cooled off yet from cold December air temps. 

UO buddy Mo provided two Hooch reports:”The trio was out in force last Saturday to remind the tailwater trout once again who is boss. It was a perfect winter day on the water and we hit it just right. The water has cleared up and is back to normal, thanks to lake turnover.  We started around 11am and got into fish almost immediately, as in the very first 2-3 casts. Small browns and rainbows were quick to eat the flies. The fast action continued for the next couple of hours. Euro nymphing rigs with 2-fly tandems tethered to 7x tippet were the right tools for the job. The fish were eating olive and black perdigons and midges, and olive/brown Walt’s in 16-20 all day. The afternoon brought more action and better fish too. I even caught several fish on a small olive streamer before heading out. I made a mess of my line and didn’t feel like re-rigging with 2 flies. Put a streamer on instead and I was back in business. 

We didn’t find any monsters but did touch a few decent browns for this area. That last brownie is what we usually catch the most at the dam,  maybe a lil bigger, and a snit is a real treat. This time we found some solid 12-14 inchers!  We called it a day around 4:30 and headed out.”

Report #2: “Just got back home from the dam.  Here’s a niceun from today (26th). They were not as hungry as last week and the wind was wicked, but we def showed them who’s boss again today. Perdigons for the win.”

Warm Bass Rivers: 

No news.

Ponds:

No reports.

Lakes:

Jimmy took a Lanier boat ride just before Xmas. He landed one magnum spot but struck out on stripers.  

UO guide Joseph took some time off for the holidays, so we don’t have any fresh intel for y’all. The same “small bait/small fly” pattern should hold, however, so match those 1.5 inch threadfins.  Use binoculars to find diving gulls and your electronics to locate deeper bait and striper schools. To book a new year trip with Joseph, call UO Helen at 706-878-3083 or visit his website at www.josephclarkflyfishing.com.

Events:

Reminder: tune in every Tuesday night in January and February for Unicoi Undercurrents, Wes’ live  interviews and your Q&A sessions nationally known angling experts:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DSbJTSQkXTW/?igsh=MWdva2drd2I1aWI3aA==

There’s your short and sweet New Year’s report. We hope you can get on the water before these fish refreeze on Tuesday, or wait til late next week when water temps rebound a bit and our trout thaw out.  Come see us before the 31st and definitely after the 1st.  And may 2026 bring you a netful of new fishing memories!

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com

Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report - 12/19/25

Wow, it must be Christmas time because we are enjoying a bunch of early gifts already!  On the trout stream front, we finally got some much-needed rain that has briefly boosted river flows. 

Even better than that, we’re blessed with a dry, warmer week ahead. Best of all, the GAWRD and SCDNR elves just spiced up their Delayed Harvest streams for your holiday happiness.

On the lake front, hefty stripers and plump spots are still nailing really small threadfin shad imitations. If you can stop those stripers from diving down into the submerged timber, you’ll have some great fish stories and pics to share during your holiday meals with family.

And our good news continues right into the New Year.! Wes has created “UO Undercurrents” and invites everyone to join him on each of the first 8 Tuesday nights. His roster of live guest interviews is outstanding!

All of these UO gifts to y’all are detailed in our weekly fishing report, right here:

http://blog.angler.management/

(Link in bio)

Don’t miss them!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you, our dear friends.  We’re open most days for your last-minute gift grabs and fishing intel, but will be closed after lunch on the 24th and on Christmas Day.  Then it’s back to fishing fun with y’all early on the 26th!  Ho-Ho!

Helen: 706-878-3083. Open 8-5 daily.

Clarkesville: 706-754-0203. Open 8-5 from Monday thru Saturday.

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com

Wes’ Hot Fly List:  

Dries: parachute blue wing olive, Drymerger, tan elk hair caddis, tiny tan chubby, RS2, parachute Adams. 

Nymphs & Wets: 

DH Stockers: twister egg, ruby midge, diamond midge, lightning bug, Duracell, micro girdle bug.

Mountain streams: zebra midge, soft hackles, micro mayfly, prince nymph, hares ear.

Streamers:

Black and olive woolly buggers, Sparkle minnow, barely legal, UV polar Jig, mini gulp sculp. 

Reservoir Bass & Stripers:

clouser minnow, low fat minnow, Cowen’s somethin else.

River bass:

Dead Ned, sweet baby Cray, crittermite, crawfish jambalaya, Clouser minnow.

(Low and slow presentation is key in cool north Georgia bass rivers right now) 

Headwaters:

They’ve been icy-cold and pretty darn dead.  They were high today but will drop down to skinny flows tomorrow.  Most trouters have focused on warmer, lower elevation waters. This warming trend should thaw out some wild headwater fish, so if you need a blueline fix, toss some dry/dropper combos at them after lunch on sunny days.

Delayed Harvest:

It was a tale of two streams this week.  DH streams were shallow, clear, and icy cold to start, but the rain and warmth should change the game in your favor.  

Better flows, warmer water, and new, naive stockers should give y’all some great fishing this week. Try some flashy or moving bugs (egg, squirmy, bugger) as your lead fly for fresh fish and a small, dark trailer (pheasant tail, root beer midge, hares ear) to convince experienced fish to eat.

Dredger hit the Chattooga DH on a warming Wednesday afternoon. While the air warmed, the water hardly did at all. The river was 36F at noon and hardly budged. Truck tracks and finning fish in clear pools suggested some recent SCDNR stocking stuffers.  

Despite the cold water, the fish ate. He had  to find them: still holed up in the deeper holes, since the riffles and runs were still too shallow to provide fish cover. 

His catch was equally split between bows and browns. 

Half ate a small stripped black bugger, while the other half like his deep-drifted peach egg 

on a real long piece of 6x tippet, a foot behind a #1 shot and 6-8 feet under his small indicator. Although the fish were icy, Dredger kept some feeling in his fingers. After releasing each fish, he wiped his hands dry with a small towel, then shoved it back into the top of his waders. Dry hands work well. Big thanks to Kelly Galloup for this tip from long ago.

Rabunites Nan and Bluejay went north to a small NC DH stream on Wednesday. It was frigid, but they managed a handful of bows on “legs and eggs.”

UO buddy CDB finally put away his shotgun and reunited with his fly rod. He reports: “Hey Jeff, I’m baaaa-aack!   I got out a couple times over the past week and a half. This week was much the same as the last - very cold, very clear water. The question both weeks was whether the water would be too cold to catch fish. The answer, once again, was micro jig streamers.

At the beginning of the week we took out veterans on private waters, and bronze jig streamers rolled across the bottom of the river and twitched up and down every so often were very productive.  Bronze streamers with a black head were the most productive pattern, followed by black streamers with a red head. Sexy Walt worms about size 18 with a pink collar worked very well also. 

On my favorite DH Waters, the same was true.  I did have some success bouncing a very small, peach egg as well. However, the jig streamer was so productive that when I ended the day it was the only fly I was fishing with.  A single jig streamer with an extra size 1 shot to help get it down in the deeper runs.  

It’s been really cold.  For anyone who’s heading out and is not used to fishing in those temperatures I offer a few tips. First, barbless hooks, and a quick release tool can help keep your hands much drier and happier. Loon and Ketchum both make great tools for this purpose. Second, you’re probably wearing gloves of some sort.  if you don’t have a tool, before you unhook the fish, believe it or not, take the gloves off.  Handle the fish and remove the hook with your bare hands and a hemostat. I keep a dry washcloth in my waders to dry my hands with. And then I slide them back into the gloves.  Much better than fishing with soggy gloves with the air temperatures around freezing.  Good luck and merry Christmas!”

Stockers: 

There may still a few stray stockers left in the bigger GA streams, especially the two tailwaters. You can also fish downstream from DH boundaries to catch the DH wash-downs after flood events. 

Private Waters: 

Private stream fishing was really tough to start the week, but ended with a bang today after last nite’s rain and warmth.

UO guide Sydney:”Before the rain and warmth last nite, our private water trips were a grind!  I used the usual thin tippet and tiny bugs in the low, cold flows. The main thing was getting a good, deep drift. We ended the guided trip with TWO eats on a double-dry rig as the water warmed slightly and they were  EPIC! “

UO-Helen manager Wes:

“Late report. I did an afternoon trip today on the Soque with Colin and Brad. We were lucky to catch the higher and stained river flows from the overnight rain. Squirmy worms and dead drifted small wooly buggers were the big players this afternoon.”

UO buddy Athens Jay stopped by to wet a line at Nacoochee Bend late this afternoon.   He managed a nice handful of bows in just two hours before the sun set. A small egg fly worked best at higher, stained flows, but his small Frenchie variant produced late, as the water cleared a bit.

UO company manager Jake: “I spent Sunday at Larry’s lodge on the Soque. Despite the wind, the fishing was really good. The water was  still low and clear, so stealthy bugs and approach were the keys to success. We caught most of our fish on small midges including a Rootbeer Midge and a Diamond Midge, but the biggest producer of the day was a grey RS2 drifted behind a Micro Girdle Bug. With the low clear flows, I have not been using much split shot lately, if any.  I am mostly using my top fly as my weight to get the bugs down near the bottom.”

Tailwaters:

Nothing recent.

Warm Rivers: 

No news.

Ponds:

No reports.

Lakes:

UO guide Joseph; “Lanier has fished well over the past week. We’re still seeing good groups of fish on top and they seem to be pushing into creeks as water temps fall. Most of the fish we’ve caught have been on somethin else’s on intermediate lines. Clousers, small gamechangers, and other baitfish flies 2 inches long or less will work. 

Although winter is settling in, our season is far from over. Our fish will be happy for the next several weeks before lake temps dive into

The low 40’s.  I still have some availability for January, however it’s going quickly! To book call UO Helen at 706-878-3083 or visit my website at www.josephclarkflyfishing.com”

Events:

Wow, Wes has outdone himself! Mark your calendars now for his winter series of interactive guest interviews. Settle in at home and tune in every Tuesday night for UO’s live Instagram feeds with nationally known fisherfolks. Check out his January roster here:

That’s the latest Helen intel as we enjoy a wonderful holiday season. If you can break away from all of the ball games, the fishing rewards might just be grand.

We will close early on Christmas Eve and reopen for business on the 26th. We appreciate your friendship and hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas and happy holiday season with your family and friends!

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com