Sorry for the late report! My Rabunite buddies and I had a very long and productive day of flyfishing instruction to guests at Burton Hatchery today.
Here’s your scoop: headwaters are low and clear and cool! They’re once again a best bet, but only for stealthy stalkers with soft casts. A stimmy/ant combo is still hot. Plenty of holiday stockers are left over for anglers willing to cover more water and find their hiding spots away from the well know and hard-fished stocking points. River bass are active in the low, clear flows. Like headwater trout, you just can’t spook them. Quiet stalks, no wakes pushed over them, and long, soft casts will score you some redeyes and shoalies.
The latest fish fibs from our staff,guides, and buddies are in our full fishing report here:
http://blog.angler.management/
(Link in bio)
Good luck on this nice, COOL weekend!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: micro chubby Chernobyl, yellow stimulator, parachite Adana, parachute black ant, tan elk hair caddis.
Nymphs & Wets:
Hard body ant, gold ribbed hares ear, Quasimodo pheasant tail, zebra midge, olive mop for stockers.
Streamers:
Squirrely bugger, and mini shimmer buggers for stockers.
(Bass) jerk changer, Con man, wiggle minnow, boogle bug popper, Kent’s stealth bomber.
(Panfish) amnesia bug, small chubby Chernobyl, bluegill spider, dry and wet ants
(Carp) headstand, squirmy hybrid.
Headwaters:
They’re low and clear, but cool. Be stealthy and give them a shot. Downsize your tippet and flies and soften your casts and fly landings. Residents are hungry once again!
UO buddy Nan:
Sitting on a log in the Tallulah having my sandwich. Enjoying missing a ton of strikes, seeing many refusals, and LDR on a bunch more. Did manage to “land” two tiny wild rainbows on a #16 stimmie. It is so quiet today (Thursday) and I have loved being able to wade and wander where I want. Life is perfect at this moment!
Update: Finally caught a couple fat stockers. September fish on a dry fly -check!”
Stocked Waters:
There is no fresh stocking from WRD this week, after last week’s holiday blowout. But there are plenty of Labor Day leftovers in the larger streams. You just have to cover more ground and hunt them. Cooler water temperatures will have them hungrier.
A young man came into our shop at midweek, forlorn about his slow morning on a stocker stream with no fish to hand. UO staff set him up with the right tackle, technique, and fishing spot and he left for an afternoon rematch. That evening he replied via a google review that he had limited out! Stop in the shop and we’ll set you up, too.
UO buddy Stash said he’s been doing well on a stocked Habersham stream. The highlight of his last trip was not the trout, however, as he showed me a video of a big black bear that slipped down for a long drink from the river. Truly a Nat Geo moment for our Cumming buddy!
Tailwaters:
No recent reports. Remember to fish the Hooch downstream from Hwy 20, where dissolved oxygen finally recovers.
Private Waters:
Just about all waters managed by GA’s private operators remain closed for the summer to protect their heat-stressed trout. Same goes for Dukes at Smithgall Woods.
Warm Rivers:
They’re low and clear due to a lack of rain. They’re also a bit cooler, which should enhance the bass bite. Throw your streamers and poppers into heavy cover, where residents are hiding from the herons and otters. Have a stealthy approach and make longer casts so you don’t spook them and you should be rewarded.
UO-Helen manager Wes:
Redeye bass streams continue to fish well with the low late summer flows. I was able to get out for a few hours one day this week. I caught a handful of fish and missed a few others. All on a stealth bomber
UO buddy Jay:
Piedmont Rivers are still low, clear and suitable for wading/floating. River bass will still eat, especially early and late. I’m still having luck matching the hellgrammite/crawfish hatch with weighted, articulated black streamers. “
Jay also added this bonus tying tip:
“These little olive nymphs worked on both stocked browns and on wild rainbows. I don’t usually tie olive nymphs.”
UO owner Jimmy:
“Cool, almost Fall- like evenings have found me on the river harassing the Shoal Bass. As much as I wanted to force the topwater bite with a Stealth Bomber, they just weren’t having any of it on Wednesday. I totally struck out. Last night I went back for some R-E-V-E-N-G! I got down and dirty with them, fished the exact same pockets and ledges as Wednesday, but this time I proved to be the superior species. Seven brought to hand in a little over an hour and another 4 really stout fish came unbuttoned. I may go back tonight!”
Ponds:
No reports. They should fish well with this cooler weather.
Reservoirs:
UO guide Israel: “ We went grocery shopping with cut bait, dragging in 15ft deep flats moving at .75 MPG with a 2 ounce weight. We invited several nice cats to dinner.”
GAWRD has some great walleye and lake trout intel here:
https://georgiawildlife.blog/category/fishing/
UO buddy Nanette took a lunch break today between her fly casting lessons to a large group of Leadership Georgia guests at Burton Hatchery.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/SneZ3TgEk1qWBBQ4/?
She caught several bream on a white foam spider at the mouth of the creek and said it was a fun lunch break!
Grab a kid, a fly rod, and a popper/dropper combo and introduce the youngster to the sport right there, with that big school of cooperative bluegill under the footbridge to the park.
Afar: UO owner Jimmy recently returned from a Colorado trip. He rubbed it in a bit with this pic of a mighty fine Gunnison River brown. We are attributing his catch to Powerbait, since we are spiteful while stuck here in Georgia.
Dredger ran back up to the Smokies on Labor Day and had a decent morning bite from the resident rainbows. A few hit the stimmy on top, while most ate his sunken ant and the two best bows preferred more calories - a brown pats rubberlegs. A highway elk jam once again topped off his trip.
Tooga Tips
UO staffer Dredger might just have loose lips about Chattooga fishing next week. Give the Atlanta Fly Fishing Club a try on the 11th at Manuel’s Tavern and see if you can net a coveted Rabunite secret or two.
Atlanta Fly Fishing Club • Home
That the latest intel late on this Friday night. Hope you have a chance to read it before you point your vehicles north in the morning. It’s gonna be a beautiful weekend, so wet and line if you can. Good luck! Stop in either UO shop for flies, supplies, and intel to enhance your own winning percentage.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com
