Welcome to May! Honestly, that’s what it’s felt like for most of this week, with the unseasonably warm weather. That warmth has kicked off some early spring action on our streams and lakes, so take advantage of the opportunities soon. Headwaters are low, clear, and ready for your dries. Delayed Harvest streams are also low and clear, but a few hatching bugs have encouraged some rising fish, especially when the sun is low. Several GA DH streams got redosed this week, so bring your rookie fly anglers, woolly buggers, and squirmy worms north while those fresh stockers are naive for the next week.
Reservoirs are warming into the high 50’s and stripers and fat spots are on the move, while early spawners like whites and walleye are kicking off their river spawning runs.
Don’t forget our UO open house at our new home, 2454 GA Hwy 17, Sautee. Visit with us on Saturday, March 21st.
The hatching bugs and hot patterns are detailed in our full weekly fishing report, here:
http://blog.angler.management/
(Link in bio)
That intel is as recent as this morning, so don’t miss our tips to guide y’all to your own weekend success. Stop in either UO store soon to swap fish tales and stock up on spring supplies.
Sautee: 706-878-3083. Open 8-5 daily. (2454 GA Hwy 17, Sautee-Nacoochee.)
Clarkesville: 706-754-0203. Open 8-5 from Monday thru Saturday.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries:
Tiny Black elk hair caddis, grey elk hair caddis, BWO, Parachute Adams, Quill Gordon, Drymerger march brown, and buoyant indicator flies for dry/dropper rigs (micro chubby, stimulator)
Nymphs & Wets:
Mops, red tag jig, micro girdle bug, soft hackle pheasant tail, soft hackle hares ear, psycho prince.
Mountain streams: Pheasant tail, killer may, prince nymph, soft hackle partridge.
Streamers:
UV polar jig, jiggy fry, sparkle minnow, bank robber sculpin.
Reservoir Bass & Stripers:
Cowen’s somethin else, low fat minnow.
River bass:
Dead Ned, crittermite, clouser minnows, thrashers.
Headwaters:
They’re low and clear and warming. Flows are a bit better than they were for the last month or so, but still skinny.
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=02330450&legacy=1
Dukes at Smithgall was clear and 57F at 3PM yesterday,
while NC streams had much better flows due to more rain.
It’s a great time to toss fluffy dries for blueline wild fish. Watch for sparse hatches of caddis,March browns , and BWO’s. Be ready to match them. When real bugs are sparse, just toss a good searching pattern like an elk hair caddis or micro chubby.
Delayed Harvest:
Several GA streams got their March restockings.
Toss bright or buggy patterns at those naive stockers, while longtime residents are starting to key on the real aquatic insects of spring. Smith DH was clear and cool 46F at 3PM Thursday.
UO buddy Spangler: “First time fishing the Chattooga DH! I arrived at about 730 and was the first car there in the SC lot (it was 90% full when I left though at 3). I hiked upstream almost to the end of the DH section and fished there. Caddis and midges were around all day still I never hooked up with anything on the surface. I got some looks on a little Griffith gnat behind a larger indicator caddis though. I found a deep hole with a nice ledge at the end of it where I was able to pick up several nice bows on a variety of nymphs. Basically anything worked as long is it was about a foot off the bottom. Takes were still pretty subtle and I had more fish come unbuttoned than in the net, so I was thankful for the few who were willing to have a photo opp. I found a few more in pockets off the sides of riffles that took the dropper off a dry/dropper combo.”
Rabunite Nanette’s quartet hit Tooga DH on Wednesday. Two went low and she and Dredger went high. Nan (aka Gabby) said: “Hit The River midweek with Rabunite buddy Dredger in search of dry fly fun, with warming water temperatures and abundant sunshine offering the prospect of trout looking up. We had to walk far and work hard (one of us being height-challenged had to work even harder to keep up and managed to face-plant not once, but twice, on the trail). Very low, slow and clear waters made the fish skittish. Trout were rising like crazy in one of the first pools we fished, but snubbed everything we offered.
A good hatch of caddis
and large mayflies were flying but Dredger thought the fish were keying on emergers and not adults as they rejected our attempts to match the hatch. After picking off a few over the next few hours with small dries and woolly buggers as we gradually hoofed it upstream,
the long shadows of late afternoon began to work their magic. Our final stop was a gem, with trout in a long run between riffles eagerly taking a tiny gray caddis trailed behind a larger dry. I got some great schooling from Dredger in "skittering" a dry fly to entice a trout strike, and in painting the pool from close in to double-haul distance.
As dusk approached, Dredger pointed out a rising trout to my left, and a couple of casts later a 15+ inch brown trout was giving my arms a workout. The trout may have been 16 inches. By tomorrow, it will be 17 inches.
I decided to end the day on that high note, but Dredger picked up several more brownies on that tiny slate caddis on the way back to the parking lot, as trout were rising all over by then. I was a little worried I was going to have the cross the river in the dark wearing sunglasses but we made it back with a few minutes of light to spare. As the Rabunites say, ain't nothin' better than Oh Dark Thirty fishing, especially when it arrives a month ahead of schedule!”
Stockers:
Stockers remain slim, but we’re only about two weeks away from the start of stocker season.
Trout Fishing | Department Of Natural Resources Division
Your best bets now are the two tailwaters for summer/fall holdovers and just outside the DH stream boundaries to find the wash-downs. Fishing public waters above or below private trophy waters might fetch you a straying brute or two. It’s Rainbow Romance season and some bows may swim upstream in search of clean gravel. Just ask that Hardman fishing adventures dude…
https://www.instagram.com/p/DVRr-HPkQ3h/?img_index=1&igsh=MWN1Z3Nhem12eDE4aw==
Private Waters:
They’ve awakened!
UO-Sautee shop manager Wes: “The spring weather had the private waters fishing good this week! I did a couple of half days and emergers were the ticket. We did most of our damage on soft hackle flies fished in the middle of the water column.”
UO guide Syd: “My trip to Rainbow Point on the Soque was a fun time. Flies that that worked best for my clients were CDC wet flies, pats rubber legs and squirmies.”
Tailwaters:
No recent reports. I’d expect the Toccoa’s black caddis hatch to start winding down. The local fly shops over there can help you target that hatch and the bugs coming behind those early caddis.
Warm Rivers:
The bass might still be a bit cold and slow, but the spring lake spawners are now running up the rivers. Target walleye and whites and you might find a few early-run male stripers up there, too.
Fishing – Georgia Wildlife Blog
UO buddy RSquared: “My neighbor Paul K. & I fished a large bay off the Coosa River this week. We were searching for the scrappy White Bass. Together, we caught nearly a dozen small males on white Wooly-Buggers and small, white & chartreuse streamers. The fun to catch scrappers have not really begun staging for their mating run up the tributaries yet. They remain in the main stem of NW Georgia’s biological wonder, the Coosa River. When they do begin staging, hundred fish days will be common. I will be prospecting the Coosa Friday for schooling Whites!”
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVj6CFAEcVU/?igsh=eXFlZW1seDAwcWx6
Ponds:
No news. The bass and bream should really take off this week.
Lakes:
Lanier stripers and spots continue their slow awakening from their winter naps.
UO guide Joseph: “Fishing on Lanier over the past week has been a blast! Stripers are still schooling although the majority of fish we’ve seen are roaming around in open water near creek mouths. Most are in smaller groups and are moving quickly however, there are some larger groups to be found. I’ve had the most success fishing small clousers or somethin else’s on intermediate lines.
Bass fishing has also been great up shallow. Most of the fish I’ve seen have been around prespawn staging areas holding tight to structure.
Striper fly fishing will last several more weeks on the pond until the water warms and fish go deep, so get it now while the getting is good!
To inquire or book a trip call UO Sautee at (706)-878-3083 or visit my website at www.josephclarkflyfishing.com”
Get it around the motor, Joseph!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVi06EpEREK/?igsh=MWN5NXR2bHU5eml1Ng==
UO buddy and striper book author HenryC: “Lanier stripers are mostly out over open water and showing everywhere "when" they show. Found fish both north and south this week. Birds are very helpful as the "pre-spawn" begins. The stripers are moving really fast and the somethin' else was positively the fly of choice. Fish will soon changer over to Clousers, Cowen's baitfish, coyotes and game changers as the bait of choice. It's all coming and fast. Water temp as of this writing was between 56.5 and 60 degrees depending where you are fishing. Some BIG fish were caught over the past 2 weeks and that pattern will continue thru all of April. Our favorite linebacker is back in town and on the lake, scoring!”
Our UO trio of Jimmy, Jeff, and “Yellowstone John” got out there this morning. We finally found a few gulls diving and managed to boat a decent striper and a plump spot on Henry’s Somethin’ Else shad fly. It was a beautiful, warm morning on Lanier. Catching will just get better with each passing, warm day as lake temps head toward 60F.
The mountain lake bite is heating up, too. UO company manager and lake guide Jake: “Bass fishing has been good the past week. With warmer weather, deep fish are moving up in the column to feed and get ready to move to the bank. Anglers with front facing sonar can target these fish with a variety of baits including strolling tbaits, jerkbaits, and finesse swimbaits. With the warm weather, the shallow fish have been active as well. If you can find stained water a spinnerbait or larger swimbait around cover are viable options right now. “
Afar:
UO guide Syd: “Got to have some fun in WNC with a fishin lady guide friend - Taylor F with Maggie Valley fly shop. She put us in a great spot where I got to practice some euro fishin and caught a lot of brookies! “
Dredger hoped for an early spring in the Smokies and drove up there Monday afternoon. Midges were abundant, tiny gray caddis were here and there, and BWO’s and a larger mayfly (maybe a Hendrickson, about size 16) occasionally fluttered by. He saw only one fish rise twice in the heavier flows and 50 degree water. He stuck to Euro (#16 frenchie) and had high hopes, but landed only two wild fish and two Cherokee nation migrants. At least the brown was chunky, and the elk were abundant. We’re probably just one warm week away from decent bug hatches and more wild fish looking up.”
Events:
March 8
UO’s own Wes McElroy provides the low-down on north GA river bass at the Orvis-Atlanta event to benefit Flint Riverkeeper.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DbQbbsayR/?mibextid=wwXIfr
March 21:
Join us for the UO- Sautee fly shop’s housewarming party! Details in our flyer and here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DVYgjY0AIO8/?igsh=a2gzOWVqOGUycnli
March 12 and April 8.
Dredger takes his “Spring Dries and Droppers” program on the road again. First stop is Foothills TU in Clarkesville on Thursday night. TU’ers always welcome guests, so c’mon over to United Community Bank at 630PM, or come early at 5 to dine with that TU bunch at El Jinette Mexican restaurant before the meeting.
Georgia Foothills Chapter 629 • Georgia Council of Trout Unlimited
Then it’s on to the Atlanta Flyfishing Club on April 8. AFFC welcomes all guests,so metro ATL folks, mark your calendars to net some fine Rabunite intel at an Atlanta clsssic, Manuel’s Tavern.
https://atlantaflyfishingclub.org/
April 11:
Folks interested in flyfishing can try “Rabunite 101, a morning introduction to the sport at the Rabun County Recreation Center gym. It’s a real bargain at $25. Details:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CyqVTpMY6/?mibextid=wwXIfr
https://tu.myeventscenter.com/event/Rabunite-101-Fly-Fishing-Seminar-122568
As GA legendary outdoorsman O’Neill Williams always said, “ if you’re too busy to go fishing, you’re just too busy!” We totally agree. Rearrange your priorities ASAP and join us on the water as we celebrate the rebirth of Spring in the Southeast. You’ll soon be grinning as big as Gabby, Henry, Syd, and Joseph. Gas up tonite and get out the door early tomorrow!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
