This week it’s “a tale of two creeks,” so bring your two trout games to match the stream conditions at hand. The first condition is clear water and prime temperature. Have your seasonal dry/dropper rigs ready for prospecting during the day. Then double up your dries for the evening hatch period. Don’t leave home without some cahills, tan caddis, and a flashlight. Add some yellow stimmies in sizes 14 and 16 for good measure, as May is knocking on our door.
Game 2 is stained water. Be ready to toss streamers, squirmies, and rubberleg stones in the post-storm surges. Just use your submerged toes to judge visibility and the maximum depth to fish at that moment when the muddy slug is passing through. Up your tippet size, too.
Reservoir spots and stripers are still shallow and chasing bait balls. Many spots are still up on the banks, spawning, so bass have been the more consistent producer this week. Get them while the skinny-water bite is still “on.”
Hot fishing reports and timely tips are right here in our blog. It’s fresh every Friday and will help you boost your own catch rates.
http://blog.angler.management/
(Link in bio)
Stop in either one of our two UO shops for some flies, supplies, and advice.
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 Adams, parachute light Cahill, 409 Yeager yellow, yellow stimulator, tan chubby Chernobyl, Drymerger green drake, hard body ant.
Nymphs & Wets:
Stockers: Squirminator, mop, slush egg, frenchie, girdle bug, lightning bug, tungsten redneck.
Mountain streams: micro girdle bugs, black ant, hares ear nymph and soft hackle , soft hackle pheasant tail, improved yallar hammer.
Streamers:
Sparkle minnows, small black and olive buggers for DH streams, mohair leeches, Jiggy Fry, mini shimmer buggers, Thrasher.
(Bass & stripers) clouser minnow,
Feather changer, polar changer, crittermite, crawfish jambalaya, Clydesdale stealth jig.
Headwaters:
Bluelines remain prime, thanks to our daily storms and fairly cool nights. It’s still dry fly time, so enjoy it while it’s here. Only resort to a dropper wet fly or a dredged streamer if you hit a deep pool or find bigger flows after a recent storm. Great April searching bugs remain a small chubby Chernobyl, tan caddis, yellow stimmy, and para Adams. Picky fish can be fooled with a para black ant on thinner tippet.
UO guide Alex took his two young sons camping and bluelining at high elevation last weekend. Fluffy dries brought some nice specks to hand.
Delayed Harvest Streams:
This is the home stretch for the area’s delayed harvest streams. The DH season ends on May 14 in GA and in early June for NC waters. It’s evening hatch time, so go late and stay til dark for the best topwater fun of the DH season. It’s a blast!
Rabunite Bluejay said he did well this week on Chattooga DH by tossing a slush egg. I’d be up there around 5PM with an Adams or stimmy dry and soft hackle hares ear dropper while the sun is still up. I’d watch for midge-sippers in slow water along shady banks. An hour before dark, I’d change to a para light Cahill lead fly and a tan caddis dropper. And have some #14 and 16 yellow stimmies in my pocket, in case the May bugs decide to show up early.
Stockers:
Stocker streams remain a best bet. Reliable Rabunite sources said they found some brookies in last week’s Tallulah redosing. See the 2024 master list and the latest weekly stocking schedule on the WRD trout page:
https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout
Private Waters:
Frequent rains have kept river flows up and water temps down, for the most part. Warm, dry days will boost afternoon stream temps into the mid-60’s and slow down the bite, so aim for the mornings on bigger, sunlit streams when the daily forecast is dry.
UO guide Sydney said this week’s storms boosted river flows and had the fish active. Her best bugs have been yellow stonefly nymphs drifted in the heavier currents.
UO Helen shop manager Wes: “We started to see some private water fish eat on top this past week! Chubby Chernobyls worked great up top and flies like emerger caddis, girdle bugs, and Duracells were the best droppers to hang off the dry. We even caught a few bonus Soque sunfish on dry flies.”
https://www.unicoioutfitters.com/guided-fishing/
Tailwaters:
UO buddy Ron W: “Our Trio hit the Buford Dam area last Saturday the 19th. We had the water nearly to ourselves the whole day, which was fine by us.
I fished a dry/dropper all day long, only changing my dry once and my dropper 3 times. I landed a few fish off the bat on my $3 dip and also had several splashes and failed hook sets on the dry. After that the switch turned off for a while!
We worked our way down past the wood and then back up. I tied on a #18 frenchie in the last hour and it was on. I started landing fish left and right, mostly browns with a few feisty rainbows mixed in. A dozen or more fish each in 4 hours was all we needed. It was another great day on the water for some much-needed hydrotherapy!”
UO buddy Ryan: “I hit the Hooch last weekend as well as last Friday for a guided tailwater wade trip. I helped my client dial in his indicator nymphing rig and he quickly got into some action, putting multiple fish in the net midday on the same water where he'd been skunked fishing solo 2 days prior.
This past weekend I got on the river as well. Fishing was slow with high water and sketchy wading until the water cleared up, but then it was on. Managed 9 to net in a few hours and missed a painful amount of fish, including a double hook up that concluded with only 1 fish in the net. I even had a visit from the Aflac duck, which was a 1st for me on the river!
Even with 2 fish hitting at once, takes were remarkably subtle and most fish hooked were from visibly seeing a bite on the sighter while tight line nymphing. My 5x tippet and tungsten beaded natural nymphs are putting in work on freshly stocked fish and wild browns alike. Caddis are still hatching midday on the bottom end of the river, but few risers are being seen.”
Warm Rivers: Our region’s rivers were blown out by recent storms. They may clear enough to be fishable by the weekend if no more thunderstorms pass through their watersheds tonite. Watch the USGS gauges and/or call your local shops to assess river conditions before coming up.
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=02331000
Ponds & Lakes:
UO manager Jake sez: “You have the bass spawn, herring spawn, the post-spawn and the prespawn all going down right now so it’s a great time of the year for lake bassin.’”
UO guide Sydney said she’s having some fun with personal time on area lakes. She’s hitting the prespawn bass and landed this lunker on a clouser minnow on her three-weight rod!
UO owner Jimmy: “Flyfishing for Stripers and Spotted Bass on Lake Lanier has been fun lately. Hank the Yank and I have been out a few times this past week. We’ve found predators chasing balls of shad in shallow water. Spots have far outnumbered stripers but they’re all fun!”
Afar:
UO buddy CDB: “Hey Jeff. The Tour de Sofa is going well. We got mostly shut out in our quest for monster smallmouth. Water temps still in the 40’s. One little guy in the net, so we jumped in the truck and heading up into the Selway- Bitterroot area. Cutthroat fishing was fantastic with Cutts and Cuttbows eagerly chomping streamers and the occasional Skwala.
There were a few monsters lurking in the deep, dark spots between the boulders. The post spawn steelhead really tested the drag. The Bull Trout was no slouch either. Absolutely beautiful country. Next leg Wyoming. Long roadtrip south today.”
Congrats to UGA 5Rivers clubber Anna on her trophy Tennessee Smallmouth!
The Blue Ridge Trout Festival is tomorrow. Details:
https://blueridgetroutfest.com/
Last call for you to win a Bahamas Fishing Trip. The Casting for Recovery- GA fundraising raffle lasts through May 4.
https://www.tapkat.org/casting-for-recovery-inc/l5ygVk?promo=GEORGIA
Get in on this great April angling before the month leaves us. Stop in one of our shops if we can help you out. Helen 8-5 every day; Clarkesville 8-5 Monday - Saturday. Good luck folks!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com
