Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report - 1/16/26

It’s “Slim Pickings January” as we fall deeper into winter’s grip. Few folks ventured out last week due to high or icy water. It looks like trout anglers will have fair shots on Saturday and Thursday, which sandwich in another real cold spell. Aim your trips for the afternoons on lower elevation, wider streams that will catch more midday sunshine.

Stripers also decided to hibernate due to the cold, unstable weather. Hopefully they’ll resurface once the weather stabilizes.

The dead of winter is a good time for indoor activities like fly tying, banquets, and online interviews. Check out the Events section of the full fishing report for the latest news. And if you’ve ever wanted to tour and fish the Okeefenokee, be sure to dial in next Tuesday at 7PM for UO’s live Instagram session with swamp fishing guide Bert Deener.  All the details are in our report, right here:

http://blog.angler.management/

(Link in bio)

Good luck this week. Aim for the warmest part of the day on the warmest days for your best shots at some winter trout and stripers.  Stop in either UO shop for some warmth and assistance.

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:  

(Last week’s list of still good)

Dries: parachute blue wing olive, parachute Adams, griffiths gnat, little black stone (or #18 gray elk hair caddis, and a small tan chubby or elk hair caddis as the lead fly (a strike indicator for your tiny dry dropper)

Nymphs & Wets: 

DH Stockers: twister egg, pheasant tail or Frenchie, sexy Walts worm, rainbow warrior, zebra midge, root beer midge, Duracell, micro girdle bug.

Mountain streams: zebra midge, soft hackles, prince nymph, frenchie.

Streamers:

Black and olive woolly buggers, jig leech, barely legal, UV polar Jig.

Reservoir Bass & Stripers:

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

Headwaters:

They’re clear and flowing well, just under their historic averages for this time of year. The best news is that the bottom gravels are all polished up and loose. Saturday’s 5 inches of rain flooded them and flushed out the fine sediments. That oughta bode well for wild rainbow spawning, which happens from now til mid-March on GA headwater streams.

Streams are cold and fishing will likely be slow. Dukes at Smithgall was a meager 42F at 2PM today. Get your bugs rolling along the bottom to entice a few afternoon fish to snack.

Here’s the latest Smokies report from our friends, Ian and Charity, in Townsend:

https://randrflyfishing.com/2026/01/13/winter-weather-returns-to-the-smokies-after-unseasonable-warmth/

 

Delayed Harvest:

Saturdays floods should have spread out the November and December stockers. Flows are better, too, but temps are low.  Aim for flood refuges and roll those eggs and nymphs along the bottom. Smith DH was murky and 46F at 2PM today. The discolored lake water should help your catch rates. One spin angler today said he caught fish on a spinner and a trout magnet, so try some brighter bugs in the stained water.

Stockers: 

Stockers are slim.  Your best bets are the two tailwaters for summer/fall holdovers and  just outside the DH stream boundaries to find the wash-downs after last Saturday’s floods.

Private Waters: 

We had very few trips due to a) floods and b) frigid weather.  Fishing should improve a bit, now that flows are good and there are a few tolerable afternoons in the forecast. Just get your bugs rolling along the bottom in slower pools and pockets. Try ditching the tapered leader and substitute a long piece of 6lb mono for your leader to slice through the water column and get your flies down.

One dedicated soul braved yesterday’s freezing cold. UO buddy CDB hit Nacoochee Bend yesterday morning and said: “Well, it was about 20 degrees and breezy when I got up this morning.  So I did what any sensible person with a free day would do.  I went fishing at Nacoochee Bend.  It was 21 degrees and the “feel like” temperature was 9 degrees -perfect! 

I thought I would go small and deep.  A small bronze walt worm with a red bead and a little zebra midge.  As we know, patience is a virtue, so I ran at least 6 or 7 drifts through the pool before I cut it off and put on… that’s right… the bronze Zonker jig streamer. 

On the second drift, I had a take.  My fingers may have been numb, but I continued to pick up fish all morning as long as I was just barely off the bottom.  Brown Zonker with red 3mm tungsten bead was the best.  Black worked well also.  I did have one fish take the size 18 root beer midge (thanks Wes).  

Do your hands a favor and get yourself some sort of a release tool like the Ketchum.  The barbless hooks that don’t fall out in the net, pop right out with the tool and you can keep your fingers dry.

As the water temp continues to drop this month, I suspect things will slow down.  But if you can stand the cold and you bump them on the head with the fly, there are still fish out there to be picked up.  With that said, I am kind of thinking Florida might look attractive this time of year.

PS: Check out the latest edition of The Drake magazine. My article is on page 56.”

Tailwaters:

No recent reports.

Warm Bass Rivers: 

No news, other than they aren’t very warm and those fish probably aren’t very hungry.

Ponds:

No news.

Lakes:

UO guide Joseph: “Fishing on Lanier over the last week started off good, but dropped off with cold fronts blowing through. Most fish we’re seeing are now in creeks ranging from 25-35 feet deep. We’re seeing some stripers eating on the surface, however now’s the time to really be utilizing sonar. Most fish we’ve caught have been on a somethin else on both intermediate and sinking lines. Other flies like Game changers, small clousers and various other minnow patterns will also work so long that the fly is 2.5 inches long or less. 

Although January can be tricky with cold fronts, it is usually one of the best months on the pond. I still have some availability for trips towards the latter half of the month. To book or inquire call UO Helen at (706)878-3083 or visit www.josephclarkflyfishing.com

Editor’s note:

Catch Joseph in Athens on Monday night. That TU chapter is a welcoming bunch.

Events:

Wes’ “Unicoi Undercurrents” continues each Tuesday night. Next up is  “Swamper” Bert Deener, who will guide you through Okeefenokee Swamp fishing opportunities.  Set your phone alarms for Tuesdays at 645PM to tune in by 7.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTfpjnjAH6Y/?igsh=MXJvZmp5dTRxd2V5YQ==

Athens Jay stayed warm by detouring to a fly tying night in Athens. His Oconee River TU Chapter buddied up with the UGA Five Rivers Club to learn and produce some hot winter nymphs.

Reminder: the Rabun Rendezvous is on the horizon. That annual bluegrass and BBQ banquet is on February 7th at the Rabun County Civic Center in downtown Clayton. Save a few bucks by purchasing your banquet tickets online now.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AQJ4M1rph/?mibextid=wwXIfr

That’s the latest, thin January angling news for your dead-of-winter pursuits. Hey, at least we got some much-needed rain. Let’s hope those fronts keep passing on through and recharging our streams.  How about just an inch or two at a time? That would sure be nice.  Bundle up (per Wes)

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19essbFRo2/?mibextid=wwXIfr

and go cure your cabin fever. Stop in either UO store on your way to or from those frigid streamflows to thaw out. Good luck!

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com

Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report - 1/9/26

This week’s theme is “hello rain!”   It’s most welcome on our drought-impacted mountain trout streams. Hopefully we’ll get 2-3 inches through Saturday, and then more storms in the weeks ahead to recharge our headwaters.

Trouting this past week was extremely slow and challenging on nearly all mountain streams, with only a few exceptions (as described in our full report).

But the trouting game will change completely overnight.   If these storms hit as predicted, many streams will be blown out over the weekend. Flows should be better for a few days after the storm surge, but water temps will dive with the upcoming cold snap. Tune into your favorite fly shop and key USGS stream gauges to see where and when your trout waters will return to fishable conditions.

The past week was great for reservoir stripers and bass. The warm, overcast weather had the shad up, the gulls diving on them, and some big, finned predators busting into them.  Don’t miss our intel in the “Lakes” section of our full report.

Lastly, our Tuesday night “Undercurrents” started with a bang with Henry’s striper tell-all, which Wes recorded for any of you late-comers.  And we have seven more all-stars scheduled for y’all, so tune in on Tuesdays!

See more Undercurrents info and detailed fishing intel in our full report, right here:

http://blog.angler.management/

(Link in bio)

Good luck this week. Don’t forget a raincoat, warmer clothes, a stream thermometer, and our phone number for daily stream conditions.

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, parachute Adams, griffiths gnat, little black stone (or #18 gray elk hair caddis, and a small tan chubby or elk hair caddis as the lead fly (a strike indicator for your tiny dry dropper)

Nymphs & Wets: 

DH Stockers: twister egg, pheasant tail or Frenchie, sexy Walts worm, rainbow warrior, zebra midge, root beer midge, Duracell, micro girdle bug.

Mountain streams: zebra midge, soft hackles, prince nymph, frenchie.

Streamers:

Black and olive woolly buggers, jig leech, barely legal, UV polar Jig.

Reservoir Bass & Stripers:

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

Headwaters:

Flows just kept dropping and fish-holding water just kept drying up last week.  Survivors in those glassy pools were super-spooky and more interested in survival than eating. More rain should change this.

Dredger returned for a Smokies rematch last Monday. He lost again, managing only five bows in four hours of hard fishing (both dry/dropper and Euro) in 41-degree water.  Some winter stones were fluttering, but few fish were rising. There was no hot fly pattern, as frenchies, sexy Walts, and Spanish bullets each brought a fish or two. The real pattern was habitat:  deeper, faster water, which was in short supply. It was still a warm, beautiful afternoon in the national park, topped of by a flock of gobblers and several herds of elk. Hint: be careful of large “pedestrians” when driving through downtown Cherokee!

Delayed Harvest: Most streams were fairly uncooperative due to the low, clear water. The first anglers to a pool had a decent shot or two before the pool spooked. Small eggs, nymphs, and Euronymphs (perdigon, frenchie, etc) worked on unspooked fish at Smith.

The exception was the Chattooga, which was still very low and clear. The SCDNR trout page indicated that it was just redosed.  

Athens Jay and accomplice Jamie confirmed that fact with a midweek trip. Jay said: “Fun DH trip for our Athens duo.  Very low flows and clear water had fish in deeper runs and pools. Double nymph rigs under a bobber were very effective. We found cooperative fish in deep runs (not in riffles or pools). Moving water was the key for enticing them to eat. 

Funny thing happened while we were both fishing double nymph rigs near each other.  From those four nymphs, we caught a triple that was a trout slam!

Here’s a late (4PM) addition, just in from Athens Alan: “Hi Jeff,  hope you have had a good week.

Made the trek up to the  Chattooga DH section yesterday. Full parking lot on the GA side with a big group of hikers gathered at 10:30 am and 10 vehicles in the SC lot when I arrived. Temperature on my truck was 50 degrees when I pulled in. Was on the river by 11:00, water was low and clear, the gauge height near Clayton showed 1.25. Started with a double nymph rig and connected with an 11” brown in short order on the top fly, a Dredger black leech special (many thanks!).

Moved up river a bit and landed a nice brookie that went 13” on the bottom nymph, a small size 18 pheasant tail. 

 Shortly after noon I began to see some caddis on the water and saw rises to them around 12:30, tied on two caddis, one that was a size 16 and the other a size 14. I’d seen what looked to be two different naturals on the water, one had a lighter wing and body and I caught another one that had a darker wing and body. Landed three rainbows (completing the Chattooga slam 😀) in the first pool. Walked further upstream and stopped to eat lunch. Sat on the bank and watched risers in a quiet flat section that I targeted and landed another handful of browns and rainbows. 

Was nice when the clouds were providing overcast conditions and definitely made it easier to be “stealthy”, still walked up on more than my fair share of fish that waved as they shot off.

Bugs had stopped coming off by around 3:30. Got back to the parking lot at 4:50 and was the only one left.  Saw four other anglers during the day, was a good trip!  Have a great weekend!”

A quartet of Rabunites (rabuntu.org) hit Nantahala DH on Wednesday afternoon. 

The river was still low and clear and most fish were sullen. 

“Bluejay” managed a decent handful of fish via Euronymphing a small perdigon through the few available, deeper pockets and runs. 

The afternoon sun got some bugs (winter stones, BWO’s) flying and a few fish rising in soft seams and slow pockets.  Nanette practiced her skitter and fooled a few on top. Her visible lead fly (strike indicator) was a #16 tan caddis, while the business end was either a tiny BWO or pheasant tail soft hackle, dropped back 18 inches on 6X tippet.  Skitters brought more looks and eats than standard dead drifts.

Stockers: 

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

Private Waters: 

We’ve had very few post-holiday trips as most folks are recovering from that time off and spending spree.  The trips we’ve had have been slow, to be honest. Despite better (warmer) water temps, catching has been slow. Those big fish are just so spooky in the low, clear water that our guides and clients have been able to get just a few drifts and a hookup or two in each pool before it shuts down. Fly pattern hasnt really mattered. Eggs, nymphs, and small buggers will get a first strike or two.

Higher water will remedy this situation. Then it will be back to some decent afternoon action during the warmest water of the day.

Tailwaters:

Tailwaters are the other exception to last week’s crummy trout action. They’re fishing well.  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 from cold December air temps. 

UO buddy Ryan: “Hooch tailwater action has remained solid with these warmer days.  I've seen rising fish eating what I believe were BWO's, and even some Caddis hatching.  The wind has been my #1 battle my past several trips out.  It's been necessary to use a heavy anchor fly with ~4mm tungsten bead or heavier just to have a chance against it.  In these conditions, indicator nymphing would be much more relaxing but I am stubborn.  

When the wind breaks, a good drift is usually rewarded with a fish.  Even with 6.5x and 5x sighter, it feels like my line is a sail in the wind ripping my flies up to the surface un naturally!  Bring some heavy bugs with you to fight this wind if you're tight lining.  Match the hatch and get a drag-free drift, and you may tangle with one of our wild Hooch browns!”

Warm Bass Rivers: 

No news.

Ponds:

No news.

Lakes:

UO guide Joseph: “Fishing has been very good over the past week on Lanier.  I was out Tuesday with Steve and son Andrew, and we ended up landing 11 and losing four. All of our fish came on small baitfish patterns fished on sinking lines. Bird activity also greatly helped us to find schooling fish. 

I still have some openings for the rest of this month so if you’ve been wanting to give it a try now’s the time!   To book call UO Helen at (706)878-3083 or visit www.josephclarkflyfishing.com”

UO owner Jimmy hit Lanier, also. His first trip was a bit slow.  He only hooked and lost one striper, but had a heck of a consolation prize: a leaping, head-shaking 7lb largemouth.

He invited Dredger on trip #2.  They used the intel from Henry and Joseph regarding birds, fly patterns, and fishing techniques and had an epic afternoon. There was lots of spaghetti on their graph and fish sometimes breaking as close at 10 feet from the boat.  They put eight stripers in the boat, with the two best pulling the boga down to 15 and 17 lbs, respectively.

Henry also had some good trips this week. 

Did you miss Henry’s Tuesday night striper intel?  Never fear, for we’ve got your back. Buy Henry’s book or listen to his recorded interview. Tune in here and wait about 2.5 minutes until Wes starts the interview.  That Lanier striper gospel will produce for you, too.  It sure did for us!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTMMgnVkXYN/?igsh=bXpsbHpwdWhlem1s

Afar:

UO staffer Atticus:”Here's some fodder from my recent trip to the Florida keys. I had flyfishing fun with such diversity.”

Events:

Wes’ “Unicoi Undercurrents” continues each Tuesday night on UO’s Instagram page. Next up is Bass Pro Shops/Cabelas catalog photographer David Cannon’s picture-taking tips. He’s an old GA friend, mentored by Jimmy and the Rabunites,

 and now makes his living traveling the globe and taking professional pics!

The January roster:

The rest of Wes’ lineup is equally impressive, from Okefenokee Bert to Euro-master George Daniel and game-changer Blane Chocklett.  Set your phone alarms for Tuesdays at 645 PM to tune in by 7 for the live shows.

That’s the latest here as we await the storm front. The warm, dry weather is finally heading out. Here comes colder air and hopefully lotsa raindrops for some river recharge and much better trout action. Good luck. Call or stop in if we can help launch your 2026 trips.

And there we go!

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com