Summary:
Wow! Come on up! The weather and water are fine. This cold, dry week has all of our streams and lakes in great shape. Streams are indeed skinny, but cooler water temps are more than compensating for their low flows. GAWRD loaded up a bunch of stocker streams for holiday crowds. Rivers are clear and bassin is hot, while lake bassin and even some striper/hybrid chasing is paying off, too. We added a few Yellowstone cutts to top off this holiday fishing report. Get out there while this”false fall” hangs around. We are cool and dry for several days ahead!
Details are in our blog. It’s new every Friday and will help you boost your own catch rates.
http://blog.angler.management/
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Stop in either UO shop if we can help you out.
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: purple haze, tan elk hair caddis, parachute ant, foam ant, micro chubby Chernobyl, royal humpy, Drymerger.
Nymphs & Wets:
Stockers: red squirmy worm, peach egg, micro girdle bug, black woolly bugger, tan and olive mops, pink tag jig.
Mountain streams: hares ear, drowned ant, pheasant tail nymph and soft hackle, UV green weenie, prince nymph.
Streamers:
small black and olive buggers, bank robber sculpin, micro dungeon.
(Bass & stripers) two tone stealth bomber (the olive/tan color has been deadly lately for river bass) bugger changer, sparkle minnow, dead Ned, yard sale.
(Panfish) mini stealth bomber, Boogle popper #8, brim reaper, girdle bug.
(Carp) squirmy hybrid, carp bitters, identity crisis.
Headwaters:
They are clear, cold, and seasonally skinny.
Today at 8AM the Helen air was 53F, Spoilcane ran 61F
and upper Smith was 60.
Bluelines should fish well throughout the day with these great water temps! Fish will just be spooky and tight to cover, especially when the sun’s high, so focus more on your stalk than your fly pattern.
UO staffer Dredger took advantage of Wednesday’s cold weather and clear water and headed up to NC. He hit a favorite Nantahala Forest stream early. At 9AM the air was 51 and the water 53, so he added a jacket and slipped into dry waders.
It was a slow but steady pick, and he ended up with a half dozen leftover stockers (equal split between bows and browns) and a few more little wild bows by lunchtime. The stockers liked his sexy Walts anchor fly, while most of the wilds preferred the sunken ant dropper. Break-in trip #2 for his 10/2 Clearwater was deemed a success.
Tip: region trout streams are really low and clear. Fish are bunched up in the few pools and pockets with enough depth/cover to hide them from avian predators.
Skip the thin riffles. Fish for “groundhogs” and hit those shady holes in the stream and you’ll do okay.
Our Smokies friends, Ian and Charity, shared a brand-new park fishing report:
https://randrflyfishing.com/2025/08/27/an-early-taste-of-fall-in-the-smoky-mountains/
Stockers:
As expected, our Wildlife Division published a long list of spiced-up streams for the holiday weekend. That will pretty much wrap up its 2025 stocking season, except for a few fall stockings.
https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout
UO buddy RSquared: “By the end of Friday, Ga.DNR will have finished the final major stocking of trout in public waters. It will restart in late fall in our delayed harvest streams. During my morning walk today, I could not help but notice numerous trout swimming in a nearby NW Ga. Stream close to my house. I went home & gathered up some gear & returned. For the first time this year, I decided to keep a limit for the freezer. The rainbows loved pink squirmy worms.”
UO buddy Lumis showed his young Romanian friend Alan how it’s done. They chased stockers above Helen with their fly rods and indicator rigs. Despite the Saturday crowds, each caught a small handful on a double nymph rig of a sexy Walts and an egg. It was a nice intro for the rookie fly fisher.
Private Waters:
“Broken record:” We remain shut down for summer. Feel free to call our shop ASAP to reserve those prime fall weekend dates after October 15, when we reopen those cooled-off streams for business.
Tailwaters:
They’re still a really good bet!
UO buddy Myles: Lanier’s late summer stratification is in full effect on the Chattahoochee tailwater! The water below the dam is beginning to stain.
https://georgiawildlife.com/lake-lanier-turnover-facts
The fish were a bit more finicky to eat than usual this Friday morning. Nymphs are still catching fish, but at a slower rate than pre turnover. My friend and I caught 26 fish today before we called it a morning. For a cool sighting, we saw an osprey dive down in between us and carry off with a big rainbow. It then flew up and down the river with the trout in its talons multiple times before flying away with it for lunchtime.
Warm Rivers:
This rainless week up here has our regional rivers low, clear, and ripe for bassin’. Just get out there early in order to beat the holiday paddlers and tubers. At 9AM today the Hooch at Hwy 115 was clear, 66F, and looking mighty inviting.
Try surface bugs in low light/bankside shade and some streamers and crayfish imitations when the sun is high and fish are hunkered down, away from herons.UO Helen manager Wes: “After a very wet August in North Georgia we finally got a long enough break in the rain to allow for some quality river bass fishing. So this morning I decided to go chase some Bartram’s bass. I caught around 10 fish in a couple hours of fishing. They were all up top, on an olive stealth bomber.”
UO owner Jimmy took about an hour and a half before dark one afternoon this week to get some hydrotherapy on the river. The Shoal Bass were pretty active, and he bagged 8 during that time; all on a white spinnerbait. All but two of the fish were right in fast water, which made them even more exciting!
UO staffer Dredger completed his Wednesday marathon to NC with an afternoon stop at a smallie river. The sun was high and it was warm enough to wet wade.
Ponds:
The small lake bite should pick up with these chilly nights dropping surface waters a few degrees. UO owner Jimmy shared a video of grandson Crosby nailing a trophy largemouth in his subdivision pond. You’ve gotta appreciate Crosby’s joy as he exclaims, “look at this beast!”
UO buddy CDB: “The weather cooled down and I got to slip out to some local ponds at least one evening this past week. The panfish were surprisingly quiet, but there were a few small bass to be picked up.
I am guessing the panfish were quiet because of some of the nasty beasties lurking in the shallow water. A small (size 12) white, weighted woolly bugger variation did the trick on both blue cats and channel cats. Looking forward to seeing that cooler weather hang around!”
Lakes:
UO guide Joseph: “Fishing on the big pond (Lanier) remains good. Cooler temps have the bass still feeding on top. I haven’t been seeing quite the numbers I have previously seen, however most of the fish I’ve been running into have been big. I haven’t been utilizing fly gear much lately. Most of the fish I’ve encountered have been in small wolf packs and don’t stay on the surface long. If you want to give the fly a try things like clousers, kinky muddlers, wiggle minnows and game changers can be good options. For conventional lures I’ve been getting most attention on serpentine swimbaits, walk the dog style topwaters, and flukes.
With colder days quickly approaching, striper season is right around the corner. If you’d like to give it a try I still have prime dates available for October and November but they are going fast. I also have a few dates available for December as well. If you want to get in on the action give the Helen store a call at (706)-878-3083 or check out my website at www.josephclarkflyfishing.com”
UO Helen manager Wes: “Joseph and I got out after some flats carp one morning over the weekend. The off-color water and glare made for tough sight-casting conditions. However, we were able to get a few decent shots at fish and sealed the deal on one fish that fell for a hybrid worm.”
UO staffer Sydney headed south to celebrate her father’s birthday. She spent two days “doubling up with dad” on his favorite lake. Enjoy her video fish story via this IG reel:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DN8eVXEjgrJ/?igsh=dncwc2l4Y2JoYTdj
There is some really good lake intel in today’s GAWRD weekly blog. Check out the new fish attractors in a north GA reservoir:
https://georgiawildlife.blog/2025/08/29/georgia-fishing-report-august-29-2025/
Afar:
UO guide Palmer just returned from a Montana vacation and reported: “YNP fishing was great and the crowds were down. Most all of my fish came on gray drake spinners, as that’s what they were keyed into. We also fished the Snake in GTNP and hecubas were starting to pop off. Fall is approaching here and terrestrial season is coming to an end. This is a great time to hit the national park, as summer vacations are over for many tourists.”
Reminder:
Don’t forget Sammy’s freebie. Sign up for Strung online mag soon!
That’s the latest from our UO gang and fishy friends. Figure out your holiday schedule ASAP and fit in a fishing trip around your football addiction and picnic obligations. The weather and water are fine. Don’t miss this great opportunity to wet a line during our false fall. Stop in either UO shop for Wes’ hot bugs and our staff’s timely intel. Good luck on your long Labor Day weekend!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com
