Unicoi Outfitters is north Georgia's premier guide service and fly fishing outfitter, located on the Chattahoochee River near alpine Helen. Look for fishing reports, gear and book reviews, and general musings here from our staff and guides.

Friday, January 17, 2025

Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report - 1/17/25

 



Brrrr.

Region streams are clear and icy-cold. At least they’ve been a bit warmer for the last few days, but will drop back down to 40F or lower when this next Arctic blast hits us on Sunday night.  . Rivers are flowing at seasonal norms, while headwaters are just a bit skinny.  Plan your leaders and flies to match those water conditions.


https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/02330450/#dataTypeId=continuous-00065-0&period=P7D&showMedian=false


Main county and state roads are fine, but some shaded back roads up here in the mountains are still icy, especially in the mornings. I called my Chattahoochee Forest friends yesterday and they said the WMA road closures on the east side are still in effect:


https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/conf/alerts-notices/?aid=45343


Each district office will have the best info on its respective road status. Find the districts here:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/conf/about-forest/offices


Trout fishing should be good (for the winter) now, with these warmer afternoons and then will die with the water temps next week.  Fish will be sluggish and hunkered down on the bottom. Saturday’s rain may lead many anglers toward indoor events like the Rabun Rendezvous. Catch rates will drop once again with next week’s arctic blast that arrives on Monday.


Lake stripers and their prey remain cold and sullen. They’ve been deep and slow, with some rare surface action. The shallow water bite will likely be slow for a while as Lanier temps slide downward through the forties.  


Catch Wes’ weekly update to his hot fly list and the latest fishing reports from our UO staff and avid angling friends here:

http://blog.angler.management/


Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com


Wes’ Winter Fly List:  

Dries: Micro chubby Chernobyl,  orange stimulator, parachute Adams, blue wing olive, little black stone.  They’re mainly strike indicators for your nymph droppers.


Nymphs & Wets: 

DH streams: small Frenchie, tungsten baetis, small pheasant tails and hares ears (both soft hackles and nymphs) slush egg, RS2, micro mayfly, diamond and zebra midges.



Mountain streams: Pheasant tails, micro girdle bugs, prince nymphs,  root beer midge.


Streamers:

Olive and black buggers, sparkle minnows, CDC squirrel leech, bank robber sculpin.


(Bass & stripers) Somethin’ else, Clouser minnow, micro changer, jerk changer.


Headwaters: 

They’re clear and real cold. Many national forest roads are still snow covered and icy, so many bluelines are not easily accessed.  Honestly, the cold winter water from freezing overnight air temps will kill the bite. You’ll do better with trout on bigger, warmer streams at lower elevations. 


Delayed Harvest Streams:

They’re clear and cold and flowing at normal winter levels. Unfortunately staffer Sydney said that Smith DH was 44F  at 3PM yesterday.  Fish are cold to the touch and sluggish, but they’ll still eat on warm afternoons. Don’t expect the high catch rates you found in the fall. But you won’t find the crowds, either. Divide your fall catch rate by 2 or 3 and consider that new winter tally to be a good day. 


Hit the winter refuges of deep, slow pools and dredge your double nymph rigs  during the winter window of 11AM to 3PM for a few nice fish at the daily high water temps. A tractor-trailer rig is most effective. Put your larger attractor fly (pats rubberlegs, egg, sexy walts or leech) a foot behind your split shot. Then drop a tiny fly (pheasant tail, rainbow warrior, frenchie, or midge of choice) a foot off the back of that first fly.  


Prospect those pools with deep, bottom-bumping drifts.  Winter fish won’t move more than a few inches to intercept your nymphs, so cast just a foot apart to cover the entire width of each pool.  Hits are subtle, so strike with any small hesitation of your strike indicator or sighter.


A second technique with winter promise is swinging and twitching small streamers and/or soft hackle wet flies - deep! Use a sink tip line, a poly leader, or a long, light tippet with multiple split shot to get your bugs down to those fish hugging the bottom. 


Pick some streams near your parked car so you can retreat to that car heater and thaw frozen toes and fingers. You might even have a thermos of hot soup or chili tucked in the back seat.   (Mom used to boil hot dogs and put them and the water in a wide mouth thermos for our hot lunch as fishing kids).


Good choices are Toccoa, Smith, Ami at 53 and Steel Bridge, Nantahala, and Tuckaseegee. Tougher folks can hike into the Chattooga, beautiful and uncrowded in the winter. Trout pod up in the deep, slow pools.  Just beware the shaded, curvy, black-iced mountain roads (Warwoman and Hwy 28) to get there!


On the 15th three Rabunites hit Smith DH. Bluejay went early and picked up four fish on a slush egg. Dredger and Ospreydawg went in the afternoon and did pretty well on tractor-trailer rigs (bugger with a small soft hackle dropper)via two techniques. The first was a downstream cast with a swing and then a slow twitch back upstream. No hits were counted until two extra split shot were added, then it was game on.



The second method was an upstream cast and a downstream drift with twitches.  On both techniques, the soft hackles (#16, 18 pheasant tails and hares ears) were strongly preferred over the #12 bugger.






UO staffer Sydney: “I started out Thursday on some small, wild streams midday, but with the north slope water temps too darn cold, I couldn’t get anything to eat.



So I headed over to Smith DH in midafternoon and got some action.  I didn’t have to change flies once.  I did a Chubby dry with a #16 tungsten bead Baetis dropped below it.  Caught a few and lost  a few, but still had some incredible takes! Also spotted a ton of fish still in the crystal-clear creek.  A fellow angler told me that the black or red midges have been working well in the afternoons leading till sundown.”







Private Waters:

Private water trips were scarce this week due to cold temperatures.  Try the Delayed Harvest techniques, above, if you’re heading to private waters this week.


UO buddy CDB:

“Our Veterans Flyfishing organization 

https://veteransflyfishing.org/

had our first outing at Nacoochee Bend Sunday.  The water was only in the high 30’s.  Nevertheless,you can see rods were bent as some good fish made their presence known!  Fortunately, the fish were gentle on our angler’s delicate hands, executing long distance releases so folks wouldn’t have to put their hands in the water.





Monday on private waters small eggs rolled right along the bottom got the best results. As the sun came up and water warmed a bit, fish could be had on small nymph patterns and perdigons with green or blue flash in them as long as they were fished deep. 

Heading off to South Dakota next week (weather permitting) to gather some fly tying supplies for about a week. See y’all in February!”


Are you planning your private waters action for 2025? Give us a call at 706-878-3083 to book your own trips this year with our UO guides. Call soon, as those prime spring weekends book quickly.


Tailwaters:

No recent reports. They should fish better than headwaters because of warmer reservoir discharges.


Lakes:

UO buddy AJ: “I got out Sunday PM, hoping that a little sun and warmer weather would have some fish moving around. Marked some smaller groups of stripers around 30 ft, but could not get any on a sinking line. About an hour before dark, I found a lot of very shallow bait flicking on the surface. The gulls found them too, but the stripers were a no-show to the party. Water temps were between 45-48. Hoping to get out and do a little recon Fri PM and possibly Sat AM for some trips planned next week (barring another ice/snow event) and hoping for a little more active fish.”

Alex Jaume

Lanier on the Fly

www.Lanieronthefly.com

IG - @lanier_on_the_fly


Afar:

UO buddy Athens MD: “Conditions seemed right for shallow water reds this past weekend, so Athens Jamie and I headed to the coast with the Towee in tow. We arrived mid-day to blue-bird skies and near-low tide which made spotting the numerous fish relatively easy. Throwing a small light-brown shrimp pattern on an 8-weight floating line, I hooked (but lost) my first redfish on a fly. Jamie suggested I performed a trout-set, but show me the tape. Huge thanks to my fishing partner who knew the area and poled my large frame around while I cast to reds in a foot of water and landed two over the next couple of hours. I took the pole after a while and pushed the boat in pitiful circles as the tide started to rise. Jamie pulled in a very nice red the next day under overcast skies which made the fish hard to spot. So, all-in-all a great couple days. And it's nice to have a friend with a boat!”





Upcoming Events:

Tomorrow!  January 18: 38th annual Rabun Rendezvous in Clayton. BBQ, Live Bluegrass, raffles, and silent auctions. Yearly fundraiser by the Rabunites.  Check out the prize list that includes two Winston rods, two lodge stays, nice artwork, and plenty more flyfishing goodies. Everyone welcome.






https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1853SypxRF/?


Jan 31 to Feb 2 : Atlanta Fly Fishing Show at Gas South Convention Center in Duluth. Stop by our UO booth and swap fish stories.  We are back at booth #436, next to Pond A, once again.

https://flyfishingshow.com/atlanta/


Ongoing: Dream Trip ticket sales. Win a week of fishing in Yellowstone for just ten bucks, or one of a dozen great runnerup prizes.  Drawing in mid-March. Details here:

https://georgiatu.org/


Good luck this week. It’s probably a good one to stay indoors, so catch up on your fly tying and equipment cleaning until this next arctic blast passes and streams warm back up a bit.  Better yet, go warm your buns with fishing buddies at tomorrow’s Rabun Rendezvous.  You might just win a Winston rod or a private trout trip!  


Stop in either UO shop if you’re in the neighborhood. The shops are warm and the intel is hot, as always. 


Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com

Thursday, January 16, 2025

“Net-Fish” First!


The Angler Magazine has a temporary interruption in service, so we are sharing this month’s unpublished column with y’all.

Net-Fish First!


How do you begin your trouting trip? That Rabunite clan (www.rabuntu.org) always fishes first with a net!  Lawbreakers? Nah, they’re all reformed these days. This is a legal method that you should adopt to enhance your own catches, especially in the midwinter cold.  As a card-carrying Rabunite, let me explain.


Savvy Rabunites fish with a net first: the internet!  We use that net to assess current conditions for our favorite streams and to predict what they’ll be when we arrive streamside.


 First we check current conditions via the USGS online stream gauges. Some of our destinations have gauges on them, while others are close enough to a gauged river that can serve as a surrogate for our target stream.


https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/nwis/uv?site_no=02330450


All the gauges will show streamflows, while some will measure extra parameters like water temperature. The Hooch-Helen gauge even has a “river cam” showing you real-time video of the river!  


Check online to see if your stream is high, low, or normal. Is it blown out by last night’s heavy rain or already recovering? Are water temperatures above, at, or below that prime zone for trout (50-62 degrees)? Will you be able to toss dries or retreat to dredging nymphs?


Next, we predict the future by checking our weather apps. In my area, the Atlanta TV stations have some mighty fine apps that forecast hourly air temperatures, storm front arrivals, and rainfall totals. Will a warm afternoon boost water temps and turn on winter trout? Will a rain stain the water and ignite the earthworm hatch?



From the warmth of your home recliner, know the present and predict the future before loading your fishing gear, then point your truck in the right direction. “Resolve” to fish first with a net, the internet, and enjoy more trout success in your angling new year. Good luck!



Note: for a deeper dive into this topic, see my past columns in the October 2020 and January 2021 issues of The Angler Magazine- Atlanta edition.


https://coastalanglermag.com/e-magazine/atlanta/

Friday, January 10, 2025

Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report - 1/10/25

 


Welcome to our Winter Wonderland  report.  As I write this at 1PM White County has had about 2-3 inches of snow and it just quit, at least for now.


Sydney shared this video of the stream in her back yard, on the north end of the county.


Region streams are clear, cold, and flowing at seasonal norms.  Trout have been sluggish in water temperatures hovering around the mid-30’s. Catch rates were better earlier in the week when water temps stayed above 40.


https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/nwis/uv?site_no=02176930


The main challenge over the next few days will be safe access to streams. Snow isn’t the problem; the expected ICE will be.   Steep, winding county and national forest roads will be a challenge until they thaw and dry. Although main roads should clear quickly, beware shaded curves and north slopes, especially after freezing overnight air temperatures refreeze wet roads.  Catch updates from local county government websites and the Chattahoochee National Forest before venturing north again.  


https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1cCV9uenLn/?mibextid=wwXIfr


https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18UVsgmnkT/?mibextid=wwXIfr


I received this text from White  County EMA at 1:40PM:

White County EMA:  All roads and bridges in White County should be considered extremely dangerous until further notice. Moderate snow will continue across White County for several more hours before changing to freezing rain later this afternoon. 1/4 to .4 inches of ice accumulation on top of the snow is possible before the precipitation ends tonight. Road conditions may very well become impassable hampering emergency response . All travel should be suspended or delayed beginning immediately. Winds will increase later today. The snow pack combined with the expected ice load and gusty winds may bring down trees and powerlines.


Trout fishing should be good whenever the next warming trend blows through and restores water temps back above 40 degrees.


Lake stripers and their prey have been sullen. They’ve been deep and slow, with some rare surface action. The shallow water bite will likely be slow for a while as Lanier temps slide downward through the forties.


Catch Wes’ weekly update to his hot fly list and the latest fishing reports from our UO staff and avid angling friends here:

http://blog.angler.management/


Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com


Wes’ Winter Fly List:  

Dries: Micro chubby Chernobyl,  orange stimulator, parachute Adams, blue wing olive, little black stone.  They’re mainly strike indicators for your nymph droppers.


Nymphs & Wets: 

DH streams: micro Girdle Bug,, twister egg, pheasant tail, micro mayfly, Rainbow Warrior, gold ribbed hares ear, duracell, Ruby midge.


Mountain streams: Pheasant tails, micro girdle bugs, prince nymphs,  root beer midge.


Streamers:

Olive and black buggers, sparkle minnows, CDC squirrel leech.


(Bass & stripers) Somethin’ else, Clouser minnow, micro changer, jerk changer. 


Headwaters: 

They’re clear and real cold. Most national forest roads are currently closed, so many bluelines are not easily accessed. Wait for a thaw and road reopenings to give them a try. Honestly, cold winter water will kill the bite. You’ll do better on bigger, warmer streams at lower elevations. At these low temps, just a degree or two can make a big difference in the bite.


Satisfied UO customer Nick shared a quick Smithgall fish story with us:

“Thanks for the flies and advice. On Wednesday I fished Dukes Creek with a double nymph rig:  an olive girdle bug with a #20 root beer midge dropped behind it. Landed 5 off the olive girdle bug and hooked only 1 off the midge and lost it prior to netting it, but saw he was on the dropper behind. The highlight of my day was this 22” bow off the girdle bug.”



Delayed Harvest Streams:

They’re clear and cold and flowing at normal winter levels. Fish are sluggish, but they’ll still eat on warm afternoons. Don’t expect the high catch rates you found in the fall. But you won’t find the crowds, either. Divide your fall catch rate by 2 or 3 and consider that new winter tally to be a good day. 


Hit the winter refuges of deep, slow pools and dredge your double nymph rigs  during the winter window of 11AM to 3PM for a few nice fish at the daily high water temps. A tractor-trailer rig is most effective. Put your larger attractor fly (pats rubberlegs, egg, sexy walts or leech) a foot behind your split shot. Then drop a tiny fly (pheasant tail, rainbow warrior, frenchie, or midge of choice) a foot off the back of that first fly.  


Prospect those pools with deep, bottom-bumping drifts.  Winter fish won’t move more than a few inches to intercept your nymphs, so cast just a foot apart to cover the entire width of each pool.  Hits are subtle, so strike with any small hesitation of your strike indicator or sighter.


Pick some streams near your parked car so you can retreat to that car heater and thaw frozen toes and fingers. You might even have a thermos of hot soup or chili tucked in the back seat.   (Mom used to boil hot dogs and put them and the water in a wide-mouth thermos for our hot lunch as fishing kids).


Good choices are Toccoa, Smith, Ami at 53 and Steel Bridge, Nantahala, and Tuckaseegee. Tougher folks can hike into the Chattooga, beautiful and uncrowded in the winter. Just beware the shaded, curvy, black-iced mountain roads to get there!


On Tuesday, two Jeffs ran into each other during a morning grocery run in Cleveland. The retirees agreed to run home, finish their respective housework, and hit Smith DH after lunch. 


They had a good afternoon. The holiday crowds were gone and the air temp rose into the mid-40’s.  The wind was tough, but they dressed right. It was great to see DNR wardens Ann and TR and their intern patrolling the creek.



The duo had to work hard for the fish, but were rewarded, even with the species slam! The trick was to dredge deep and match the fly pattern to the water. Thin, clear water and spooky fish required small bugs ( #18 frenchies). Few were caught there because the fish saw us coming.  Deep, shady pools suggested a # 10 tungsten beaded rubberlegs, and deep, turbulent water, especially at dusk, made a heavy # 12 tan mop (easy to see) the fly of choice.





UO buddy Spangler was inspired by our Tuesday Smith DH post and decided to hit it yesterday (9th) before pickup up his kids after school. He said:  “I was able to spend some time around Helen before the snow day. I started doing some scouting of a high headwater stream, the temp was 15 degrees at 10 am! No luck there with a dry dropper fished on my 8’ Tenkara outfit (I left my 6’ 2W in the car, figuring the guides were just gonna freeze). Will be a spot to check out  again in spring! The Forest Service was actually just closing off the roads around there in prep for the winter weather when I arrived.


I warmed up and headed down to the Smith Creek DH. There, I had 10 fish hooked and 8 to the net in 2 hours. Wasn’t too crowded either, and it had warmed up a bit. All but 2 came on a dry/dropper fished on very long, thin leader (6x) with a Klinkhammer as the dry and an #18 black and white perdigon with an oversized 2.8 MM bead as the dropper, which ticked the bottom. Two were on a golden stone jig tightlined in some heavier water in a small plunge pool.


One way to know you are getting a good drift: on one large and very flat pool I could see held some fish, but I slipped and fell making a big splash at the tail of the pool.  I spooked them and they all darted up to the head of the pool. I decided since I’m here (and cold and wet) just try. I made the longest cast I could with that long leader and sure enough, one still took the dropper!”


UO buddy Megan: “Ventured north today (10th), chasing the snow, with my hubby and the four legged. Fires Creek was a ghost town, and only saw two other anglers. Caught fish on dark jiggly pats and the smallest fly had in my box — glass bead, zebra midge with copper wire. Alternated catches on each. Didn’t change all day. Bill hooked a nice brown on streamer he tied up…didn’t get it to the net which would have been his southern snow slam. Fishing slowed as the snow picked up. Could’ve been a southern gal’s distraction with watching snowflakes hit the water. The four legged got to play and kiss some fish, her favorite pastime. Don’t worry, we are staying up here until the roads clear.”




Private Waters:
Private water trips were scarce this week due to cold temperatures, high winds, and most folks returning to work and school.


Five UO guides introduced 13 students from Atlanta’s Westminster School to flyfishing on a cold yesterday morning at Nacoochee Bend.  Those dedicated rookies spent time perfecting their casts and drifts, and several students were rewarded with chunky rainbows, despite 35F water temps. Winning bugs were an olive bugger, brown rubberlegs, and Frenchie.


UO guide Sydney fished Nacoochee Bend for about an hour yesterday afternoon, after her morning guide trip. She had to cycle through several fly patterns before finding a bit of success on a black girdle bug, rolled along the stream bottom.



Want in on our private waters action in 2025? Give us a call at 706-878-3083 to book your own trips this year with our UO guides. Call soon, as those prime spring weekends book quickly.


Tailwaters:

No recent reports. The Hartley brothers were too busy working this week.


Lakes:

UO buddy Alex braved the Lanier elements: “I had a trip Sunday and fished again Monday AM before the winds kicked up. Conditions looked perfect on Sunday, but the fishing was pretty slow. Saw a few groups working throughout the day, but they weren't staying around long and it was very crowded when they did pop up. I counted 11 boats on the first group that I saw that morning. My client and I did a lot of riding and looking and we were finally rewarded with a fish late in the afternoon. Capt. Constance fed the fish perfectly. Small flies on sinking lines seemed to be the ticket. I went back out Monday AM and stayed out until the wind and sun showed up. I never saw anything worth casting to and took out just as it started whitecapping. Water temps were around 48-50.”


Alex Jaume

Lanier on the Fly

www.Lanieronthefly.com

IG - @lanier_on_the_fly





Winter Breakers:

UO buddy Athens Jay accumulated these snippets from his UGA 5Rivers students who wet some lines on Christmas break.


From UGA 5 Rivers student Mille A.:

“I just wanted to thank you for your help with fly tying and fly suggestions. I went fishing with my dad near Deckers, CO, and I had success on a size #22 chocolate foam emerger that I tied!”



UGA 5 Rivers member Anna C. just returned from a trip out west where she was able to catch some beautiful Gila Trout in the National Forest of the same name. 




UGA 5 Rivers member Caroline H. displays her very first trout on a fly. 



UGA 5 Rivers member Wes A. with the first trout caught on a fly he tied. 




Upcoming Events:

January 18: 38th annual Rabun Rendezvous in Clayton. BBQ, Live Bluegrass, raffles, and silent auctions. Yearly fundraiser by the Rabunites.  Check out the prize list that includes two Winston rods, two lodge stays, nice artwork, and plenty more flyfishing goodies. Everyone welcome.










https://rabuntu.org/jan-25-2025-38th-rabun-rendezvous/?


Jan 31 to Feb 2 : Atlanta Fly Fishing Show at Gas South Convention Center in Duluth. Stop by our UO booth and swap fish stories.  We are back at booth #436, next to Pond A, once again.

https://flyfishingshow.com/atlanta/


Ongoing: Dream Trip ticket sales. Win a week of fishing in Yellowstone for just ten bucks, or one of a dozen great runnerup prizes.  Drawing in mid-March. Details here:

https://georgiatu.org/


Enjoy this report from the warmth of your homes. Hopefully we can emerge from our brief hibernations soon, get on some thawed, safe roads, and return to our favorite waters in the next few days. While the catching may be less frequent than our fall and spring tallies, the fishing in winter is still a lot of fun for angling addicts. We’ll let you know when we reopen our shops and welcome y’all back. For now, enjoy your local sleigh rides and the time off from work and school.


Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com