Summary: wild trout streams are hot and skinny. Try the mornings on north slopes and be stealthy. Stockers are still abundant and even eating in the warmer water. Local Tailwaters and the Rockies are GA trouters’ best bets this month. River bass and bream are good, while reservoir spots are playing hide-and-seek at dawn. Montana, the Everglades, and Europe entertained our distant travelers last week.
Check out those fish stories and our detailed intel at our blog. It’s new 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. Set your alarms early a don’t forget your bug dope and sunscreen. And plenty of water.
Helen: 706-878-3083. Open 8-5 daily.
Clarkesville: 706-754-0203. Open 8-5 from Monday thru Saturday.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: purple haze, tan elk hair caddis, parachute and hard body ants, micro chubby Chernobyl, Royal Wulff.
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:
Sparkle minnows, small black and olive buggers, bank robber sculpin, micro dungeon.
(Bass & stripers) two tone stealth bomber, jerk changer, crawfish jambalaya, dead ned. Supernatural peanut.
(Panfish) mini stealth bomber, Boogle popper #8, brim reaper, girdle bug.
(Carp) squirmy hybrid, carp bitters, carpnasty.
Headwaters:
They’re low, clear, and hot! At 3PM today, a real high Hooch trib was a balmy 68F
and Spoilcane, at lower elevation, was 72F.
Go early, go high, and go to north slope streams if you must have a wild trout fix. Sneak up to drought refuges and toss a para ant, elk hair caddis, or green weenie in there. Packed pool residents will compete for breakfast. Quit fishing if your stream thermometer inches above 66F.
Stockers:
GAWRD stocked a good bunch of streams this week. Give a morning trip a shot. Shoot, you can even try the afternoons! While taking a vid and a water temp of 73F at 4PM today, I watched two anglers haul in three stockers in about ten minutes of fishing time on the Hooch WMA.
https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout
Private Waters:
We are shut down for summer. Feel free to call our shop now to reserve your prime fall weekend dates after October 15, a rough estimate for our reopening of private trout water opportunities.
Reminder:
We are still offering flyfishing-only striper trips at Nacoochee Bend. Call the Helen shop at 706-878-3083 for details and to make your reservation. The river looked good today- still slightly stained from an afternoon thunderstorm, with a bunch of big tails wagging just below the whitewater.
Tailwaters:
They’re fishing well for folks dodging the hot rays of the midday sun. The water is always cold, but that hot air does a number on midday trouters. UO buddy Ryan said: “The Hooch tailwater on all ends has been fishing well. We've been euro Nymphing using natural nymphs sz 18-20 with a little junk mixed in for the rainbows. 6.5x tippet has been fooling fish in clear water. We had a great trip getting a friend on his first Hooch wild brown!”
Warm Rivers:
They looking good and are a best bet. The Hooch at Highway 115 was 80F, with 3-4 feet of visibility at 5PM today.
Same deal down at Duncan Bridge, which is often muddier due to the Soque’s sediment contribution.
The key is to check the river gauges. Make sure a local storm hasn’t turned the river chocolate before your bass-yakking adventure. Grab some shoal bass streamers and surface bugs from our Helen shop before you go. We’ll toss in our intel for free.
UO buddy Spangler: “My son and I have been having fun hitting fairly urban tribs of the hooch late in the evening, bringing in some warmouth, bluegill and even a couple shoal bass. We even spotted a little gar we tried to sight fish to but no luck. Water is very low and clear and some of our go-to spots were actually dried up. He did well with panfish on a Chernobyl Ant, and I’ve been throwing a mini stealth bomber with an olive bugger with some rubber legs trailing behind it.”
UO-Helen manager Wes had a good wading trip with his buddies recently:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMN-S48J8q3/?igsh=MW5nNnJrdnM2bHJxNw==
Ponds: No recent reports. They should still fish well at dawn and dusk, when the shadows fall and the sun is not baking anglers’ heads.
Lakes:
UO guide Joseph: “Fishing was good over the past week on the pond. I had a good outing with my buddy Brandon on Sunday morning . We were able to land just under ten fish and lost a few more. Most of the schooling action we saw was around humps and points and some in open water. We caught most of our fish on serpentine swim baits however we had a few looks on walking baits as well. For flies game changers. Wiggle minnows, and closures in the 4inch range should be best. Our topwater bite should continue for the next few weeks so if you’d like to take advantage of some great Lanier fishing give the Helen shop a call at (706)878-3083!”
The UO trio of Jimmy, Lee, and Dredger hit Lanier early this morning (18th) for the topwater bass bite. They ran between points and humps on the middle and lower end of the lake, tossing jerk baits and spooks. Jimmy and Lee connected twice, while Dredger zeroed.
Afar:
UO owner Jimmy’s “far West” quartet gathered for its 18th annual pilgrimage to the promised lands of Montana. They spent a fun week with Athenians John and Laine McGarity of Athens, who are the GATU Dream Trip hosts. Fifty degree mornings and a fire in the McGarity cabin fireplace were hard to beat!
They hit the usual array of bigger waters inside and outside the park. Some days were good, while others were slower. Best action was early and late, when bugs were around. Hatch-matching was essential for these picky wild fish. Some hefty bows and browns were hooked on the Madison outside the park, with maybe half landed in the strong currents. Jimmy even caught some by swinging wets on his trout Spey rod.
The Gallatin rewarded half our crew and punished the other half, which didn’t match the hatch, per John’s guidance. Jimmy got a really nice 21 inch brown to top that day’s trip.
The gang spotted a few cruisers in Slough,
but traveled on to their favorite haunts in the northeast corner, where colorful cutts often refused their dries but occasionally ate their stimmies and green drakes.
Bison herds, pronghorns, soaring eagles, buff jams, and late Roosevelt suppers were once again part of their experience.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DMLNDOnsik3/?img_index=4&igsh=dDlsZXY0dGhzMGY0
A trip highlight was hitting the salmonfly/golden stone hatch on the Namesake River in the park.
Big, fluffy hatch -matchers fooled some colorful residents. The scenery alone was worth the hike down into the gorge, but the cutts topped the trip. Got some Dornan’s water walkers? You’d better.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DMGFpAJseGo/?igsh=NWUwYzN2am5wOHNm
Put the park on your bucket list and go sooner than later, while your legs and lungs are still fresh. Do it for just ten bucks if you’re the grand prize winner of Georgia Trout Unlimited’s 2026 Dream Trip raffle!
https://georgiatu.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-Dream-Trip-Prize-Winners-web.pdf
UO Athens Jay went “far south” and typed up this report on his ride back to the dock: “Greetings from Everglades National Park! In summer this place is buggy, this place is muggy, but it is also magical! Tarpon are such mysterious creatures and I’ve sure enjoyed exploring their behavior this week with two friends who know them well. One of the many surprises is that I was able to catch them on flies very similar to those that work on river bass back home. The “Blurple” (black and purple streamer about 3 inches long) has worked great. Obviously they are tied with MUCH more substantial hooks!
In addition to the magnificent silver king, we’ve caught snook and mangrove snapper. We have seen some big sharks, but so far we’ve escaped their interest in hooked fish. We’ve also been able to watch manatees and American crocodile doing their thing. This place really is a treasure, and I am grateful for the opportunity to enjoy our public lands in all their glory.”
UO buddy Mo went the farthest and shared this report: “Hey Jeff. Greetings from the Old World. I hope all is well. Really enjoyed the posts from your trip out West. I can’t wait to get back out there again.
Here are some chunky grayling from the Ribnik River in Bosnia. Fishing this crystal clear, glass-top surface chalk stream demands 15-20ft leaders tapered to 7x and a level of stealth even herons would be jealous of. It’s all sight fishing and grayling usually sip on tiny nymphs or emergers down to size 24 stuck in the film, but even then they are snooty buggers, refusing even the best of drifts. This hot summer day, however, they couldn’t resist a big wasp imitation and it was their undoing. Still gives me goosebumps seeing a big grayling rise up and sip the fly. My arm was sore after fighting a bunch of these 45-50cm brutes throughout the afternoon. Beautiful river and beautiful fish. I miss it already.”
That’s the latest as we slog through another hot, muggy JoJa summer. Do yourselves a favor and take a summer road trip to distant waters. It will make your wait for fall’s cooler water a lot more tolerable. Trust us! Stop in either UO shop soon for some air conditioning and story-swapping.
