Tradition Starter and Memory Maker!!

Mark Nosacka and his son JP fished with me on Saturday, doing an instructional half day at Nacoochee Bend.  Mark, having done a little fly fishing before, was wanting to get his son JP started off on the right foot.  I'll tell you, JP was a great student.  He listened well and tried hard to carry out my instructions.  He asked great questions and had a smile on his face all day....  especially when he realized that he had caught more fish than his dad !  Both he and his dad hooked fought and lost a "Nacoochee Toad".  You guys will just have to come back and put those fish in the net next time!! 

 

Rex Gudgel

FFF Master Certified Casting Instructor 

Courtney Williams Floats the Toccoa River - 11/25/11

Butch Martin had a nice float on the Toccoa and sends this along:

Courtney Williams and his father floated with me on the Toccoa the Friday after Thanksgiving and caught these two nice fish:  A couple of nice rainbows:  22" and 24"!  The Toccoa River floats are becoming very productive with 30 - 40 fish days and chances to catch some really memorable fish - come join us!

Never Too Old to "Tie 1 On"

What a great Thanksgiving--I really enjoy this time of year--we have so much to be thankful for!
I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to fish with 93 year young "Mr. Bob" Still. It's hard to pick out which one he is in the picture, but he's the young looking guy in the middle. It was a joy and privilege to fish with and spend time with all of the Still family--David, Charlotte, and "Mr. Bob". Of course, he caught the largest fish, even though he took a "spill" in the process. He recovered well and brought the fish to net.
What a great day--thanks for sharing your time on the water with me, "Mr. Bob", and thanks for fishing with Unicoi--you are an inspiration.
Thanks,
Ron

Holiday Sale!!

Great deals on Orvis Clearwater II, Access, and Helios Outfits

Now through Dec. 24th.

Visit shoponline.unicoioutfitters.com or click the pics below to go straight to the deals.

Abel - A "Reel" Work of Art

In recent years the fly fishing industry has provided us with more and more choices when it comes to gear. Each tool for the job can be had in nearly any size, shape, color and even price. I think it is great that someone getting started in the sport can get an entry level outfit that will outperform top level technology of years past, all at a fraction of the cost. The other side to that, when fly fishing becomes a passion, there are companies such as Abel that provide the opportunity to own and fish with a functioning work of art. You don't need expensive gear to enjoy fly fishing, I just think it is great that there are people out there that love the sport enough to put this much effort and dedication into it.

Blue Ridge Tying Night!

Hey Guys and Gals the Unicoi Outfitters Fly Shop in Blue Ridge is having its monthly fly tying night this Thursday Nov. 17th at 6:30pm til 8:30pm. So far they've been well attended and lots of fun. So bring your tying stuff or they'll be free equipment and materials to use if you don't have something. Art and Larry will be heading up the meeting so they'll be plenty of shooting the bull time and fishing stories told. And Best of all it's free!

Steelies, Bows & Browns

After an unsuccesful week of deer hunting in Ohio, I headed up to New York for a mix of whitetail and steelhead. A friend of mine from North Carolina was up in NY chasing some steel and asked me to join him, so I headed to the creek on Saturday morning. The wind was gusting up to 30 mph, but down in the low area of the creek it was fairly pleasant. The water has been low on the Great Lake tributaries and this creek was one of the few that got some rain and had a decent number of fish. We had a lot of hookups and between the three of us we landed 10-12 chunky steelies. I brought 3 to hand with many LDRs on the day. All in all it was a good day.

 

On Sunday, the winds were up howling again, so I decided to hit one of my old haunts that I grew up fishing on for inland trout. I decided that I needed to knock the rust off of my comp fishing, so I rigged up the 10.5ft 3wt to give it a go. That day's recipe called for a size 8 Walt's Worm for an anchor and a size 14 hot spot Frenchie for the top offering. On the third cast, a had fiesty wild rainbow smash my anchor fly. The next cast called up another rainbow. The rust was knocked clear off the rod and my confidence was high, only to be smashed back down to reality as I spent the next 45 minutes fishing with only 2 more bows to show, but I did have a couple of LDRs.

Feeling a little low, I hopped in the truck and headed downstream a few miles to some honey holes that has been known to hold some spawning browns. I only had an hour to fish as I had an engagement to attend, so the pressure was on (kind of like fishing a comp). I worked a bunch of holes with feverish speed and missed a couple of nice fish. I got to the top hole and yanked out two nice size wild bows for the effort. I decided to call it a day and headed back for the truck. I stopped at the deep hole down by the truck and started making a few "last casts", knowing full well that I have never caught a fish out of this hole. This hole is about 10 feet deep and I was all the way at the bottom just churning my flies when the line got tighter than it should be. Knowing this is either the mother of all snags or a beast, I laid into the rod throwing caution and my 6x tippet to the wind. What happened on the other end of my line was something that reminded me of a Northern Pike head thrash. From the depths of the abyss, I could see a massive head just shaking wildly. The fought upstream and down, all the while staying at the bottom of the hole. I tried twice to take me into the log jam, but I leaned back on the rod and with the help of 10.5 feet, I was able to steer him back. After a ten minute battle and many choice words with myself for leaving the net in the truck, I beached the beast from the depths. The was truly a trophy wild brown that will rank up there as my best brown trout I have ever caught. It was not the biggest nor was it a Great Lake run fish, but it was a wild fish that I caught on my home water. You have to love those "last casts".

 

Story and photos by Foothills TU Newsletter Editor Bob Lux

A Great Time to Learn to Fly Fish

Friday, before the onslaught of the Gold Rush Tournament, I had the opportunity to take Joanne and Jasmine out on one of our Gilligan Specials at Nacoochee Bend. The 3 hour adventure started as usual, fitting boots and waders, putting rods together, tying on leaders, casting lessons and I said to myself, "Self,... why don't you get tired of this or at least get a little bored?" And I answered myself, "Self, because I make new friends every time, my efforts are always appreciated and rewarded, and I just love being a part of someone putting all of this together and catching their first fish on a fly rod!" Good reasons ! Thanks for the laughs and appreciation you two , I had a great afternoon!

Rex Gudgel

FFF Master Certified Casting Instructor

Tying for DH with Steve Hudson

This past weekend, we had Steve Hudson at the shop tying various fly patterns he created specifically for fishing the Delayed Harvest regulated streams in Georgia. Steve also did a "DH Fly Tying" clinic at the NGTO fall fling on Saturday. His patterns can be found in his book "Tying Flies for Stocked Trout" which is available for purchase at Unicoi Outfitters, online at geargiafishingbooks.com, or through Steve himself.

- Trent Sizemore

www.sizemoreoutdoors.com

Record Georgia Walleye?

"Yesterday, we collected probably the largest walleye anybody has ever seen in Georgia waters (picture attached).  The behemoth walleye was 30-inches long and exceeded the capacity of our certified scales that weighs up to 12 lb.  Using a Boga grip, the giant walleye weighed a hair over 12 lbs.  In the spring, this huge female walleye will probably weigh 15 pounds!  The fish was released unharmed and swam away with no apparent side effects from her ordeal.

"This is the second 12 lb fish we have collected from Lake Seed.  The first one was caught a couple of years ago during the spring spawning run.  The fish was caught within 400 yards of dam and was situated in a downed tree top.  Walleye love those downed trees!"

Anthony Rabern
Senior Fisheries Biologist
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Lake Burton Hatchery
3695 Highway 197 North
Clarkesville, GA  30523
706/947-1507 (office)
404/695-7816 (cell)
Anthony.Rabern@dnr.state.ga.us