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.

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Your Favorite Spring Hatch?


What’s your favorite spring hatch here in the Southeast? It’s okay; we’ll use the term “hatch” loosely to represent any bug-induced dry fly action, from emergers to duns to spinners. What event has you pacing in February for the arrival of warmer spring waters and the revival of your annual “trout on top” tradition?

I’ll help get this started. For me, it’s gotta be the dancing and dipping of adult caddis. As mature insects fly back upstream and then deposit eggs, trout are on the lookout. Surface takes are splashy. Some fish even leap out of the water in attempts to intercept the low-flying bugs.

https://vimeo.com/408372876


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9Hq00edl8s

I enjoy the surface smashes on my twitched and skittered elk hair caddis dries. They’re usually gray in March and tan in April.  Trout act like great white sharks when they think their prey is getting away.

Indeed, I get antsy as February wanes and March gives me hope of fifty-degree water and fluffy little “moths” flying low enough to make trout look up. And leap.


That’s mine. What’s yours?

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