Hey, it finally rained! That’s good news, as our streams received a brief, welcome recharge. Helen got nearly two inches yesterday, while Clayton got an inch. The recharge didn’t last long, however, so we hope several more storms pass through our region during November. For now, enjoy the slightly higher trout river flows that should make your weekend fishing better. The streams have already cleared off this morning, so get outside soon to enjoy better drifts with bigger bugs. All trout waters are fishing really well as water temps are in the prime zone of the 50’s. Fresh Delayed Harvest stockers are delighting many mountain trouters. Reservoir stripers are coming on strong, too, so get on Lanier ASAP for a double digit fish on the fly or light spinning gear. Cooler weather will likely slow the river bass bite, but lake and pond bass are still a decent bet.
Catch all of our fresh intel from this week at our Friday fishing report.
It’s worth your extra click here:
http://blog.angler.management/
Stop in either UO shop in Helen and Clarkesville for some great November flies and directions to honey holes. Good luck everyone!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: Micro chubby Chernobyl, orange stimulator, parachute Adams, elk hair caddis, blue wing olive.
Nymphs & Wets:
DH streams: Duracells, CDC pheasant tails, lightning bugs, soft hackles, micro eggs, girdle bugs.
Mountain streams: Pheasant tails, micro girdle bugs, prince nymphs, drowned ants, Zebra midges.
Streamers:
Shimmer buggers, sparkle minnows, bank robber sculpins.
(Bass & stripers) Clouser minnow, crittermite, micro changer, wiggle minnow, jerk changer.
Headwaters:
They’re clear,cool and have already dropped back down to low flows. Spoilcane this morning:
Check out the difference in the Hooch at Nora Mill between yesterday’s high mark around 3PM:
And today at 8AM:
At 8AM today Spoilcane was 50F and Smith DH was 56F due to the lake effect. Bluelines will be in great shape for your weekend adventures. Colder nights will drop their water temperatures, so be ready to fish a small, dark dropper 12 inches under your dry fly, especially before the midday sun boosts the temperatures above 50F.
UO friend RSquared: “The water is low & clear in the small WNC streams that hold wild trout. Stealth is key to being successful under these conditions. There were too many leaves floating on top for dry flies but nymphs & wet flies worked well. Hopefully this week's rain will help streamflows a bit.”
Delayed Harvest Streams:
They’re all fishing really well, as expected right after stocking truck deposits. Smith DH already had 7 vehicles in the lot at 8 this morning.
UO buddy RonW: “Our Trio hit the Tooga last Saturday for some much needed hydrotherapy. This was our first time fishing together since our trip out west in late September, so we were definitely due.
After our traditional toast, we walked the GA road in and had boots in the water by 9am. We found some fish off the bat then apparently overstayed our welcome as the bite turned off as fast as it turned on. It was time to move on so we made our way up to Reed creek after hearing from a guide with 2 clients that the bird flew the day before.
We made a beeline up to the top searching for pods of fish. We found some up top which confirmed the Intel on the Choppa. Still, there were no large pods to be found.
The fellas finally made their way down to me. We had our stream side lunch, made a little fire and shot the breeze for a few before making our way back downtown to our exit point.
It was another fantastic day on the water with my brothers on one of our favorite rivers. We netted over 25 fish between the three of us, no biggins but several feisty ones. I fished a dry/dropper all day and never changed my dry, only the dropper. Eight of my 9 fish came on an egg and one stupid fish ate the October Caddis in November.”
UO friend CDB: “I fished North Georgia DH waters as well as NC DH waters the past week. Small size 10/12 bead head rubber legs with peacock herl and a red collar were a top producer. Blowtorches and other hares ear type variants were also very effective. Size 16-18 seemed best. Even though there weren’t hatches coming off if you use a dry dropper combo you will pick up the occasional fish that is looking up.
The water was super clear before the rain. Smaller tippet diameters were helpful. And once again, don’t be afraid to use extra split shots to keep your line as straight possible. Takes are pretty quick. If you have your polarized glasses, you will see the action. Many of the fish I caught were because I saw the move or saw the take. I didn’t wait to see the sighter or indicator move. Fascinating actually. A couple of occasions I could see the fish drifting with the current while trying to spit the fly back out. Barely impacting the leader at all.”
UO buddy Lumis hit the Nantahala DH last Saturday and shared this report: “Did as well as we expected to. Probably 40+ fish between a friend and me. Arrived early, but by 9am the place was packed. Rainbows, brooks, and even some browns came to have. Our hot three flies were a sexy Walts, perdigon, and hares ear. Water is low and clear, but the fishing is still good. These fish are definitely getting heavy angling pressure.”
UO buddy Lumis also hit Smith DH last Monday and said: “Got there early, before other anglers, with a buddy and we got into 20+ fish between the two of us in about 4 hours. Brown and brooks, no rainbows. Once the clouds moved and the sun came up, things slowed down but we were pretty satisfied with the numbers at that point. I caught a lot of my fish on a pheasant tail with a red collar.
Buddy was catching most of his on a hares ear.”
Rabunites Rick and Dredger hit a low and clear Nantahala DH on Wednesday (12th) afternoon. Water temp was 53F at 11AM and the crowd was moderate. They landed a nice bunch of stocker brookies, including one hefty retired brooder, several browns, and a few chunky bows. Wild rainbows were few and far between, possibly a sign that Helene may have hit them hard. More “sampling” will be required to confirm this suspicion of flushed fish.
Hot bugs were the Frenchie, pheasant tail, and micro egg.
Both Indi and Euro techniques produced, with Indi better in deep pools and Euro better in faster pockets and runs. The key was prospecting for unexploited pods of fish. (Prospecting tips are in this month’s column in The Angler magazine’s Atlanta edition:
https://coastalanglermag.com/e-magazine/atlanta/)
Once found, the pods were generally cooperative. Hopefully these November rains will flush the stockers throughout the stream and make the fishing a bit more challenging.
The UGA 5Rivers bunch also traveled north. Matt reports: “As most know DH season is upon us and they are fishing good! Me and some buddies fished the DH section of the Nantahala and it was amazing. We had great luck throwing small steamers (wooly buggers, small changers, smaller circus peanuts, etc). The fish were also very willing to bite eggs, worms, and pats rubber legs. Overall it was an awesome weekend of fishing. My friend Alex and I both caught very nice brook trout along with bows and browns. We fished almost the whole section over the weekend but the parts with deeper faster moving pools fished the best. Even with there being lots of other people out fishing, we still found good locations to get our lines wet!
The wild/hatchery supported section of the Nantahala was also good, with fish literally jumping out of the water for dry flies. We could see hundreds of small BWO’s coming off the water so matching the hatch was important. Sizing down to 20-22 BWO and a larger elk hair was the key to success there for us.”
Athens Jay hit Fires DH on Thursday (13th) and had a big time stripping small streamers.
Private Waters:
Book with us soon before winter weather slows down this fine fall bite!
https://www.unicoioutfitters.com/guided-fishing/
UO-Helen manager Wes: “The private water fish were getting smarter this past week with the low flows before Thursday’s rain. The keys to success seemed to be a good drift with light indicators and going lighter on tippet size.
Successful flies this past week before the rain for me were Soft hackes, stimulators, micro girdle bugs, holy grails, and sparkle minnows.”
UO manager Jake just flipped me this note from the river at 930AM:
“The Bend is fishing good this morning. Dry:droppers are the ticket, with the dropper down 3-3.5'. Hot fly for the morning is a Tungsten Duracell.”
UO guide Israel said his clients had a great trip to our “Soque Camp” property. Soft hackle wets and woolly buggers were the best producers.
UO guide Como said that the combo of chubby Chernobyl and Duracell dropper was the hot combo for his Rainbow Point guests fishing the low, slow flows before the Thursday storm.
Tailwaters:
UO buddy Spangler: “I fished a couple spots along the Buford Dam tailwater Monday, one below hwy 20 and one above. Oxygen levels are still low according to the gauges and the water is very murky still from turnover so be careful out there. Only fish places you are familiar with so you don’t get baptized in a deep
hole by accident.
It was a grind for sure, but I enjoyed the challenge. I managed to bring a handful of wild browns to hand and one very angry holdover rainbow. I cycled through flies and tactics at each run I knew to usually hold good fish and found the only thing that worked consistently was a heavy egg, tight-lined in fast water. The bite seemed to be tied to the sun peeking out, too. Once a few rays hit the water, I’d catch a fish.”
Lakes:
Athens MD: “I had a very short window to get some fishing in late Sunday afternoon so I decided to stick to a big topwater popper and target the edges of dying weed and grass beds at my favorite local lake. Floating line paired with my six weight was perfect for laying the popper along the edges and indents, and I brought five nice large mouth bass to the net within 30 minutes. Numerous swirls from what I'm SURE were 7+ pound bass kept me on the lake much too late for comfort, and I strapped my kayak on top of my vehicle near dark.”
UO guide Joseph: “Striper fishing on Lanier is still steady. We’re seeing lots of fish on top and staying up.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCZTGl4pDhn/?igsh=bmswbXlhMng2cnlp
Had a nice outing this past week with my girlfriend and my mother where we landed several fish and lost several more. We’re seeing lots of activity around open water, pockets and humps. For flies Henry’s somethin’ else and finesse game changers fished on intermediate lines have been the best. For conventional tackle topwater walking baits and serpentine style swim baits have produced well. If you’re interested in getting in on some great topwater action call the shop (706-878-3083) to book a trip! “
UO buddy AJ: “The Lanier topwater striper bite has really turned on in the past 10 days! I've been out four times since the last report and have had good groups of feeding fish all four times. Overcast and rainy days have kept them on top all day, feeding intermittently. I pre-fished my Monday trip on Sunday and was into busting fish all afternoon, leading to a 17 fish day on unweighted threadfin patterns. I took a client out Monday morning and he was able to land 3 striper (8lb, 11lb, 12lb) and missed a handful more. He couldn't stop talking about how hard these fish pull! Gulls and loons have showed up and will help to know where to fish. But that also means lots of other boats are out chasing these groups. Not uncommon to have several boats chasing the same group, but please try and be respectful of other anglers and give each other some room to cast. Reach out if you're interested in getting out there with me! My website is: www.lanieronthefly.com”
Afar:
Here’s a great Smokies update from Ian at R&R Flyfishing:
https://randrflyfishing.com/2024/11/14/fall-fishing-plus-news-about-effects-from-flooding/
We have a beautiful weekend ahead of us. Get out there and enjoy it before the season of frozen fingers and toes is upon us. Stop in either UO shop (Helen, Clarkesville) to catch some fall sales and restock your fly boxes. Good luck y’all!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
