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Fish early and in the shade for your best success. Stop in either UO shop (Helen, Clarkesville) for breaking intel and the best baits, lures, and fly patterns for your own trips.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: micro chubby Chernobyl, small yellow stimulator, parachute black ant, tan elk hair caddis.
Nymphs & Wets:
Hard body ant, gold ribbed hares ear, squirmy worm, zebra midge, flying squirrel.
Streamers & warm water:
(Trout) Squirrely bugger, and mini shimmer buggers for stockers.
(Bass & stripers) jerk changer, Con man, boogle bug popper, Kent’s stealth bomber.
(Panfish) amnesia bug, small chubby Chernobyl, bluegill spider, dry and wet ants
(Carp) headstand, squirmy hybrid.
Headwaters:
They were looking pretty good during my midmorning recon today. They’re all clear and have decent flows: a bit low, but not droughty-low.
You’ll have good shots at resident wild fish by tossing small, fluffy dries before lunchtime. Higher elevations and north-slope streams will fish better and longer into the day. Around 11AM today I measured these water temps : Dukes at Smithgall (closed to summer fishing) 66, its headwaters 64, Spoilcane 68, Smith 67 above Unicoi Lake and 75 below it.
The Hooch through Helen cooled off a bit with recent rains, but it’s still too warm for a decent trout bite and still covered up by the infamous summer pink donut hatch (tubers). Go high into the WMA for higher success.
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=02330450&legacy=1
Don’t forget Dredger’s hot bug tips in this month’s Angler Magazine. Got ants in your fishing pants?
https://coastalanglermag.com/e-magazine/atlanta/
Rabunite Nan recently ventured high up in the Smokies on a recent cool morning looking for Appalachian treasure. She was rewarded for her crack-of-dawn wake-up and long drive with her first-ever specks.
Water in the creek she fished was 62 degrees at 8 AM and 64 when she left at noon. The cooler, rainy weather we are getting now offers a few windows of opportunity for those who don’t mind an early start.
More Smokies intel here:
https://randrflyfishing.com/2024/07/09/hot-summer-in-the-smokies/
Stocked Waters:
Many streams are still fishing surprisingly well for both bait and fly anglers who get up early and beat the midday heat. The frequent rains have boosted flows a bit and the abundant cloud cover has knocked down daily high water temperatures, so the bite’s been good. DNR just posted a lengthy stocking list today.
https://georgiawildlife.com/sites/default/files/wrd/pdf/trout/Weekly_Stocking_Report.pdf
It must be in her genes! I met Lassie today during my stream recon. She was mentoring two buddies, Sydney and Riley, on their first-ever trouting trip.
And the gals did really well, scoring on a variety of Powerbait worms and eggs. Lassie’s patience and superb instruction were the keys to the trio’s success. I think her magic touch was passed along via some good genes from her dad, a retired GADNR game warden (hi Dan!). The gals were looking forward to a fresh trout dinner tonite and to future trips to north GA trout waters.
Tailwaters:
No recent reports. They should be fishing well when not muddied by tributaries shedding their summer stormflows.
UO buddy Hillis fished last week and said:
I fished the Hooch tailwater below Buford Dam on the 17th. Fishing was pretty good once I found a seam where fish were holed up. As one of my fishing buddies said you have to find the hole, a few feet on either side and you might catch a few, but in the hole your catch rate will dramatically improve. I was lucky, I found the hole. Even so, I didn’t clean up, but I had a decent morning. I caught several, drifting two midges under a strike indicator. All the fish were caught on the bottom midge, a red zebra midge. When the bite slowed down I removed the strike indicator and switched to a small black and purple wooly with a red zebra midge trailing, drifting and stripping, but no luck. Usually this is the most productive set up for me on the tailwater, but not this time. I got on the stream about 8:30, maybe a bit later. Rain arrived around 10:30and ran me out. As it turned out the rain shower was short lived. I should have waited it out. It was a fun morning followed by time spent with my fishing buddies at a picnic table talking fishing and trying to solve the problems of the world. Also, it was my first outing in several weeks, so it was good to get back on the water, made even better by catching some fish.
Private Waters:
Just about all waters managed by GA’s private operators are shut down for the summer to protect their heat-stressed trout.
Warm Rivers:
Stripers are still camped out at Nacoochee Bend for the summer. Recent rains have given anglers some good shots at them in stained flows. Matt landed two schoolies and one hefty striper during his Wednesday morning session. He cashed in on UO guide Devin’s tip: a black clouser minnow. Feel free to call our Helen shop (706-878-3083) if you want to book an opportunity to wade out and catch one on the fly.
River bassing opportunities have been limited by muddy water. However, I saw two feet of visibility today in the Hooch at Highway 115 (temp 74F) and Duncan Bridge.
If it doesn’t rain tonite, weekend bassing is a good possibility. Just use some flashy spinnerbaits or streamers and aim for shallows in the shade. Watch those gauges carefully; we like the Hooch “near Leaf” for upper bass water conditions.
You can also check with local paddling companies and rent a vessel from them, too:
https://wildwoodoutfitters.com/
Ponds:
Small lakes are still fishing well, thanks to the rain and clouds. Paddle pond perimeters at dusk and throw popper/dropper combos toward the bank, under the shady tree limbs. We heard a couple of good reports on Unicoi Lake bream.
You have a lot of water to choose from here in northeast Georgia, so give small lakes like Russsell, Unicoi, Black Rock, Seed, Vogel, Winfield Scott, and Zwerner a try before they cool off this fall. Find them with GAWRD’s interactive fishing area map:
https://georgiawildlife.com/locations/fishing
Reservoirs:
UO staffer Israel has been filling his freezer with catfish fillets. He said, “ Whisker fish have been good on rock ledges and submerged trees in 20-30 feet of water on cut bait. “
Afar:
Our own angling quartet flew west for our 18th annual summer fly fling in the greater Yellowstone region. UO’s Jimmy and Dredger met Athens Alan at ATL airport. They convened with Michigan Mike in Salt Lake City (cheaper plane tix and rental cars) and the quartet trekked north for another stay with Athens buddies John and Laine, just outside West Yellowstone.
It was a typical trip for them , with some days good, a few epic, and a few slow on the catching. These are all wild fish. They turn on during a hatch and can turn completely off when the bugs aren’t buzzing. Matching the hatch (bug and life stage) is critical to mission success. Annual kudos to Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone and to Two Rivers Fishing Company in Pinedale for timely intel and hot local patterns.
Our gang found some hefty Madison bows, browns, and mighty whities in skinny water with sparse bugs buzzing above it, which made the catching very challenging.
Salmonflies had quit a week prior. Some trout hit a variety of dries (yellow stones, Rusty spinners, tan caddis), while more hit a beaded pheasant tail dropper.
Gallatin bows and a few browns were great one day and good on another on western green drakes. Headnets were a necessity to fend off the biting flies here and in the northeast corner.
Finding slower water with hatching bugs was the key to hookups.
Jimmy and John first detoured to a small stream on their way to meet us on the river and Jimmy got the fish of the trip, a 20-inch beast bow, on his small Adams dry.
An overnight trek to the northeast corner was worth the ride once again. Some of us had slow periods, while others found some deep, slow water and hatching bugs and really scored well on plump native cutts. John’s crew found fish keying in on green drakes on the first day.
Mike and I were then treated to a 3-hour PMD hatch on the second day and never moved from our respective honey holes.
Little dry ants and beetles attracted some extra cutts between hatches.
After one last crack at the Madison,
We detoured to WY for the last few days and found some small cutts in the national forest river downstream from our cabin. Water Walker yellow stones and para ants brought some risers.
The upper Green was slow, with few bugs hatching, and only a handful of bows were brought to hand. Except for Dredger, who went to the dark side with a hare’s ear nymph behind two huge split shot and enjoyed a bent rod from abundant whitefish. A purist he is not.
The gang drove back to SLC early Friday., While Mike cruised back to Michigan unscathed, the GA trio was captured in Deltamageddon. They spent the next 36 hours trying to escape Salt Lake.
Luckily the GA trio found some seats and standbys by midnite Saturday and the last straggler found his luggage and exited ATL airport at 5AM Sunday. An eventful trip, indeed!
Speaking of eventful, John went fishing on a small park creek the day we left. He found this unfortunate park resident and decided to back out slowly and find a different creek to fish. Moral of the story: remember that bear spray and good judgement.
That’s the latest from near and afar. We hope that any fellow travelers also survived the Great CrowdStrike Meltdown and have some travel, lodging, and dining vouchers to cash in. And maybe some fine memories of times astream with good friends like Lassie, John, Laine, Jimmy, Alan, and Mike.
Good luck this week. Stop by either UO shop to swap fish stories, travel tales, or hot intel. We’re finally back in town and ready to help!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
