Welcome to a beautiful week ahead of y’all. The air is crisp and the water is cold and clear. Stream trout are feisty, river bass are a bit slower, lake spots and largemouths are on fire, and reservoir stripers are emerging from the depths to provide sporadic topwater action. The action will only get better with shorter days, cooling nights, and prime water temperatures.
While many federal and state sites are still closed due to storm damage, many more are reopening just in time for this prime weekend.
We have the updated lists and much more angling intel in our full fishing report, as always in our blog, here. It’s worth your extra click:
http://blog.angler.management/
Let’s continue to remember and support our neighbors to the north and south who have survived these fall hurricanes. Donate what you can or take a trip to the reopened fly shops and businesses in western Carolina. Let’s spread some good will this weekend.
Good luck everyone. Stop in either UO shop (Helen, Clarkesville) for your fall supplies and up-to-the-minute angling intel.
http://blog.angler.management/
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com
State/Fed Openings and Closures
We have much better news this weekend, as resource agency folks worked hard to clear downed storm timber from roads. We have much more land and water available again. Here you go:
- Most of the Chattahoochee Forest is open. The east side (Chattooga River Ranger District) still has lots of closures. List here:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/conf/alerts-notices/?aid=90885
- Most GA State Parks are open. Details and closures here:
https://gastateparks.org/Alerts
- The Andrew Pickens District of the Sumter National Forest (SC), on our northeast border, has reopened. A few sites remain closed. List here:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/scnfs/alerts-notices/?aid=91489
- The Nantahala National Forest (NC) has reopened. Details here:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/nfsnc/alerts-notices/?aid=90899
- The Smokies Park update is here:
https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/conditions.htm
Good luck planning your fall trips.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: chubby Chernobyl, orange stimulator, parachute Adams, parachute black ant, tan elk hair caddis.
Nymphs & Wets:
Pink bead CDC pheasant tail, Duracell, zebra midge, squirminator, gold ribbed hares ear, depth charge caddis.
Streamers:
Sparkle minnow, buggers & leeches, micro dungeon.
(Bass) jerk changer, party crasher, wiggle minnow, boogle bug popper, Kent’s stealth bomber.
(Panfish) amnesia bug, small chubby Chernobyl, bluegill spider, dry and wet ants
Headwaters:
They’re low and clear and cool and prime for blueline fans! My furry sidekick and I toured White County yesterday and found the headwaters topping out between 58 and 61 degrees at 4PM. Toss your normal fluffy dries (chubby, stimmy, Adams) after a careful stalk. Add an ant or pheasant tail dropper if you find a deep pool with no takers on top. Don’t forget a tiny dinsmore shot to sink any unweighted wets.
Several folks prospected for specks last week and showed me some pics of plump, colorful jewels they caught and released from undisclosed destinations. It’s a good time to prospect yourselves before those water temps dive and cool off the dry fly bite.
GT 5R clubber Will checked in: “Huge thanks to Rabun TU for donating waders to us. They really helped get our new anglers out on the water!
This past weekend, the Georgia Tech 5 Rivers Club took a trip up to north Georgia for our first camping trip of the semester. The fish were not picky with what they ate as long as it was within the ballpark, and catch rates were more impacted by the angling pressure that the fish had already seen than fly selection. Things like walt’s worms, pheasant tails, france flies, and much more all worked. Out of our 16 participants, half of them were completely new to fly fishing, and everyone caught fish, including most of the newer angler’s first trout on the fly! A few of them even hit a few blue lines with their mentors on Saturday afternoon and got the chance to catch their very first couple native brook trout as well! It’s always so fun to go blue lining with friends, and while nothing was bigger than 6 or 7”, the colors on the fish always make it worth the hiking and bushwhacking, especially this time of year. All our members thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and we can’t wait to put on another one next month!”
Stocked Waters:
Last week’s stocker browns are still around for prospectors who cover some ground. See that stocking list here:
https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout
UO buddy, Rabunite Nanette: “Spent a couple of AM hours fishing the Tallulah last Monday. Fascinating to see how Hurricane Helene changed the river. Moved big trees that were already in the river, added a bunch of new “trout structure,” scoured other areas pretty good. Some of the areas we regularly fish are quite different now and we have to adjust.
Water very clear, still moving at a good clip, with morning temp of 61 degrees. Getting close to time to abandon wet wading and dig out the smartwool socks!
We found some holdover stocker browns that ate both dries (orange stimmies and elk hair caddis) and droppers (drowned ant). Finally picked up a couple of pretty wild rainbows on caddis and parachute adams.”
Tailwaters: No recent reports. Watch the generation schedules carefully, since dam operators have been trying to bring lake levels back down for some time. Be careful!
Trophy Waters:
We have reopened Nacoochee Bend and the fishing has been great. Book your UO trips at 706-878-3083. Art at Smithgall (706-878-3087) said Dukes has opened angling to reservation holders on 10/2. Anglers have had good luck over there. GT 5R clubber Drake had a great day last week, landing a big bunch of bows and one brown from 2 to 20 inches on worm patterns in the higher water.
Call the park soon to reserve your Dukes slots for prime fall dates. And stop in our Helen shop for flies and advice from our seasoned staff who have fished Smithgall for years.
Warm Rivers:
They are clear and cool and recovered from last week’s flood flows.
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=02331000&legacy=1
The Hooch at Highway 115 was 62F at 6PM yesterday, so the topwater bite might be over for the year. Wes had a slow day there last week, right after the flood, so some fish might have been displaced. Or they might not have emerged from their bomb shelters yet. Try stripping streamers or bottom-bumping crayfish patterns if you decide to float.
Ponds:
They should continue to fish well with this cooler weather. Athens Jay said: “Quick after-work piedmont farm pond report :
Perfect weather this week with lots of active fish in shallow water. All I had was a 5 weight and some trout flies, but a brown Pat’s Rubberlegs combined with a red San Juan worm got lots of eats.”
Reservoirs:
They’re on the fall rebound. Just watch out for floating debris. Slow down!
UO owner Jimmy: “The "mountain lakes" are still fishing well as things cool off. I went out with Jake one afternoon this week and we landed a nice bunch of bass on blueback imitations. Folks can book Jake for a mountain lake bass trip by calling our Helen shop at 706-878-3083.”
UO guide Joseph: “Water temps are still a tad warm but Striper fishing on Lanier is starting to heat up. Schools of fish can mainly be found in open water on or near the surface. Fish are few and far between and don’t stay active on the surface for long. Bass on the other hand have been feeding aggressively near main lake points and humps adjacent to brush. This time of year we typically see fish eating either blueback herring or threadfin shad. For conventional tackle I’ve been having the most luck on walk the dog style top waters and serpentine swim baits. For fly flingers clousers in sizes 4-6 have produced the most fish. We’re starting to see some nightly lows in the 40s and 50s so the bite should be getting good very soon!
Call the UO-Helen shop at 706-878-3083 if you’d like to book a Lanier trip with me.”
UO buddy, Lanier guide AJ: “Been hitting the lake about once a week the past month. There are definitely some decent groups of stripers popping up, but they've been up/down very quickly. Heard reports of some groups actually staying up, but biggest window I've seen is about 30 sec. Found that this AM and our duo was able to double up throwing spinning rods. Water temps hovering around 72-73. Topwater should really start picking in the next couple of weeks!”
You can contact Alex at (770) 654-2413 if you’d like to book a Lanier trip with him.
Afar:
Travel is improving in N.C. and the fishing has been hot on streams that weren’t scoured by Helen. Here are three good local info sources that could really use your business right now:
- Tuck Fly Shop in Bryson City
https://reservations.tuckflyshop.com/trips?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACz0Px7TmUaTQWGisHJH15_AUII9c#
- Maggie Valley Fly Shop
https://www.maggievalleyflyshop.com/about-4
- Davidson River Outfitters in Brevard:
https://www.davidsonflyfishing.com/contact
UO manager Jake and accomplices Lee and Jim are putting the smackdown on some hefty river smallies right now. Jake’s best one hit the five-pound mark. They’re fishing with legendary Smallie guide Steve Hacker at smallmouth.com.
UO buddy RonW: “Saturday 10/5/24 : We decided to have one last day in Yellowstone National Park to fish the Yellowstone River again. We wanted to see if we could strike gold and find some more Yellowstone Cutthroat. Well.....we found them, in good numbers, all nice fish with one absolute specimen!
We left our cabin in Idaho shorty after 7am, headed to West Yellowstone and then into the park. We were treated to the most amazing Sunrise one could ever dream of while crossing the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Idaho..... 4 moose including a Bull Moose with Antlers were standing in the river drinking water with the sun rising over the mountains behind them. It was absolutely incredible to witness and a moment I'll never forget. This absolutely set the tone for the day and what a day it was!
We got to our spot on the river in the Park around 9:30, geared up and had our boots wet by 10am. We were into fish by 10:10😁 We ended fishing 3 different sections of the river for about 4 hours total. We were battling some serious winds again but we made the most of it. We landed 8 Cutties between the 3 of us and lost another 3, 2 of which were giants. My biggest was a 22" Cutty that went bananas as soon as it felt the iron. Kurt won the fish of the trip award with an insanely colored up and large 24" Yellowstone Cutthroat.
We bailed around 3pm to do a little more sight seeing, checking out the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone before making the drive to our of the park and back down to Idaho for our last night.
This was a trip to remember and one we've been talking about for years. The memories made with my brothers, the laughs, the ball busting, the fish caught, the fish lost, the wildlife and of course the views will be forever engrained in my brain.
We saw numerous wildlifeover the last 8 days.... 1 Fox, 1 Coyote, multiple Mule Deer, Antelope and Elk, 2 Mountain Goats, 2 Grizzly bears, several Bald and Golden eagle, numerous water fowl, 5 total Moose and about a gazillion "Tatankas"
We fished multiple rivers including the Madison, Yellowstone, Firehole, Gibbon, Soda Butte, Lamar and the Gallatin Rivers. We caught Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Whitefish, Cuttbows, West Slope Cutthroat and Yellowstone Cutthroat.
To sum it up, this was a trip of a lifetime and one I will always remember. I'm still in awe of what my eyes have seen on this trip. It will take a few weeks to really take it all in. I'll relive this trip thru the 500+ photos and nearly 60 videos I took. I will be thinking about this trip until I come back, which won't be nearly soon enough!
UO buddy HenryC passed this along from his KY buddy, Tyler Befus:”Hey Henry. Hope you’re doing well! Wanted to send you a video from tonight’s session. They’re loving the Cowen’s Coyote on the Tennessee River right now!”
Good luck as we all count our blessings, enjoy this fine fall weather, and support our neighbors to the north and south as they recover from the storms. Get back outside soon!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com
