Welcome to the holiday edition of our UO weekly fishing report. Air and water temps have dropped and the winds have howled, but the fishing has still been pretty darn good. It will get better as the winds die and the sun warms our afternoons again this weekend.
Headwater wild trout are still cooperative when they’re not spooked in skinny waters. Delayed Harvest trout continue to be mighty cooperative, while private waters fish are also eating well -near the stream bottom. The key to both of them is to get down to them, change flies often and show them something new.
Reservoir stripers remain a best bet for folks who can work around the wind and rain. Some hefty fish are eating threadfin flies and blueback imposter plugs. Study Wes’ hot fly list and hook all of our fresh intel at our Friday fishing report.
It’s worth your extra click here:
http://blog.angler.management/
Those tips should enhance your success and get you in a festive mood this Thanksgiving break. Come see us in Helen and Clarkesville. Good luck and happy holiday, everyone. We’re sure thankful for your patronage.
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, red tags, micro eggs, micro girdle bugs.
Mountain streams: Pheasant tails, micro girdle bugs, prince nymphs, drowned ants.
Streamers:
Shimmer buggers, cdc squirrel leech, sparkle minnows, olive woolly bugger.
(Bass & stripers) Clouser minnow, crittermite, micro changer, wiggle minnow, jerk changer.
Headwaters:
They’re clear and cool and free of leaves when the wind doesn’t blow. They’ve already dropped back down to seasonally low flows. Water temps have dropped, too, thanks to some chilly nights. The bluelines warm back up nicely after some noon sunshine. Your dropper nymph will do better on cold mornings, but have hope for some fish on dries after lunch. Spoilcane was 53F yesterday at 3PM,
while Smith DH was a perfect 58F thirty minutes later, thanks to the warm fall water stored in Unicoi Lake.
A young Clemson blueliner came in a short while ago. He said he did well on specks “high above Helen” today on small jigged squirrel leeches in the morning chill and then an Adams dry when the water warmed.
UO friend RSquared: “I was in WNC again this week. I spent most of my time blue-lining for Native, Southern Appalachian Brook Trout. I started off with a dry- dropper rig. However, the overwhelming majority of strikes came on the dry fly. When I removed the dropper, I started hooking more fish. Most of my Brookies were caught with a size 14 Tan Never-sink Caddis.”
Delayed Harvest Streams:
They’ve returned to seasonal low flows and should still fish very well. That’s especially true for the three DH streams that just got a fresh load of dumplings this week.
Ps: look up at dusk as you fish the upper third of creek. The Unicoi bald eagle has returned to compete for your trout.
Dredger ran up to the Chattooga DH right after finishing last Friday’s fishing report. The water was easily wadeable and 52 degrees, with a slight tannic stain from leaves, upon his 130PM entry. He struck out for about the first 1.5 hours before he found his first pod of DH stockers. Working his way back downstream, he found three more pods to save the day. A micro egg and pheasant tail dropper got hits on his upstream indicator trek, while an olive bugger found fish on his downstream streamer strip. A black leech scored the last six fish, all browns, as dusk ran him off the river around 530. A midafternoon bald eagle flyover topped off a fine day on the river.
Note: fish are still podded up. We need a few big rains to spread them out. Prospect for the pods right now until those schools scatter. The GA trail from the Hwy 28 parking lot up to the GA forest road ford was fine: just a few extra downed storm trees for us to hop over or duck under.
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: “Low flows and very clear water made the bite a bit tougher on the private waters early this week. With that said our anglers were still able to catch some great fish. The key to getting bites was a good drag free drift or throwing a streamer.
The flies that worked well for me on earlier trips were Egg, midges, flashback pheasant tails, and sparkle minnows.
This morning we had to dredge the cold waters with hares ears and midges for Brad and his guests to land some real bruisers.”
Tailwaters:
No recent reports. Browns should be wrapping up their romantic endeavors for this year.
Lakes:
UO guide Joseph: “Fishing on Lanier is still steady and we’re seeing good numbers of fish on top. We’re seeing most fish on main lake humps and in the backs of pockets with some surfacing sporadically in open water. We now have a good number of loons and seagulls to help aid in finding fish but remember they aren’t always reliable. For flies game changers and polar fiber minnows fished on an intermediate line are producing. For conventional lures topwater walking baits and serpentine style swim baits are hard to beat. We still have some dates available for December, January and February so if you’re interested in booking a trip give the Helen shop a call at 706-878-3083!”
UO owner Jimmy put his grandson, Crosby, on a hefty Lanier striper. The hot lure was a Sashimmy Shad in Chrome. Enjoy First Mate Kathy’s vids!
UO buddy AJ: “Fished Tues and Wed AM. Stripers have definitely seemed to have spread out a little in the past week. Starting to find them halfway back in some of the lower creeks. Still some good groups roaming around main lake as well though. They seemed a little harder to feed on Tues compared to the previous weeks. Flies that have worked didn't work quite as well and definitely took some experimenting with pattern and retrieve to figure out how they wanted it. Water temps were around 64-66 before this cold front. Thanksgiving week could be good if the cloudy forecasts hold true. Still have a few openings for November and December. Give me a shout if you want to give these hard fighting fish a try! My website is: www.lanieronthefly.com”
Afar:
Shane Buckner and his wife stopped in today during their weekend getaway to north Georgia. He said that fall trout fishing in western NC has been excellent in the numerous streams spared from Helene’s wrath. Give Shane and his associates a call at Hunter Banks fly shop in Asheville if you want some hot intel from the western Carolina locals.
https://hunterbanks.com/about-hunter-banks/
Major Kudos
How bout dem Dawgs!
Last Tuesday the UGA 5Rivers club hosted their first annual Trout Tunes fundraiser! Held at Athentic Brewery in Athens, there was music by Wade Newburry as well as Sam Williamson, with a special appearance by Jay Shelton on the mandolin and banjo! Local fly shops and small businesses donated items to be raffled off at the event, like a day trip on Unicoi’s stretch on Nacoochee Bend, gift cards, fishing gear, flies and more. Club shirts and stickers were also sold at the event, and between the raffle tickets and merchandise, the club was able to raise over $2,000 to be split between the club funds and also donated to App State’s 5Rivers chapter to support their hurricane relief efforts. With almost 100 people in attendance, it was a great night full of good music and even better people!”
What a great story to end with, and to warm your hearts this Thanksgiving week. May y’all have a fine holiday with family and friends. We hope you’re able to sneak out, hike off some of those extra calories, and make some new holiday memories with your best fishing buddies. Stop by either UO store for the best flies and supplies. Good luck!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
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