Are y’all ready for the Great Arctic Blast? Winter is calling north GA home for the next 1-2 weeks, so brace yourselves. Despite the cold, our favorite lake or stream might be the perfect salve for the wounds of all Georgia dawg fans. That bit of hydrotherapy will put y’all in a better mood and may allow you to appreciate the great football season that just wrapped up.
But you’ll need to dress right and fish right. The cold temperatures and bone-chilling winds dictate dressing like an Eskimo, or at least a Michigan steelheader. Layer up, wade slowly, and always have a dry change of clothes in the vehicle in case of a soggy spill.
Fishing right means smaller bugs dead-drifted along the bottom to bump lethargic trout in the nose. We dressed right and fished right today and it paid off! See both the DH and private waters reports in our blog.
Striper dudes took the holiday week off, so we don’t have any fresh lake intel for y’all this time around.
Catch Wes’ weekly update to his hot fly list and the latest fishing reports from our UO staff and avid angling friends here:
http://blog.angler.management/
Good luck this week. It’s gonna feel like winter steelheading in the Great Lakes, but it can still be fun. Cure your cabin fever and recover from your football playoff woes with a sunny afternoon hydrotherapy session soon. You’ll be glad you did, just like the folks in our full fishing report. Stop in either shop and we’ll warm you up and cheer you on!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
Wes’ Lukewarm Fly List:
(Given the icy waters, nothing is really “hot” right now)
Dries: Micro chubby Chernobyl, orange stimulator, parachute Adams, blue wing olive. Griffith’s gnat.
Nymphs & Wets:
DH streams: Rainbow Warrior, twister egg, pheasant tail, micro mayfly, gold ribbed hares ear, micro Girdle Bug, duracell, Ruby midge.
Mountain streams: Pheasant tails, micro girdle bugs, prince nymphs, root beer midge.
Streamers:
Olive buggers, micro dungeon, sparkle minnows, CDC squirrel leech.
(Bass & stripers) Somethin’ else, Clouser minnow, micro changer, jerk changer.
Headwaters:
They were ripping and roaring at the beginning of the week, but have now settled down to seasonal flows. They are clear, but cool, and will get a little colder with the freezing air temps in our horizon. Spoilcane was 47F and clear at 3PM today.
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/nwis/uv?site_no=02330450
Honestly, you’ll do better on bigger, lower, warmer streams. If you insist on bluelining, then try dry/dropper rigs and expect more bites on your Frenchie/pheasant tail dropper than the dry. Find some sunny pockets and pools in the afternoon for your best shots.
Dredger aimed for Smith DH on Monday afternoon, but it was too crowded with holiday week vacationers (that trend has continued all week). He detoured to a local blueline, which was raging. He managed just two dink bows in two hours: one on his royal pmx dry and one with n the Frenchie dropper. He punted at 4PM and returned to Smith DH. Report below.
Delayed Harvest Streams:
Dredger’s 4PM return to SmithDH’s 1/3 full parking lot last Monday paid off with a small handful of bows before darkness ran him off. The tan mop/ Frenchie duo worked fairly well, with his best fish a 14-inch bow. He was the last car to leave the lot.
After lunch he swung into our Helen fly shop for a shot of heat, a handful of Wes’ hot bugs, and some encouragement for a Round 2. Thawed and inspired , he returned to Smith, where he happened upon a random Rabunite (rabuntu.org) taking a water temp (47F at 3:30). Ole RR took a little time out to enroll the rookie in Rabunite 201. After a brief instream session on fly selection, rigging, roll casting, and fish-fighting, he let Shane loose on Smith. The new 201 graduate earned an A+, hooking just a few trees, but a healthy handful of fish. Half were lost and half were landed, included two beautiful, burly bows of 14 and 15 inches. Best bugs were micro eggs, flashback pheasant tails, frenchies, and black zebra midges. The rookie said he’s now hooked!
Smith DH continues to fish well, despite the crowds, for folks with small bugs and a good drift. Even for rookies like this young dude!
https://www.instagram.com/p/DENjbfZOCQy/?igsh=ZTVtdDFtOXdmdDV3
UO buddy and UGA 5Rivers exec Cooper: “we took a road trip to Chattooga DH yesterday before the Dawgs game. We each landed only one fish, but the fish were biting because I lost about 7-8! I need to work on my hooksets. We had bites on the pheasant tail and egg, while I landed my one fish by swinging a black wooly bugger. We used plenty of splitshot to get our offerings deep.”
UO buddy CDB: “We did a float on the Tuck DH Thursday morning. Temperatures were bracing in the mid-20s when we started. Despite the cold, we were hooking some fish with small, light-colored streamers. Given the colors that seemed to be working, around lunchtime I wisely changed color and size, and was rewarded for my sound decision-making with no further strikes. At least I didn’t have to break any more ice from the rod guides!”
UO buddy Lumis survived Monday flood flows to post this Nantahala DH report: “Fished the nantahala today from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. It was a little chillier than I was expecting due to the sun hiding behind the ridges. Water level was fairly high and due to yesterday's large amount of rain. Water was slightly stained.
On the bright side, fishing was good. Caught around 20, with a few wild rainbows in the mix. Focused on fishing some of the flatter pocket water along with the ends of pools. On the not so bright side. I had to re-tie my setup four different times. Twice due to rocks, once due to a tree, and once because my cast was so bad that I completely tangled everything. Just one of those days.
Flies of the day were a size 14 quilldigon , and once I lost that I fished some type of purple/pink/black perdigon. The only fish I managed to catch today with a little bit of size was this nice brown. I'm assuming about
14 inches.”
Private Waters:
Due to high water and the holidays, we had very few guided trips this week. UO guides Grant and Sydney hosted a quarter today for our Gilligan Special, an instream introduction to flyfishing. Our guides said their students did well, too. Deep, dead-drifted, small bugs paid off. Hot patterns were small soft hackles, perdigons, black copper johns, and micro eggs.
Want in on the action this winter or spring? Give us a call at 706-878-3083 to book your own trips in the new year with our UO guides.
Tailwaters:
UO buddy RonW: “Kurt and I fished the Dam (12/30) from about 11:45am to 3pm. It was great fishing albeit the catching wasn't so hot. We only managed 3 fish to hand between the 2 of us, 2 rainbows and 1 brown. Kurt's 2 fish both took a midge while my lone bow ate a $3dip. Still a great day to be on the water for some much needed hydrotherapy.”
Afar:
UO buddy Ryan: “Brother Myles and I hit WNC for a few days of fishing after Christmas. Our first 2 days were relatively slow. Despite warm temps , the low and clear water made spooking fish an easy task. Fish were seen rising for invisible midges but we didn't even try to play that game. I had an opportunity to sight fish a fat sucker fish that was vacuuming the bottom, after a few minutes he inhaled my white mini leech I was using for visibility. He had some strong runs! Our last day we hit some of our favorite waters and managed ~30 fish between the 2 of us. I threw 5x Trout Hunter and Myles switched between 6-6.5x tippet. I had good luck with a stonefly in ripping current after the rains, Myles used 2 small nymphs and did better than me.”
Lakes:
Our striper seeking duo of Joseph and Alex evidently took the week off. No fresh Lanier intel to share this time around. To book Joseph, call the Helen store at (706)-878-3083. And to catch AJ, cast here:?
Alex Jaume
Lanier on the Fly
IG - @lanier_on_the_fly
Upcoming Events!
Mark your calendars for:
January 9: “Spring Dries and Droppers.” Dredger’s presentation to the GA Foothills Chapter of Trout Unlimited in Clarkesville. United Community Bank, 6:30PM. Visitors welcome. Get your bug box ready for spring action!
https://www.facebook.com/share/1FPLHV1Gy6/?mibextid=wwXIfr
January 18: 38th annual Rabun Rendezvous in Clayton. BBQ, Live Bluegrass, raffles, and silent auctions. Yearly fundraiser by the Rabunites. Everyone welcome.
https://rabuntu.org/jan-25-2025-38th-rabun-rendezvous/?
Jan 31 to Feb 2 : Atlanta Fly Fishing Show at Gas South Convention Center in Duluth. Stop by our UO booth and swap fish stories. Hopefully we are back at booth #436, next to Pond A, once again.
https://flyfishingshow.com/atlanta/
Ongoing: Dream Trip ticket sales. Win a week of fishing in Yellowstone for just ten bucks. Drawing in mid-March. Details here:
Hope y’all stay warm while tying some flies in your comfy dens or braving the elements for a winter fishing fix. I know one brave soul who’s glad he fought the cold today. Right Shane?
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
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