Angler Management: April 2025

It’s April. Go fishing! Nuff said.

Well, we’ll say a little more. Trouting is excellent all across the board, from headwaters down to stockers and DH streams, and from private waters to tailwaters. Bugs are hatching and dry fly fans have emerged from their winter depressions. Just check the flows before you go, as spring storms and cool spells can interrupt the bug hatches and risers. Dirty water can fire up the squirmy worm hatch, though, so adjust your techniques to the creek conditions.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=02330450&legacy=1

Bass rivers are good, at least until the next storm muddies them up. Ponds are hot and reservoirs are coming on. Lake stripers are coming up(stream) on their annual romance runs,giving river runners a shot at some trophies. And those Coosa sturgeon keep growing!

There’s some really good updates to the national forest and park, too! Check out all the breaking news in our blog, here. It’s fresh every Friday and will help you boost your own catch rates.

http://blog.angler.management/

(Link in bio)

Stop in either one of our two UO shops for your spring supplies, from spinning to fly. And we’ll toss in some hot intel at no extra charge!

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com

Wes’ Hot Fly List:

Dries: parachute Adams, Tickle Cripple March brown, Drymerger March brown, emerger caddis, tan elk hair caddis, yellow Stimulator.

Nymphs & Wets:

Stockers: Squirminator, mop, slush egg, frenchie, Duracell, girdle bug, lightning bug, tungsten redneck.

Mountain streams: micro girdle bugs, prince nymphs, hares ear nymph, soft hackle pheasant tail.

Streamers:

Sparkle minnows, small black and olive buggers for DH streams, mohair leeches, Jiggy Fry, mini shimmer buggers, Thrasher.

(Bass & stripers) clouser minnow, Cowens coyote, polar changer, crittermite, crawfish jambalaya, Clydesdale stealth jig.

Headwaters:

They are low and clear and perfect, temperature-wise (upper 50’s). Fish are spooky, but hungry. Stalk them and cast a bit farther than normal so they don’t spot you before your dry fly.

UO guide Sydney hit the backwoods on her off day. She reported: “I did some speck fishing this past week. I tossed a dry/dropper combo, but all my fish took the dropper, a pheasant tail soft hackle dropped about about 6-7 inches under the dry.

Dredger snuck out to a headwater rainbow stream this morning and had good luck on top. The yellow stimmy and #14 tan caddis had more looks than eats, so he reverted back to ole reliable #16 tan caddis for the most hookups. Water temp 59F at 9AM.

Delayed Harvest Streams:

DH streams are in their prime. Most fish are now experienced and picky, so you’ll have to match the hatch- both on the surface and underwater. Be on the lookout for bug hatches, both during the day and at sunset. This is prime time for dry/dropper rigs when the sun is high and double dry rigs as the evening shadows grow. Don’t miss the tips at the end of this DH section!

Dredger hit Smith DH yesterday evening (3rd) in anticipation of topwater action. He fished from 5 (water temp 56F) til 8 and got a decent number of bows, three browns, and a sole brookie to complete a Smith Slam. Better luck was had during the day on his hares ear soft hackle dropped behind the yellow stimmy. Fish hit both the dead drift and the downstream stream swing. He dredged a few from deep pools with a brown micro girdle bug. Refusals, both on top and deep, outnumbered his eats by 4 to 1. Maybe he should have found and followed Spangler! (See below)

During the last hour of daylight something small was in the surface film and risers were plentiful. With dying light and aging eyes, Dredger just stuck with his visible stimmy. Younger eyes and a paint strainer might allow y’all to match the hatch this weekend. Emerging midges, maybe? Got a headlamp for the walk out?

UO buddy Spangler: “Hey Dredger, I wanted to pass along some intel for the Smith Creek DH that may help someone out. Ants…I’ve been killing them all over my garage but apparently it’s what the trout there want, too. I fished from 1-3 and stopped counting at 20 on this little sunken ant I came up with, dropped under this ugly dry ant. Only 2 went for the dry, and I didn’t see a ton of risers to my surprise. I use my micro euro leader as a dry dropper rig more than tight line, I can get the cleanest drift that way while high sticking.

Smith wasn’t even my plan A. I checked out a little blue line not far away first, got one little wild bow jigging a bugger on my tenkara rod but just a bunch of chubs on my dries. So I detoured to Smith DH and was glad I did!”

Attentive blog readers, enjoy this gift. For our larger trout streams, both the wild ones and Delayed Harvest, check out some hot tips by googling “Secrets of the Rabunites” and d rolling down to my “spring dries and droppers” presentation. It will be time well spent before your next trout trip.

Stockers:

The GAWRD and USFWS truck fleets have their pedals to the metal. Master stocking list and this week’s schedule are here:

https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout

Grab your kids and go this spring, while the streams are cool and the stockers are abundant.

UO buddy RSquared: “GaDNR Fisheries Staff have started stocking our North Western Georgia Streams with fresh, frisky, famished, Rainbow Trout. These marginal streams will continue to receive fish into the month of June if water temps remain cool enough to sustain them. Our traditional trout season has begun! “

Private Waters:

UO-Helen manager Wes: “Private water fish were a little bit picky this week with the low, clear flows. A dead drifted emerger was a big player for my guests. My go-to flies were a Drymerger March brown and a Emerger caddis.”

UO guide Sydney: “I had some good trips with my clients this week. Perdigons, pats rubber legs, other stonefly patterns, and soft hackles worked best. Slow, deep drifts were making it happen with those Nacoochee Bend fish.

Check out this trophy brookie!”

Catch a guide trip with one of our fine staffers. Book soon at 706-878-3083 before the June sun ends our spring guiding season.

Tailwaters:

UO buddy Mo provided this buttery report: “I fished the tailwater on a weekday as the river has become too crowded on the weekends. It was a fine day with well over a dozen fish to hand - a good mix of scrappy browns and rainbows. No size to speak of, but decent action and good numbers kept it interesting.

They were eating midges and perdigons in the 18-20 range drifted close to the bottom in a 2-fly tandem. I saw only a handful of rises as there were no midges coming off, which was surprising considering what a nice, sunny day it was. Usually they come out in force on a sunny day.

A couple of anglers on their way out showed off their stringers with some trout and a couple of 2ft long suckers. Those things were huge. Not much later I set into something heavy and fought it for a few seconds before 7x gave out. Never got a visual but I’m telling myself it was a big sucker, not a trout. Helps me sleep a little better at night.”

Warm Rivers:

They’re still low and clear and slowly warming up. The river bass bite has warmed along with the water. Deeper offerings (streamers and crayfish patterns) will outpace poppers during this early bassin’ season. Catch those rivers before the next storm muddies them.

UO Helen manager Wes: “Shoal bassin on River X somewhere in Georgia with Israel & Atticus earlier this week. The fish were chasing down big game changers.”

River stripers are a best bet for trophy hunters. The first two weeks of April are prime time in north GA. Got a jetboat, a yak, or a motorboat with plenty of extra props?

UGA 5Rivers clubber Matt: “Was able to fish a nice middle Georgia river this weekend in the search for some stripers moving up river. Found one decent striper in a fast chute of deep water rushing between two rocks. Surprisingly got the bite around 9am using a 3-4” white articulated streamer. I believe the bite should be heating up into this weekend but might slow down with this cold front coming through next week. Tight lines everyone!”

WRD biologist John Damer has a Coosa update. Check out the striper AND the sturgeon news!

https://georgiawildlife.blog/category/fishing/

Ponds/ Lakes:

Ponds are hot! Go soon while fish are shallow and hungry.

UO buddy Athens Jay: “Local farm pond. Fish are shallow and it is easy to fish from the bank right now. Black articulated streamer did the trick for me.”

Reservoir stripers are scattered and elusive, but spots and whites have saved several Lanier trips. Hank the Yank shared some recent trip pics.

Look for warmer water and shallow bait balls on the upper end of Lanier and in the creeks, especially when stormflows stain those creek arms. Toss small threadfin imitations like Henry’s Somethin Else streamer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC2FCLWHY3o

News and Events:

We’ve had enough rain to knock back the forest fires and reduce the fire danger enough for the Chattahoochee Forest to lift its campfire ban today. Details:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Du777wmmm/?mibextid=wwXIfr

More good news today!Cataloochee finally reopens:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18eyagtovY/?mibextid=wwXIfr

It’s a long drive for Georgians, but well worth it, from trout to elk.