Welcome to May! It’s sort of a transition time up here, as many of our spring insect hatches wind down and the summer bugs wind up. Watch for the last of the cahills and caddis to buzz around dark, while the yellow (stoneflies) and black (ants and beetles) bugs of May start to take precedence. Clear, warmer midday water will slow the bite, while early mornings and late evenings will be great. Bring a flashlight for the hike out.
Clouds and dirty stormflows will also turn on the midday trout bite. (It happened to us yesterday). Our advice last week was spot-on, and trouters scored with both dirty water and clear water techniques this past week. That intel will hold true for the week ahead, too.
Ponds and lakes are still good for bass, while river bassin’ has been a hit in clear water and a miss during muddy runoff. The expected storms might knock out the rivers this weekend.
There’s no new intel on the striper front, but we have a few good fish stories from afar. Timely fishing reports and timely tips are right here in our blog. 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 some flies, supplies, and advice.
Helen: 706-878-3083. Open 8-5 daily.
Clarkesville: 706-754-0203. Open 8-5 from Monday thru Saturday.
Get out there soon before the June heat arrives and our coldwater species take their summer siestas.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.co
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: parachute Adams, parachute light Cahill, 409 Yeager yellow, #14 yellow stimulator, #16 yellow Sally, tan chubby Chernobyl, hard body ant.
Nymphs & Wets:
Stockers: Squirminator, mop, slush egg, frenchie, girdle bug, tungsten redneck.
Mountain streams: micro girdle bugs, black ant, hares ear nymph and soft hackle , soft hackle pheasant tail, improved yallar hammer.
Streamers:
Sparkle minnows, small black and olive buggers for DH streams, mohair leeches, Jiggy Fry, mini shimmer buggers, Thrasher.
(Bass & stripers) clouser minnow,
Feather changer, polar changer, crittermite, crawfish jambalaya, Clydesdale stealth jig.
Headwaters:
They’re clear and flowing at seasonal norms, except for the brief storm surges after a thunderstorm. Spoilcane was clear and 59F at 10AM today.
The prime dry fly fishing will continue. Try your trusty tan caddis and bring some yellow stimmies and black ants with you. During brief high flows, drop a squirmy, frenchie, or green weenie behind a buoyant dry like a #14 tan chubby Chernobyl.
UO buddy Nanette said that she and hubby Rick are still enjoying their dry fly magic on small but beautiful wild bows in the Rabun County streams. Here’s a pic from this morning.
UO-Helen manager Wes: “Atticus and I got up to the Smokies for a backcountry fishing trip earlier in the week. We caught plenty of brookies with a few rainbows mixed in.
The best flies were a 409 Yeager yellow up top and a conehead wooly bugger in the deeper plunge pools. Stoneflies were the big hatch up there this week. We saw yellow sallies, golden stones, and even salmonflies hatching on the creek. “
Delayed Harvest Streams:
The midday catching will be tougher in clear and warming water. Try dry/dropper rigs at breakfast and double-dry rigs as the evening shadows fall around 730. Cahills and tan caddis should be winding down as the May colors (yellow and black) start to take precedence. The mountain Laurel bloom always signaled the kickoff of golden stones and yellow sallies. Black equals ants, both on top and sunken. Trophy hunters, try stripping a small bugger or sculpin streamer as the sun sets and the browns start their evening hunts.
Extend your spring dry fly fishing with a road trip north to NC or TN. Their water temps and bug hatches are usually 1-2 weeks behind ours, thanks to higher elevations and colder water.
Stockers:
It’s 3:30PM and GAWRD’s weekly stocking list just hit our in box. Here you go:
Some local TUers (JW and grandson) just wandered into our Clarkesville store and said they did well on Tallulah stockers this morning. Squirmy worms were the ticket in between the rain and hail showers.
https://georgiatu.org/find-your-georgia-tu-chapter-here/georgia-foothills-chapter-629/
See the 2024 master list and the latest weekly stocking schedule on the WRD trout page:
https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout
Private Waters:
They continue to fish well, especially in rain-stained flows. The Hooch at our Helen shop was clear at 11AM today.
UO guide Israel: Soque was good to my clients this week! Woolly buggers and squirmy worms in the high, dirty water, and then larger size RS2’s once it cleared.
UO manager Jake’s two clients had a great “annual birthday” trip last week to the Soque after a recent rain raised and stained the water. Squirmies and micro girdle bugs were the best patterns dredged on their indicator rigs.
UO guide Atticus said that last Sunday’s Orvis 301 class went really well well. About a dozen anglers joined four UO guides at Nacoochee Bend and scored on dry/dropper rigs. A bigger chubby helped suspend a smaller girdle bug, and fish hit both the dry and the dropper. Atticus also had good luck later in the week on a small tan elk hair caddis and caddis emerger.
UO buddy Ronan had a special invitation to fish some north GA private waters yesterday and he took full advantage of the opportunity. Thanks to a fine taxi driver (Ronan’s mom), expert instream guiding by Jacob (@flyfishingmaster) and some streambank coaching by Dredger, Ronan knocked the cobwebs off of his trouting game and had a big time with resident rainbows up to a 23-inch brute.
Thanks to some stained water from pop-up storms, dredged squirmies and bright eggs produced the best. A few big bows in flat pools were also enticed by a big, tan chubby Chernobyl. The bite was best when the skies clouded up and raindrops fell, while the fish sulked a bit when the sun emerged between showers. It was a memorable day in the mountains among good friends, old and new.
Tailwaters:
UO buddy Mo: “Our duo fished the Lanier tailwater for about 3 hrs last Sunday before the noon release chased us off the river. Fish were very active both deep and on top. Two-nymph euro rigs and a dry/dropper produced fish for us. We were able to net over a dozen each on small midge imitations and perdigons, as well as a handful of scrappy fish on small dries. No size to speak of but numbers were certainly there. We had good 3 hours of solid action and walked out with smiles on our faces.
UO buddy Myles: “I ran a hooch tailwater guided trip through my local shop. My client wanted to start learning Euro Nymphing, and successfully landed 8 trout. One of which was a wild brown, which is always a special treat! We also caught a few trout in the classroom fish. It is always cool to see those fish doing well. Small nymphs and stoneflies have been working well on the hooch tailwater lately.”
Warm Rivers:
River bassing is good when you can catch some clear water in between these recent and expected thunderstorms. The Hooch at Highway 115 was clear and fishable when I crossed it at 1PM today. That will likely change if today’s storms drop the expected 2-3 inches of rain in its upper watershed.
Check those flow gauges (all of them) before you go. The Hooch in Helen and downstream at Leaf might be clear, while the Duncan Bridge gauge might show you the muddy slug from the Soque. The gauges will help you aim your yaks and canoes at clear water for the best bite.
Ponds & Lakes:
UO buddy Athens Jay is still hunting big bream in shallow water. He said: “Pond water temperatures are rising and fishing for panfish is good. If you are really stealthy you can find bigger bluegill and shellcracker is shallow water by cruising around the perimeter just within casting distance of the shore. Brown Pat’s Rubberlegs and red squirmy worms worked well. Also tried a black Rubberleg Dragon with a red marabou tail with success. Fishing with a 3-wt rod made things pretty sporty,to say the least.”
UO manager Jake said the reservoir bass spawn is pretty much done for this spring. Same goes for the blueback spawn as lake temps start pushing into the 70’s. You might find a few stragglers still up along the banks. Try some wake baits, flukes, neko rigs and wacky worms for those remaining shallow water fish.
UO buddy Gayland: “I went fly fishing this morning with my Winston 7 weight, my new Scientific Anglers warm water fly line, and a yellow Boogle Bug. I caught several small bass and bream, but the highlight of the day was this pretty grass carp that sipped the Boogle bug and ran with it!!”
Afar:
UO buddy Myles: “This past weekend I stayed in WNC for a few days to fish some of my favorite waters. On Friday, I hit a milestone of catching 101 fish. I used 7x the whole time with 2 size 20 flies. I switched between 2.5mm and 3.0mm beads depending on the run I was fishing.”
UO guide Joseph: “I’m having a lot of fun this week down in FL with my girlfriend Emmalee and her family! Snook fishing on the surf has been great. I’m consistently getting 10-12 good shots on each outing. Small flies (micro changers) on intermediate lines and 20lb tippet have been the winning recipe. All fish I’ve caught have been sight-fished in the trough along the surf. These fish are pretty spooky, so getting a good shot before they know you are there is definitely a must. It’s pretty hard to beat some good, old-fashioned sight fishing!”
News and Events:
Last call for you to win a Bahamas Fishing Trip. The Casting for Recovery- GA fundraising raffle lasts through May 4.
https://www.tapkat.org/casting-for-recovery-inc/l5ygVk?promo=GEORGIA
Good luck this week. Check the flows and water clarity and match your technique to the conditions at have. Enjoy those big, shallow bream and those bug-sipping trout right at or after dark. May is a fine time for fly flinging, so get out there ASAP! Stop in either UO shop if we can help you out.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com
