Somebody finally flipped the seasonal switch from summer to fall and it feels mighty fine up here. Trout waters remain real low and clear and they’re now cold in the mornings til the midday sun warms them a bit. The trout bite is good on headwaters, private waters, and tailwaters (except the Toccoa). Try nymphing early and dry/droppers or even double dries after about 10AM, once water temps rise a few degrees. Be ready to battle leaves when the wind blows. And rejoice when the rain starts falling on Sunday and our stream recharge begins.
Lake bass are still a real good bet, while reservoir stripers still haven’t gotten the message about fall yet.
This week’s fish tales from our guides and friends are in our weekly report, as always. It’s fresh every Friday and that timely intel will help you boost your own catch rates. How fresh? Well, I’m writing this report at 8PM Friday since I just got home from today’s NC trout trip.
Catch the intel here:
http://blog.angler.management/
(Link in bio)
Stop in either UO shop if we can help you out.
Helen: 706-878-3083. Open 8-5 daily.
Clarkesville: 706-754-0203. Open 8-5 from Monday thru Saturday.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: purple haze, orange elk hair caddis, parachute ant, orange stimmy, foam ant, micro chubby Chernobyl, blue wing olive, various midges.
Nymphs & Wets:
Stockers: micro girdle bug, black woolly bugger, tan mop, Duracell, Frenchie, ext Walts, Gasolina perdigon.
Mountain streams: hares ear, pheasant tail nymph and soft hackle, prince nymph, crazy leg stone.
Streamers:
small black and olive buggers, sparkle minnow, micro dungeon.
(Bass & Stripers) clouser minnow, wiggle minnow, polar changer, crawfish jambalaya.
Headwaters:
They’re still real low and clear and are a bit colder due to our frosty nights. Both Dukes and Spoilcane were 50F at 9AM today.
The annual leaf hatch is just starting in GA and in full swing in NC. Be ready to battle the leaf rafts when the wind blows. Dry dropper rigs are the way to go early, while dries should be good after lunch.
Delayed Harvest:
GA streams reopen to the special regs next Saturday. Expect some fresh DH stockers in those streams by the end of the day on 11/1.
In the meantime, NC DH streams are fishing well. Rabunites Dredger and Bluejay just returned from their Nan DH trip today. The river ran 49F at their noon start and only rose a degree by their 430 departure.
Both fished dry/dropper rigs. Bluejay had most luck on his dropper Euronymphs, while Dredger wanted surface action and doubled up on dries.
Most fish hit the tiny BWO dropper, but a few inhaled his lead fly, an October caddis to match the bigger bugs that occasionally fluttered by. Carry those two dry patterns and some midges for those surface sippers in flat pools and pockets.
UO buddy Mo: “We fished the Nan DH for a coupla days early in the week. (The usual suspect was missing again). The river was low but still had a good amount of water and good flows.
The fish were up and eating and the crowds were out in force too. Def got our fill of catching each day tho. The usual DH flies were snubbed as fish preferred smaller natural imitations. Plain natural Walt’s, HEs, PTs and green/olive perdigons in 18-14 produced most action for us although I did great with a tan mop one afternoon in the rain. (Size 16/14 gasolina perdigon in particular was their cryptonite three days straight). The amount of brookies that flopped out of my hand before I could take pics is a new record. We were happy to see, though, that most fish looked very healthy and colored up. Great job by the hatchery. “
Stockers:
It’s GAWRD’s stocking off-season, so stockers are slim pickings right now. Aim for the biggest streams that can hide some leftovers from September stockings. The Hooch headwaters and tailwaters, Tallulah, Tooga, and Cooper come to mind.
https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout
Private Waters:
Private waters are low and clear but continue to fish well for our clients using light line and small nymphs.
Wes posted this midweek report:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DQEsucAAHQS/?igsh=MTM1NG92YzFyb2ptag==
UO guide Sydney:
“I tried a whole different handful of flies this week, but real small, dark nymph droppers worked best. I dropped them behind flashback pheasant tails and micro girdle bugs on double nymph rigs, or under a fluffy dry on warm afternoons. Risers were sipping midges and ignored our dries, but ate the small nymph droppers.
Tailwaters:
UO buddy Ryan: “Hooch Tailwater action has been hit or miss depending on the pressure and dissolved oxygen levels. In general I'm seeing more and higher quality brown trout in areas I often don't catch any. I've been euro nymphing size 20 natural nymph patterns with a 2.5 or 3mm tungsten bead on 6.5x. Great to see some nice browns lately!!”
Warm Rivers:
Area rivers remain real low and clear,but are quickly cooling off. That low flow will change with Sunday’s rain. Rivers have cooled off, so go deeper: strip some streamers and bounce some crayfish patterns for your best bass shots this weekend.
Ponds:
No recent reports.
Lakes:
UO guide Joseph said Lanier bassin’ has still ben hot, but stripers have been ice-cold. They’re still staying deep and haven’t given fly rodders any decent shots. Hopefully that will change with November’s cooler weather and water. He reports:
“Fishing on Lanier remains the same. With the past few cold fronts water temps dropped significantly. Most Stripers seem to still be deep but can fire up any day. We are seeing some small groups surface but they are sporadic and do not stay up for long. Bass on the other hand are still schooling good around brush piles in creeks. We’ve had most success on serpentine swimbaits, walking baits and other topwaters. For flies clousers, game changers and polar fibre minnows seem to be the best options.
Things should fire back up for stripers within the coming weeks. If you’re interested in giving it a try give the Helen shop a call at (706)878-3083 or check out my website at www.josephclarkflyfishing.com”
Afar:
Dredger ran back for a park fix on Thursday (23rd). He fought crowds of leaf lookers on the roads and crowds of elk in the fields.
Two young bulls actually snuck up on him, walking the trail just 10 yards behind him while he was wading and casting.
Fishing was good, with most trout preferring the Frenchie dropper 3 feet below his micro chubby dry.
He happened upon a pod of midge sippers and decided to stay and pick a fight. He managed to fool two and land one nice wild bow on his tiny BWO dropper in 1.5 hours of hatch-matching efforts . It was amazing to watch those fish pick off tiny midge pupa among all the drifting leaves. Can you count the sippers?
More park intel here, courtesy of Ian at R&R:
https://randrflyfishing.com/2025/10/22/cool-fall-weather-with-peak-colors-in-the-smokies/
UO buddy Rodney: “This past week, I ventured north of the border into the Nantahala National Forest. The water was very low & clear, but the DH fish were cooperative if you used smaller nymphs (16 & 18's). After a day of fishing for the winter stockers I switched to a couple of my favorite wild & Native streams. Dry/droppers worked best on Friday with most of the southern Brookies taking the dropper. Saturday, on another stream, dry flies were the ticket. Parachute Adams & small orange stimulaters caught the vast majority of the beautiful little "Appalachian Jewels!"
Henry C reported on our favorite LA Ram: “The traveling angler
Nate caught this 20+ lb yellowfin in Baja during his bye week for the Rams.”
Dress warmly if you start early, then enjoy the pleasant, sunny afternoons. Go find that raincoat, too. You’re gonna need it next week and hopefully for more weeks to come as we recharge our streams. Take advantage of some late season dry fly action now, before we all start the winter dredging season. Come see us in Helen and Clarkesville to grab your orange dries and tiny dark nymphs. Good luck!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com
