Wow, it must be Christmas time because we are enjoying a bunch of early gifts already! On the trout stream front, we finally got some much-needed rain that has briefly boosted river flows.
Even better than that, we’re blessed with a dry, warmer week ahead. Best of all, the GAWRD and SCDNR elves just spiced up their Delayed Harvest streams for your holiday happiness.
On the lake front, hefty stripers and plump spots are still nailing really small threadfin shad imitations. If you can stop those stripers from diving down into the submerged timber, you’ll have some great fish stories and pics to share during your holiday meals with family.
And our good news continues right into the New Year.! Wes has created “UO Undercurrents” and invites everyone to join him on each of the first 8 Tuesday nights. His roster of live guest interviews is outstanding!
All of these UO gifts to y’all are detailed in our weekly fishing report, right here:
http://blog.angler.management/
(Link in bio)
Don’t miss them!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you, our dear friends. We’re open most days for your last-minute gift grabs and fishing intel, but will be closed after lunch on the 24th and on Christmas Day. Then it’s back to fishing fun with y’all early on the 26th! Ho-Ho!
Helen: 706-878-3083. Open 8-5 daily.
Clarkesville: 706-754-0203. Open 8-5 from Monday thru Saturday.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: parachute blue wing olive, Drymerger, tan elk hair caddis, tiny tan chubby, RS2, parachute Adams.
Nymphs & Wets:
DH Stockers: twister egg, ruby midge, diamond midge, lightning bug, Duracell, micro girdle bug.
Mountain streams: zebra midge, soft hackles, micro mayfly, prince nymph, hares ear.
Streamers:
Black and olive woolly buggers, Sparkle minnow, barely legal, UV polar Jig, mini gulp sculp.
Reservoir Bass & Stripers:
clouser minnow, low fat minnow, Cowen’s somethin else.
River bass:
Dead Ned, sweet baby Cray, crittermite, crawfish jambalaya, Clouser minnow.
(Low and slow presentation is key in cool north Georgia bass rivers right now)
Headwaters:
They’ve been icy-cold and pretty darn dead. They were high today but will drop down to skinny flows tomorrow. Most trouters have focused on warmer, lower elevation waters. This warming trend should thaw out some wild headwater fish, so if you need a blueline fix, toss some dry/dropper combos at them after lunch on sunny days.
Delayed Harvest:
It was a tale of two streams this week. DH streams were shallow, clear, and icy cold to start, but the rain and warmth should change the game in your favor.
Better flows, warmer water, and new, naive stockers should give y’all some great fishing this week. Try some flashy or moving bugs (egg, squirmy, bugger) as your lead fly for fresh fish and a small, dark trailer (pheasant tail, root beer midge, hares ear) to convince experienced fish to eat.
Dredger hit the Chattooga DH on a warming Wednesday afternoon. While the air warmed, the water hardly did at all. The river was 36F at noon and hardly budged. Truck tracks and finning fish in clear pools suggested some recent SCDNR stocking stuffers.
Despite the cold water, the fish ate. He had to find them: still holed up in the deeper holes, since the riffles and runs were still too shallow to provide fish cover.
His catch was equally split between bows and browns.
Half ate a small stripped black bugger, while the other half like his deep-drifted peach egg
on a real long piece of 6x tippet, a foot behind a #1 shot and 6-8 feet under his small indicator. Although the fish were icy, Dredger kept some feeling in his fingers. After releasing each fish, he wiped his hands dry with a small towel, then shoved it back into the top of his waders. Dry hands work well. Big thanks to Kelly Galloup for this tip from long ago.
Rabunites Nan and Bluejay went north to a small NC DH stream on Wednesday. It was frigid, but they managed a handful of bows on “legs and eggs.”
UO buddy CDB finally put away his shotgun and reunited with his fly rod. He reports: “Hey Jeff, I’m baaaa-aack! I got out a couple times over the past week and a half. This week was much the same as the last - very cold, very clear water. The question both weeks was whether the water would be too cold to catch fish. The answer, once again, was micro jig streamers.
At the beginning of the week we took out veterans on private waters, and bronze jig streamers rolled across the bottom of the river and twitched up and down every so often were very productive. Bronze streamers with a black head were the most productive pattern, followed by black streamers with a red head. Sexy Walt worms about size 18 with a pink collar worked very well also.
On my favorite DH Waters, the same was true. I did have some success bouncing a very small, peach egg as well. However, the jig streamer was so productive that when I ended the day it was the only fly I was fishing with. A single jig streamer with an extra size 1 shot to help get it down in the deeper runs.
It’s been really cold. For anyone who’s heading out and is not used to fishing in those temperatures I offer a few tips. First, barbless hooks, and a quick release tool can help keep your hands much drier and happier. Loon and Ketchum both make great tools for this purpose. Second, you’re probably wearing gloves of some sort. if you don’t have a tool, before you unhook the fish, believe it or not, take the gloves off. Handle the fish and remove the hook with your bare hands and a hemostat. I keep a dry washcloth in my waders to dry my hands with. And then I slide them back into the gloves. Much better than fishing with soggy gloves with the air temperatures around freezing. Good luck and merry Christmas!”
Stockers:
There may still a few stray stockers left in the bigger GA streams, especially the two tailwaters. You can also fish downstream from DH boundaries to catch the DH wash-downs after flood events.
Private Waters:
Private stream fishing was really tough to start the week, but ended with a bang today after last nite’s rain and warmth.
UO guide Sydney:”Before the rain and warmth last nite, our private water trips were a grind! I used the usual thin tippet and tiny bugs in the low, cold flows. The main thing was getting a good, deep drift. We ended the guided trip with TWO eats on a double-dry rig as the water warmed slightly and they were EPIC! “
UO-Helen manager Wes:
“Late report. I did an afternoon trip today on the Soque with Colin and Brad. We were lucky to catch the higher and stained river flows from the overnight rain. Squirmy worms and dead drifted small wooly buggers were the big players this afternoon.”
UO buddy Athens Jay stopped by to wet a line at Nacoochee Bend late this afternoon. He managed a nice handful of bows in just two hours before the sun set. A small egg fly worked best at higher, stained flows, but his small Frenchie variant produced late, as the water cleared a bit.
UO company manager Jake: “I spent Sunday at Larry’s lodge on the Soque. Despite the wind, the fishing was really good. The water was still low and clear, so stealthy bugs and approach were the keys to success. We caught most of our fish on small midges including a Rootbeer Midge and a Diamond Midge, but the biggest producer of the day was a grey RS2 drifted behind a Micro Girdle Bug. With the low clear flows, I have not been using much split shot lately, if any. I am mostly using my top fly as my weight to get the bugs down near the bottom.”
Tailwaters:
Nothing recent.
Warm Rivers:
No news.
Ponds:
No reports.
Lakes:
UO guide Joseph; “Lanier has fished well over the past week. We’re still seeing good groups of fish on top and they seem to be pushing into creeks as water temps fall. Most of the fish we’ve caught have been on somethin else’s on intermediate lines. Clousers, small gamechangers, and other baitfish flies 2 inches long or less will work.
Although winter is settling in, our season is far from over. Our fish will be happy for the next several weeks before lake temps dive into
The low 40’s. I still have some availability for January, however it’s going quickly! To book call UO Helen at 706-878-3083 or visit my website at www.josephclarkflyfishing.com”
Events:
Wow, Wes has outdone himself! Mark your calendars now for his winter series of interactive guest interviews. Settle in at home and tune in every Tuesday night for UO’s live Instagram feeds with nationally known fisherfolks. Check out his January roster here:
That’s the latest Helen intel as we enjoy a wonderful holiday season. If you can break away from all of the ball games, the fishing rewards might just be grand.
We will close early on Christmas Eve and reopen for business on the 26th. We appreciate your friendship and hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas and happy holiday season with your family and friends!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
