Welcome to our new year’s weather rebound. After a few chilly days and cold nights, we’ve now started a warming trend that might peak near 70 degrees by next weekend. Warmer trout waters should pick up the bite on bluelines and delayed harvest streams, while tailwater temps in the 50’s will keep that action going. Bring some dries along with your nymphs. My Smith DH walk this afternoon verified these predictions.
On our lakes, Henry C says that there are more spots than stripers up shallow, but some mighty fine striper schools lurk in the depths just offshore. His call to me this afternoon detailed his current tricks for Lanier striper success.
Speaking of Henry, he’s the leadoff batter in our Tuesday evening Instagram series called Unicoi Undercurrents. Join Wes at 7PM each of the next 8 Tuesday nights for presentations and your own Q&A sessions with regional and national flyfishing experts. If you wanna know how to catch more Lanier stripers, don’t miss Henry Cowen on Tuesday, the 6th, at 7PM.
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See more Undercurrents details and all of our hot fishing intel in our weekly fishing report, right here:
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Helen: 706-878-3083. Open 8-5 daily.
Clarkesville: 706-754-0203. Open 8-5 from Monday thru Saturday.
We hope you start off 2026 with some fresh, new fishing memories. Come by the shop to swap stories, and dial in Tuesday night for Hank’s free wisdom.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: parachute blue wing olive, parachute Adams, griffiths gnat, little black stone (or #18 gray elk hair caddis), small tan chubby on dry/dropper rigs.
Nymphs & Wets:
DH Stockers: twister egg, pheasant tail or Frenchie, sexy Walts worm, rainbow warrior, zebra midge, root beer midge, Duracell, micro girdle bug.
Mountain streams: zebra midge, soft hackles, prince nymph, hares ear.
Streamers:
Black and olive woolly buggers, jig leech, barely legal, UV polar Jig.
Reservoir Bass & Stripers:
clouser minnow, low fat minnow, Cowen’s somethin else.
Headwaters:
Bluelines remain very low and very clear. The good news is that they’re warm. Dukes at Smithgall was 47F at 4PM today.
Stick with dry/dropper combos and aim for the pools, where fish can find some refuge from predators. Water temps near 50 will encourage wild fish to look up for your dries.
The better news is rain. We should get a small slug of rain overnight (half inch is predicted), but that higher flow should subside within a half day or so, and we’ll return again to fishing skinny water.
Dredger and Athens Jay gave the Smokies a try and were served humble pie last Saturday. Despite a favorable 49F stream temp, they only managed 3 trout between them in the low, clear water. Dredger was glad he remembered his gym bag with a dry change of clothes after his unintended afternoon breast stroke. At least his head, sunglassses, and cap stayed dry. Abundant elk and a Haywood BBQ feast were decent salve for the wounded egos. Hint: don’t forget the brownies!
UO buddy Lumis hit the west and south sides of the park last weekend and had similar results. At least he stayed dry. He reported:
“Well, I got into 4 rainbows today (27th) on a west side creek and missed a few more. It was definitely a learning experience. Those fish strike insanely fast! My go-to winter fly has been perdigons. Should be able to get more tomorrow. Water levels actually seemed alright, but I'm not sure what the norm is.”
“Fished for a bit over 3 hours today (28th) Couldn't get out of the bed this morning so that cut into the time a bit. First time for me at Notellum creek. Started fishing near the parking lot but didn't catch anything until we hiked in further. A rainbow and two browns. Small fish. Just as difficult as yesterday's waters. Perdigon was the key to (mild) success.
Next time I visit I will definitely be hiking in further from the start and not wasting time near the crowded areas.”
Delayed Harvest:
DH streams in GA and NC are low, clear, and warming back up after our midweek chill. Low flows still have fish bunched up in the pools to avoid predators, and very spooky to any movements over them. Holiday crowds have been hammering DH streams, but angler numbers should finally drop as vacationers go back to work and school next week.
Smith DH was 48F at 2PM during my streamside hike today (2nd). The parking lot was packed and every good pool had an angler in it.
Rookies were striking out, but veteran anglers I spoke with had luck on squirmies, micro eggs, and even tan caddis dries. Those Christmas stockers should start getting pickier soon, so try small nymphs and soft hackles when your eggs start getting passed over this weekend. If you’re coming up to DH streams tomorrow, come early or come late to avoid the midday crowds.
Dredger and Jay sought some Sunday (12/28) redemption at Nantahala DH. Water temp was about 46F and some little black stones and tiny gray caddis fluttered just above the water surface.
The stream was crowded with holiday anglers and the bigger pools were previously pounded, so success there was limited.
But pockets produced! They found cooperative stockers and wild fish in those pockets and runs.
Dredger did Euro while Jay threw a light Indi rig. Both techniques worked. Best bugs were small frenchies and France flies.
Jay got the species slam while Dredger rejoiced with a 14-inch wild brown and a handful of little wild bows among the stockers.
They enjoyed both the thrill of victory:
And the agony of defeat:
It was a fun day for two fishing buddies, topped off with streamside sub sandwiches at 5PM.
Stockers:
Stockers are slim. Your best bets are the two tailwaters for summer/fall holdovers and just outside the DH stream boundaries to find the wash-downs and swim-ups after flood events.
Private Waters:
UO guide Sydney: “Trips have been fun even though the weather has been “bipolar” with the bouncing air and water temps! Streamers have been catching the big boys, but little nymphs and occasionally some junk flies have been getting it done, too. I’ve still been running a deep nymph rig most of the time, but I’ve seen a few hatches of little midges at midday. We caught a few rising fish on some emerger patterns here and there.”
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DS2QJ0TDnDz/?igsh=MWIxeG1zNnloMmJxZg==
UO guide Alex had his clients deep-nymphing for some holiday success at Nacoochee Bend.
Here’s some sage advice from our buddy, CDB:
“Happy Holidays my friend. You’ve seen this scene, right?
Guide: “Set!”
Angler: “But the indicator didn’t go under!”, or “That’s not a fish, I didn’t feel anything”, or even “You’re just making it up.”
My hardworking guide friends, despite desperately willing us to catch fish despite our miscues, hear this all the time.
I slipped out in the cold and wind on some private water this week. I was fishing with a tight line, euro style, no indicator. The bronze micro jig streamer with a black head and a bronze micro jig streamer with a bronze head rolled along the bottom were dynamite. So, why my little story at the beginning?
I only “felt” one or two of the takes. Almost all of the takes, the line simply paused or straightened a little, including two quite nice fish. The two biggest fish of the morning were posted up right where most people stand in this particular hole. A dumb place for a fish to be, but unfortunately, they don’t read many of the magazines and they like it there.
As the water gets colder, fish those edges, deep. Don’t be afraid of the slow water if there is a good oxygenation source handy. And for the love of bamboo, dry flies, John Geirach and every holy about trout fishing – set!! If your fly is going into the trees, you are probably setting too hard, and if you are with me, I would rather go dig your fly out of the bushes than have you miss a nice fish.
I am occasionally using small, size 18 bead head pheasant tails with a dull red head and some 18 Walt’s worms with a little crystal collar. Don’t overlook the jig streamer. And most of the time now I am fishing a single fly, for what it is worth. Easier for me to know exactly where it is.
Happy New Year and good luck. Look forward to seeing some of you all out there in 2026.”
Tailwaters:
Remember that our GA trout tailwaters (Hooch, Toccoa, even Smith DH) run a bit warmer due to their stored summer waters, which haven’t fully cooled off from cold December air temps.
UO buddy Ryan: “The Chattahoochee tailwater has cleared in the past week and the fish seem to be happy with the warm weather. I've actually seen risers multiple days in a row. Wading, I've stayed consistent catching fish on 6-6.5x tippet while tight lining small hares ear and frenchie variations. I've fished 4 access points the past week and all have produced wild browns. They seem to be very active, and I'm seeing some quality fish caught by friends floating the deeper water.”
Warm Bass Rivers:
No news.
Ponds:
UO buddy Athens Jay celebrated the new year on his local lake and welcomed his first fish of ‘26, a largemouth on his streamer. He said: “It was windy, but not too cold on New Year’s Day, so I decided to take my new paddle board out and see if I could catch the first fish of 2026. Between 1:00pm-2:30pm I had good luck slowly creeping a jig-style fly along the bottom in 4-5 feet of water. The sun was out so I used a brightly colored streamer with a jig hook and tungsten football bead.”
UO buddy Athens MD gave a road trip report: “Good morning and Happy New Year! In Virginia this week near my old stomping grounds. The weather is clear and beautiful, but it's been windy and cold on local lakes. My son and I have enjoyed targeting chain pickerel with sink tip lines and small gamechangers and light gray composite loop zonkers--sometimes literally cracking the thin ice at the shore. Juvenile and mature bald eagles have been our constant companions overhead. Here's to 2025 in the rear view mirror!”
Lakes:
UO guide Joseph: “Fishing on Lanier has been good over the past week. We’re starting to see fish fully settle into their “winter pattern”. This means we are still looking for fish on the surface, but more fish are hanging deeper. Full-sink lines will put more fish in the boat. We’ve seen several nice groups of fish in creeks feeding on small threadfin anywhere from 15-30 feet deep. Something else’s, small clousers and various other small weighted flies will work.
I still have some availability for January but things are filling up fast. To book call UO Helen at (706)-878-3083 or visit my website at www.josephclarkflyfishing.com.”
UO buddy and Tuesday night celebrity HenryC called in a 4PM report today. It mirrored a lot of Joseph’s intel. Henry said that breaking stripers are now fairly rare, but good striper schools can be found 20-25 ft deep in the upper half of Lanier. He’s watching his electronics and also any hovering birds about 25 feet above the water, then throwing somethin else streamers on full sink lines to those striper schools.
He said that shallow water fans might find some south end stripers running baitfish right against the back in the backs of coves. Spots are also on shallow points and will hit a slowly retrieved something else or clouser.
Events:
Don’t miss Henry on Tuesday night! It’s our launch of Unicoi Undercurrents, Wes’ live interviews and your Q&A sessions with nationally known angling experts:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DSbJTSQkXTW/?igsh=MWdva2drd2I1aWI3aA==
More on Henry:
Henry has been pursuing striped bass for over 50 years in both salt and freshwater and currently guides on Lake Sidney Lanier for landlocked stripers and spotted bass. Before we wrap up the livestream, we’ll open things up to viewers for a live Q&A, so bring your striper questions.
Henry Cowen’s accomplishments:
• Fly designer for Umpqua Feather Merchants & Orvis
• Author of Fly Fishing for Fresh Water Striped Bass
• Magazine writer & contributing editor
• Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Field Advisory Staff
• National fly show & fly shop seminar presenter
• Featured on nationally recognized fly-fishing TV shows
• Weekly guest on The O’Neil Outside show on WSB Radio for over 20 years
That’s the latest news and angling intel as we leave the holidays and return to our routines. The good news is the warm weather and water, so get out there soon before we ice over again. Stop in either UO shop to redeem in your holiday gift certificates and cash in on our hot intel. C’mon in.
We’ll see you online, Tuesday night!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
