Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report - 2/22/26

 

Better late than never, here is this week’s UO fishing report.  The big news is our reopening at the new store in Sautee-Nacoochee. You can find us at 2454 GA Highway 17, across the road from the Old Sautee Store. We will share that store’s phone number as soon as we get reconnected.

Trout fishing was pretty good during last week’s warm spell, but will slow down for a few days until this new cold front passes through. Be ready as air and water temperatures rebound, starting on Wednesday.

Lake action is still quiet, but March is right around the corner and will kick-start our reservoir bass and striper hunts. Got your walleye rigs ready?

Check out the next set of upcoming events. Details on them and on our angler trip successes are in our full weekly fishing report, here:

http://blog.angler.management/

(Link in bio)

Sautee: 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:

Black elk hair caddis, grey elk hair caddis, griffiths gnat, small Parachute Adams, indicator flies for dry droppers (micro chubby) (stimulator)

Nymphs & Wets: 

DH Stockers: twister egg, pheasant tail (nymph, soft hackle) or Frenchie, sexy Walts worm, rainbow warrior.

Mountain streams:  zebra midge, soft hackles, prince nymph, frenchie or pheasant tail.

Streamers:

UV polar jig, jiggy fry, sparkle minnow, bank robber sculpin.

Reservoir Bass & Stripers:

Cowen’s somethin else, low fat minnow. 

River bass:

Dead Ned, crittermite, clouser minnows. 

Headwaters:

Mountain streams are still very low and clear due to a lack of rainfall. Several anglers visiting our new shop reported topwater success during last week’s warm afternoons. In fact, wild bows even preferred dries over droppers. That action will slow until midweek warmth thaws out the wild fish again.

Delayed Harvest:

Fishing reports were positive on DH streams. February stockers have smartened up after three weeks of angler pressure, so smaller egg and nymph patterns were more successful than the bigger, gaudier bugs that were hot at the first week of the month.

UO guide Sydney: “ I fished Smith DH on my midweek off-day. Caught this nice rainbow on a sexy waltz worm, the anchor fly on my double nymph rig!”

Stockers: 

Stockers remain slim.  Your best bets are the two tailwaters for summer/fall holdovers and  just outside the DH stream boundaries to find the wash-downs.  Fishing public waters above or below private trophy waters might fetch you a straying brute or two. It’s Rainbow Romance season and some bows may swim upstream in search of clean gravel.

Private Waters: 

Private waters fished decently during the warm spell. Low, clear water and “experienced” fish made the catching challenging, especially for newer anglers. Veterans with light tippets and perfect drifts still did well. Private water action should rebound at midweek. Just follow rising stream temperatures to your own success.

We’ve got Nacoochee Bend leased until the end of this month. UO owner Jimmy sent some “thanks notes” and gifts  to his best partners and customers over the last three decades, and these groups are enjoying their free Bend fishing trips during these last two weeks of February.

UO guide Sydney invited a couple of her fishing buddies for a midweek Bend freebie. Syd said, “Last hoorah on the Bend  for me is bittersweeet.  Angelica and I got to have some fun. She was doing a photography project for school and had asked me to do some fishing for her so we had a great time with some wooly buggers, black sparkle minnows, hellgrammite patterns in some rainy weather.  Charlotte and I spent a few hours on Friday morning and had a ton of fun, too.  Reminiscing on all the trips out here and good times with amazing people , I will sure miss this water!”

The GA Women Flyfishers assaulted Nacoochee Bend on both Friday and Saturday. They had to work hard for a handful of big, picky, and powerful rainbows. Changing flies often, the experienced club members scored on a variety of egg, worm, nymph, and bugger patterns.

As we close our three decade chapter of fishing Nacoochee Bend, we were touched by Megan Nellen’s tribute to the site and UO owner Jimmy’s benevolence.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DVAJFTfkZ70RP5mEnL0JUXwtI7mIphSXhL9Uy00/?igsh=NjU3ZHJubnUzMWd4

Tailwaters:

UO buddy Retiree Jay: “My friend David from ATL and I did a float trip yesterday on a north Georgia river I had never fished before. We saw lots of black Caddis flies hatching all day, but very few rising fish. David had a little luck early on a size 12 black Caddis dry fly. I tried swinging nymphs and soft hackles with no luck. The rises ended quickly, I was stumped so I tried something completely different (streamers)! I immediately was rewarded with some hefty trout that were willing to chase my brown articulated streamer with small dumbell eyes.”

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVDPZ8GjovC/?igsh=MWU3aDZ4YnIyb2lpNw==

UO buddy Ryan: “This past weekend I had a chance to get out with some friends on one of my favorite access points on the Hooch Tailwater.  The weather was nice, and it seemed to have fish more active than the weeks prior I've fished here.  My friends and I caught fish on both natural nymphs sz 18-20 as well as egg patterns, all euro nymphing.  No browns this trip, only rainbows came out to play!”

Warm Bass Rivers: 

No news, other than they aren’t very warm and those fish probably aren’t very hungry.

Ponds:

UO buddy Jay: “ Pond bass are biting, too. I got to my local pond during the warm spell and did well on dark streamers fished slowly.”

UO buddy Spangler: “Hey Dredger, something for the fishing report: I really enjoyed George Daniel on this week’s Undercurrents. Something he said was timely, about how catching some bluegill is like fly fishing therapy. Work and sports had kept me off my go-to streams this month and a couple lunch break sessions on the Lanier TW left me with a bruised ego and a broken rod tip for my trouble. So Wednesday afternoon, I just walked to the neighborhood pond with my 4W, a small blue stealth bomber and an olive bugger hanging off its tail. The water was still frigid but something about this little blue bomber had them hungry or just plain mad at it!”

Lakes:

Our folks have been too busy moving our Helen shop contents to Sautee, but GAWRD has sone hot walleye and striper intel in its most recent weekly blog:

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

Afar:

UO-Sautee shop manager Wes:  “Israel, Atticus, Jackson and myself headed south early this week to go fishing for Bowfin. We linked up with Bert Deener and fished for two days and the conditions and fishing were simply incredible. Sunny with highs in the low 70’s and the fish were very aggressive. combined the group probably caught over 100 fish in two days of days of fishing. It was a grand time with good company! 

If you wanna get after some Bowfin in Georgia Capt. Bert is the guide to give a call!”

https://bertsjigsandthings.com/

Events:

Feb 24:

Wes’ “Unicoi Undercurrents” continues next Tuesday.  All fans of the Game Changer streamer series won’t want to miss Wes’ interview with fly pattern innovator Blane Chocklett!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DU8S5engCz5/?igsh=YTJ2bW05djhrbzM5

Feb 28:

Women’s Fly Casting Clinic in Johns Creek.  Sponsored by the GA Women Fly Fishers:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DUPI3wSjGa_/?igsh=MTU3MmU5b2tjNnkwdg==

That’s the latest intel from our new home base in serene Sautee-Nacoochee, Georgia. We were truly touched by the crowd of friends and customers who made our Saturday reopening a huge success. 

Thank you! Thank you!  We can’t wait to welcome the rest of y’all to our new hangout in the valley.

Good luck getting past Monday’s chill and then catching some fish at the late-week rebound. Stop in our new shop soon and check it out. Hopefully we’ll have phone service connected next week and we’ll share that number, too. C’mon spring!

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

We Have Moved!

Big news: we have moved!  We’re gonna delay our Friday fishing report til tomorrow so that we can share the great news on our new location at 2454 GA Highway 17 in Sautee-Nacoochee. That’s just two miles down Route 17  from Hardman Farm and the Nacoochee Indian Mound, and only five minutes south of our former Helen location.

We’re now open for business, so come see us soon. We’re still working on a new phone number, but our doors are open and we’d love to show you around. While we await the phone hookup and new number, feel free to call our Clarkesville store (706-754-0203) if you’d like to book a fishing trip with us.

In the meantime, come along for a shop tour.  First, here’s our main level. We’ve got plenty of flies, flyfishing equipment, packs, and conventional gear. 

And a huge wrap-around porch ! It will be a great hangout for anglers after a successful day on the stream. Enjoy a stunning view of the beautiful Nacoochee Valley and the peacefulness of rural White County.

Now, let’s go up the stairs.  Our spacious 15x30 loft features our wading gear, angling attire, and fly tying supplies.

Jimmy, Jake, Wes, and their staffers have worked hard for a week to bring you the “new and improved” Unicoi Outfitters fly shop.  We sure hope you like it as much as we do.  We hope to see y’all soon!

Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report -2/13/26

Let’s make this a lucky day for y’all,via another UO fishing report!

It’s a tale of two streams for trouters this week, so be ready with your skinny water game on Saturday and your heavy-flow game after Sunday’s expected inch of rain. Streams have warmed and even the headwaters might be worth a try this week.  DH streams remain your best bet, while tailwaters are worth a try, too. Private waters fish woke up with the warmer water, but were spooky and picky in low, clear, slow flows.

The warmth also woke up some pond bass. Jay updates us. Lanier is still cold though, so most stripers are staying deep, with occasional singles and doubles breaking the surface.

We’re open at both stores Saturday, but will have them closed on Sunday. We’ll be moving our goods from Helen to Sautee (2454 State Highway 17) and will open that new location as soon as we get our stock up on the new shelves. It’s a sweet spot across from Old Sautee Store, so come soon after we open up and take a tour.

We had some hot fishing reports due to the warm weather, so check out all the details in our full report, here:

http://blog.angler.management/

(Link in bio)

Come see us in Helen or Clarkesville tomorrow to stock up on your winter and early spring supplies. 

Helen/Sautee (keeping the same phone number) 706-878-3083. 

Clarkesville: 706-754-0203. Open 8-5 from Monday thru Saturday.

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com

Wes’ Hot Fly List:  

The same midwinter patterns continue to be our favorites.

Dries: parachute blue wing olive, griffiths gnat, little black stone (or #18 gray elk hair caddis, and a small tan chubby or elk hair caddis as the lead fly (a strike indicator for your tiny dry dropper)

Nymphs & Wets: 

DH Stockers: twister egg, pheasant tail (nymph, soft hackle) or Frenchie, sexy Walts worm, rainbow warrior.

Mountain streams:  zebra midge, soft hackles, prince nymph, frenchie or pheasant tail.

Streamers:

Black and olive woolly buggers, jig leech, UV polar Jig.

Reservoir Bass & Stripers:

Cowen’s somethin else. Gray over white clouser minnow, low fat minnow. Or a 0.6 ounce flexit spoon on conventional gear.

Headwaters:

They’re droughty- low and clear and have warmed up a bit, thanks to this extended dose of springtime air temperatures.  

At lunchtime today my recons found  Smith DH at 43F, 

Spoilcane at 48F, 

and Dukes at Smithgall 46F. 

There’s more good news from our federal friends, who have worked hard to reopen forest roads. Check out their updated roads list here:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0k4NPQBA7JwFR5tadqcuZNiNYZ9ABeNQymLorvPXiXnQ4GdeKKJDbdBuxoFN32HEal&id=100064696506428

Streams are skinny now, so try some dries for wild fish in the afternoons. Add a dropper if you must, and definitely add one after Sunday’s rain boosts flows for a day or two.

Delayed Harvest:

Both GA and SC wildlife agencies restocked their DH streams around the first of the month, so those streams remain best bets.  I saw good web reports on Chattooga DH, where some big, brown Walhalla “retirees” delighted river ramblers.

But the DH streams will likely be crowded, so be ready with light tippet, smaller flies, and light-landing strike indicators before and after Sunday’s slug of rain.  A Smith DH angler today said he had success on perdigons drifted under a yarn indicator that landed softly. 

Toss some bigger, brighter bugs (eggs, rubberlegs, and leeches) in bigger water after Sunday’s rain.

UO buddy Hillis: “Hi Jeff, I finally got back on the stream this week! I fished Smith on Tuesday. I got there around noon and fished until 4:30. The water was clear and low, and the fish were everywhere. I caught several, including some nice-sized browns and rainbows. I met a guy in the parking lot who had caught a bunch that morning. He said he caught them stripping a green wooly. Also, I met a guy on the stream who said they were going crazy over a white wooly. For some reason, he didn’t offer one of his woolies, not that he should have, but instead gave me a perdigon size 14 or 16 and said that should work. And, it did! I caught a nice one on it after a couple of casts, then had another nice one on, but lost it and the fly. I watched him fishing upstream and he was tearing them up, catching fish back-to-back. I think he was euro-nymphing. As for me, I drifted dry droppers. Other flies that worked for me were a small pink egg, a small dry stimulator, and a walts worm. I would have stayed with the small dry, but it got beat up, was tough to see on the water, and really tough for me to tie on. I tried a larger stimulator, but it did not work. “

Stockers: 

Stockers remain slim.  Your best bets are the two tailwaters for summer/fall holdovers and  just outside the DH stream boundaries to find the wash-downs.  Fishing public waters above or below private trophy waters might fetch you a straying brute or two. It’s Rainbow Romance season and some bows may swim upstream in search of clean gravel.

Private Waters: 

Fishing improved as water temps rose, but it was still challenging in super-low, crystal clear water and slooooowww flows. Dredger gave the really skinny Nacoochee Bend reach a shot for a few hours before sunset on Tuesday. His best luck was on a small Frenchie on 5 or 6X tippet. Pool fish were hard to get to eat, so he had to move up to the faster heads of pools or to deep riffles, where broken water hid speckled torpedoes  from predators.  He won half his battles and lost the other half with chunky bows from about 15 to 18 inches.

It rained overnight and changed the game at the Bend. Athens Jay came up on Wednesday after the rain and worked hard with an indicator rig and nymphs in the heavier flows. He batted about .500, too, on some brute bows that took a liking to his dredged egg patterns.

UO staffer Sydney: “Days are getting a little bit longer, so I got to drift a small squirrel leech safter work in Helen yesterday and land a Nacoochee Bend bow before sundown! “

UO buddy CDB: “Hi Dredger, despite the beautiful week I only got out twice and only on private waters.  The fish were active, if a little spooky with the crystal-clear water. During the Project Healings Waters outing, action was good and some nice fish were put in the net.  I wasn’t sure who was going to win some of these tug of war battles! 

Almost any reasonable pattern worked, if … if you were able to make the right drift and presentation.  Hares ears and flash back pheasant tails worked well, size 18 and 20.  A size 16 or 18 wet hackle with a thin red body was dynamite.  I tried to resist using the little bronze micro zonkers, but alas, I had to try.  And they still were far and away the most productive pattern.  A duller brown or black bead head was better this week that the flashier ones.  

A few observations.  The fish were moving and especially willing to move as the water warmed.  With that said, depth seemed to play an outsize role.  The fish moved laterally aggressively but preferred to stay at whatever depth they were holding.  Practice spotting the fish, if you are sure you are getting a good drift but are not getting a take – tweak the depth.  If you are certain you have a good drift and the depth is right and the fish are either 1) ignoring your offering or worse 2) moving away from the fly, try dropping your tippet size.  The water is very clear.  

If you are having a hard time getting a good drift or struggling mending your line, go to the micro-streamer.  When you are mending, it actually imparts action on the fly and often I will see an eat immediately after executing a mend. 

Finally, don’t be afraid to change flies.  A lot.  We don’t have a lot of heavy hatches.  I am less patient than most, but if I have run a fly through a lie I know is good about 10-12 times without a take – I change up.  A surprising amount of time, the take happens on the first or second drift with a new fly.  Patience is a virtue, just not always mine.

Should be good this weekend and next week.  Decent temperatures and mild temperatures.  Hope to see you out there!”

Moral of the story: watch streamflows and match them with your technique. Use light line, small bugs, and stealth in skinny water. Use thicker line and lotsa lead to get bigger bugs down to bottom hugging fish in heavy flows.

Tailwaters:

No reports from our contacts, but there’s some good intel at today’s GAWRD blog:

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

Warm Bass Rivers: 

No news, other than they aren’t very warm and those fish probably aren’t very hungry.

Ponds:

Athens Jay: “Three days of warmer temperatures inspired me to take out my paddleboard on a local pond. Pre-spawn largemouth bass were definitely hungry, but you had to feed them carefully. I used a floating line with a fairly long (12 feet total) leader and fluorocarbon tippet. I fished articulated streamers (mostly made from black marabou and black/purple rabbit dubbing loops) with a football tungsten bead head. Fish seemed to be cruising  on bottom in about 4-6 feet of water. I caught a dozen in a little over an hour before the sun set.”

Lakes:

No news. 

Rerun: Striper book author Henry Cowen said to carry a full sink fly outfit just in case you find a shallow school. But the money rig will be a spoon on spinning or conventional gear. Get some 0.6 ounce flexit spoons and bend them slightly at midpoint. Use your electronics to locate those deep schools of shad a d stripers in 40-60 feet of water.  Drop the spoon down to them and then “flick and flutter.”  Take 2-3 reel turns to flick the spoon up a few feet, then free spool it back to the bottom. The light, bent spoon will slowly flutter back down.  This method will get you some stripers and spits while you wait for warmer water and shallower schools.

Kudos:

Big shout-out to Henry Cowen and his north GA co-conspirators on their good deed for a Lanier family:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CGTk6bK86/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Events:

Feb 17:

The Rabunites (rabuntu.org) invite members and guests to their Tuesday night meeting at Currahee Brewing Co in downtown Clayton. GAWRD trout biologist James Miles will update that gang on the agency’s wild trout management efforts. Social at 630, program at 7.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CJbCd5p6P/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Feb 18:

Wes’ “Unicoi Undercurrents” continues next week. NOTE: the upcoming session is on WEDNESDAY night instead of Tuesday.  

Next up is a real trout Guru: George Daniel! His long resume, from the US National Fly Fishing Team to Penn State University instructor, speaks for itself. 

about — George Daniel's Livin On The Fly

All GA trouters definitely should not miss this session if they want to enhance their own trouting success.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ApcLaJ41L/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Feb 20:

There’s a free movie at north Georgia University next Friday night, courtesy of Freshwaters Illustrated.

https://www.instagram.com/freshwatersillustrated?igsh=cnZsMTNrMDBhYmZt

Grab your online tix here and join some of us at 5PM to chat, then watch Hidden Rivers” at 6pm.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hidden-rivers-showing-at-ung-tickets-1816039084789

The video teasers from Freshwaters Illustrated are always awesome!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRlAprtCvRI/?igsh=Ymk2czk5cHY3eXB2

That’s the latest news from our UO gang. Get out there soon to cash in on these warm days. And come see us in Sautee. We’ll tell you as soon as we open those new UO doors!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUq89tskdJy/?igsh=NnRhemRjZmE4eHll

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.