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:
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.
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