Overview:
Welcome back to low, clear water and high fire danger as our north GA drought continues.
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=02330450&legacy=1
Skinny water and great stream temperatures have enhanced the dry fly action, as April is a prime month for many bug hatches. Stocker fans are enjoying weekly redosings of their favorite streams, while Tailwater anglers are also taking advantage of the clear water. Private water trips have been challenging due to the low flows, but stealth, thin tippets, and smaller flies have still produced well.
Bassin’ is busting loose in both ponds and reservoirs. Stripers are up the rivers for another week or so, and also scattered across the upper end of Lanier. Nightowls are scoring well.
Wanna know more? Then dive deeper, into each UO weekly report, here:
http://blog.angler.management/
Stop in soon for your April bugs and bass lures.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
Sautee: 706-878-3083. Open 8-5 daily. (2454 GA Hwy 17, Sautee-Nacoochee.)
Clarkesville: 706-754-0203. Open 8-5 from Monday thru Saturday.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
(Last week’s list is still the best bet)
Dries:
Tan and gray elk hair caddis, BWO, Parachute Adams, para light cahill, emerger caddis, Drymerger, stimulator, micro chubby.
Nymphs & Wets:
Squirmies, Mops, Lightning bug, soft hackle hares ear and pheasant tail, frenchie, pink tag jig, micro girdle bugs.
Mountain streams: Pheasant tail, killer may, prince nymph, soft hackle partridge.
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, polarchanger, clouser, sparkle yummy.
Headwaters:
Same old story: low and clear and full of hungry but spooky fish. Stealth, soft casts, and a good drift with a small tan caddis or Adams will get you into risers all day long. Trophies will be anything over 8 inches, but they are all pretty and hard-fighting for their size.
Delayed Harvest:
Low, clear water and a large number and variety of hatching bugs are providing great conditions for dry/dropper and double dry rigs. Try dry/droppers during the day and then single or double dries as the sun sets, the bugs buzz the stream surface, and trout rise.
UO guide Sydney: “I enjoyed some dry fly time after work at Smith DH. A size 16 tan elk hair caddis did the trick as the sun fell behind the ridge top and shadows fell across the water.”
UO buddy JS: “Smith Creek: the fish were rising so the dry/dropper combo was working well. I used a March brown dry with a tellico nymph as the dropper. We went late in the afternoon when most of the crowd had left. My grandkids had so much fun during their spring break!”
Dredger and Athens Jay hit the Nan DH last Friday afternoon. Dry/dropper rigs ( Adams, frenchie) worked well on both stockers and some wild bows while the sun was still high at their 3PM start.
As shadows fell, more bugs danced and some fish starting rising.
The duo switched to just dries and had a big time til darkness ran them off at 8PM. A bigger (#14) Adams worked well and was easier to see in fast pockets, while smaller versions of the para Adams fooled more fish in the longer, flatter pools.
Stockers:
Stocker season is at its prime GAWRD has another long weekly list for us today. Get your kids and trouting rookies out there soon. Whether it’s a worm on a spincast rig or a woolly bugger on a fly rod, get them on a few fish. Check out the stocking list here and sign up to get your own copy each Friday afternoon.
https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout
Private Waters:
Streams are low and clear and fish are picky. We had a brief respite after the Easter rains and lucky anglers cashed in for a couple days.
UO guide Como said his Soque clients drifted pink San Juan worms in the stained water early this week and had some great action on rainbows.
UO guide Sydney: “Had a nice midweek Soque trip with some people new to fly fishing. We made it happen with some micro egg and stonefly nymphs as my lead fly and soft hackles as my droppers. “
Tailwaters:
UO buddy Ryan: “The Hooch action is heating up with every week that goes by of fish stocking. I got out with my dad last weekend and caught a few in between guiding him around. I’m excited for the weeks to come and more 20-40+ fish days!
Warm Rivers:
UO owner Jimmy: Shoalie fishing is turning on, but the lack of water means it’s mostly wade fishing until we get more rain. The fun part is that the warm weather and low flows mean that it’s already topwater season.”
UO buddy Ryan: “The warmwater action continues as well. Despite crazily low water with our lack of rain, the fish are going to do what they are driven to do. Right now that entails a migratory run up rivers, which I’ve taken full advantage of along with some of my friends!”
Ponds:
UO buddy Jay: “Pond report:
Paddle board fishing. Bass bite is excellent despite cool, breezy conditions. Black and brown articulated streamers cast to the bank and retrieved slowly.
Piedmont lake flats fishing. Carp are active!”
UO buddy RSquared: “This past week, I was blessed to have a few hours to fish my favorite private lake. I had recently received a beautiful Winston 7wt and was desperately wanting to try it out on some Largemouth Bass. I started the afternoon with a “Popper-Dropper Rig.” I had a yellow Boogle Bug popper as my top fly and a Sinking Cricket with green legs as my dropper. This combination proved to be very effective on both bass & bream. As the sun began to set, I switched to a single black Stealth Bomber. The bass loved this offering & continued to attack it until it became too dark to fish.”
Lakes:
The guide duo of Henry and Joseph had some fun on their own time and with clients. Both bass and stripers are pulling into the shallows during the day and into the shadows around dock lights at night.
Henry said: “most of the birds are gone and fish are now scattered. Our best luck has been fishing game changers and coyotes shallow on intermediate lines along mud banks on the upper end of Lanier, above Browns Bridge. A lot of stripers are still up the rivers, too, for about one more week.”
UO manager/guide Jake : “Lake bass fishing has been really good lately. There are a lot of things going on, but the main focus is to fish shallow. You can target fish in all three stages of the spawn, and we are seeing early herring spawn going on. Have an array of baits to be prepared for any situation, but my top baits would be wacky work, neko rig, underspin, fluke, and a topwater. I’ve got all the hot baits in stock at our Clarkesville store on the Square, so stop in soon.”
Afar:
Dredger made a solo run up to the Smokies on Tuesday. Flies were better after the weekend rain. Water temp was a meager 50F at noon after a couple chilly nights, but the air warmed as he ate his lunch upon arrival. He then started and stayed with a dry/dropper rig all afternoon.
About 4-5 fish ate his frenchie dropper for every one smashing the #14 Adams, but he still managed about 6 fish on top. Most of the day’s catch were rainbows, but 7 were browns.
None exceeded 10 inches on this trip, but numbers compensated for size. His 10 foot Euro rod made high-sticking the pockets easy. He quit earlier than normal to elk-watch and then drive south to his favorite supper spot in Franklin before closing time.
Events:
April 11:
It’s the Hoot on the Hooch in Helen, the annual fundraiser by the GA Foothills TU chapter. C’mon up for good food, good tunes, and y’all fish tales. You ight even hear your name called as a winner of one of the GATU Dream Trip prizes, assuming you’ve bought a few raffle tix.
Go late and stay late for trout, and even later for stripers. Go real early to beat the spring break stocker crowds. Be ready to outhike many of them. Above all, just go, because it’s April. Just leave your matches at home and pass on the campfires right now. Let’s all protect our parched forests and their vital shade for our trout streams.
Stop in a UO shop soon for your Adams, caddis, cahills, frenchies, striper streamers, and bass candy. We’ll set you up for spring success!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
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