Fly Fishing Georgia - a No Nonsense Guidebook

Available at both Unicoi Outfitters locations.

Click here to see some sample pages from the book.

The "Second Season" is About to Start

With the cooler weather and rain we've got in the forecast, it's time for the fall trout season to start up here in the South.  Here's a little video to get your blood pumpin'!  Thanks to David Cannon for the great vid!

Fly Fishing for River Stripers with Buck Ernst

I thought I'd share a little multimedia presentation (HD video and still photos) with y'all from a recent trip with our buddy Buck Ernst. We were searching for river stripers in late April and we managed several along with some white bass and largemouth... all on the fly. What river were you fishing? you ask? Well, I don't believe I said. I hope you enjoy the video!

David Cannon's "Fly Fishing Georgia" Brings Home Award

We've known it was a great book since Jimmy had a chance to review a pre-release copy while writing the foreword, but now it's official! David Cannon's first book "Fly Fishing Georgia, A No Nonsense Guide to Top Waters" was awarded First Place in the Excellence in Craft Competition by the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association this past weekend. As we've mentioned here before, the book is a detailed guide to cold-, warm-, and salt-water flyfishing all over the state and includes photography by David and Stephanie Cannon and Chad McClure, along with illustrations by Tom Landreth, Bucky Bowles, Paul Puckett, and Patsy Lewis Gentry. In our opinion it's the best Georgia guidebook since Jimmy Jacobs' "Trout Fishing in North Georgia". We carry the book in both stores, and if you haven't purchased a copy, highly recommend you do so!

Congratulations David!

THE River

I was able to spend a couple of days on THE River - last Monday with the one-two punch of Julian Byrd and Duane Stalnaker (Did anyone else know that Duane was/is a rock star?? By the way, he's also from some strange part of Virginia I've never heard of... somewhere in the western part of the state, I believe??) and this past Sunday with Jeff Durniak - and it was great. Was the fishing lights-out? Not exactly. Was it still awesome to be out there? Absolutely. Here are some shots from the two trips:

Fly Fishing in Georgia - Book Signing with David Cannon

Y'all remember the other day we posted about David Cannon's new book on Fly Fishing Georgia?  Well, we're really happy that Dave will be in our Helen shop this Saturday, November 14th from 10 to 4 autographing books.  Y'all come on out and get your book signed - we'll have plenty on hand if you haven't purchased yours yet...and don't forget, they make great Christmas presents!  (I can't believe I said that before Thanksgiving!)

Fly Fishing in Georgia - A No Nonsense Guide to Top Waters

It's here!

As many of you know, our friend David Cannon, who occasionally posts here at the Liars Club Blog, has written a guidebook for fly fishing in Georgia.  It is part of the No Nonsense Guide series that are just excellent books - well-written and photographed and nicely printed.  The great news is that after much anticipation, the book has arrived!  We have it stock in Helen today, and will have some in Blue Ridge tomorrow - hey, even Amazon doesn't have it yet!

David's book is the first and only guide to cover Georgia's top fly-fishing waters. It details cold water streams, warm water rivers and impoundments, and coastal saltwater fishing. You'll gain you a quick, clear understanding of the essential information you'll need to fly fish Georgia's best waters. Outstandingly clear maps provide access points to waters. Find everything you need to know to fish a particular water from hatch charts to flies to essential gear. Full color photos of fishing destinations and flies to use. A great book for the beginner or expert.  The book features photography by Chad McClure and David and Stephanie Cannon; illustrations by Tom Landreth, Bucky Bowles, Paul Puckett, and Patsy Lewis Gentry; and a foreword by our own Jimmy Harris.

We're really happy about how nicely this book turned out, and know that you will be too.

Dukes Creek Photo On T-Shirt

I just found out that the photo I shot on Dukes Creek last year that ended up being the cover shot for issue #2 of the online journal of fly fishing photography and video, Catch Magazine, is now on a t-shirt! Pretty cool! In fact, many of you know the angler pictured in the spotlight of this photo.


<Cover of Catch Magazine Issue #2 (November, 2008)>

Anyhow, they haven't yet determined what color the t-shirt is going to be, but I've lobbied for a darker color so that we can wear 'em fishing on Dukes Creek. I'll keep y'all updated.

Here's the link to the t-shirt's page in their online store: LINK


<Original shot>

David Cannon
CannonOutdoors.com

Tuck DH Float with Julian Byrd

Julian Byrd and I floated the Tuck DH on Friday and it was a challenging day. They had just stocked about 10 days prior, so we figured it would be absolutely silly fishing. However, even with an angler/guide as skilled as ol' J-Byrd, it was still one heck of a challenge. We were trying to figure out what was going on for a while when Julian stuck his hand in the water and said, "Wow, this water feels warm". Sure enough, it felt warmer than the 60-degree air temperature we had that day. I had read of several other reports from people on NGTO saying that they had only caught a couple of fish or had caught nothing but the proverbial skunk, but you never know if the person posting is just a lousy fisherman! Of course, Friday night the temps sank to about 34 degrees and the reports from Saturday were the usual - 30 fish, 50 fish, etc. Odds are that cold weather dropped the water temps significantly and those same fish started eating every fly they came across.

If you get a chance, take a float on the Tuck with Julian or Butch. The fall weather is perfect right now, there's water everywhere, these guys know the river well and can get you on these nice and plentiful fish. Here are a few shots from the day:

















David Cannon
CannonOutdoors.com

Toccoa River Fishing with Julian Byrd

I'm a little late on posting this, but I was able to float with Julian Byrd and one of his brothers a few weeks ago and we had a great time. We saw some absolutely gigantic browns and rainbows from the high vantage point of the drift boat and even spotted one great big smallmouth in a clear, deep pool. Too bad that guy wouldn't hit a woolly bugger!

Anyhow, we caught some very nice fish, as well. But the best thing is that it really doesn't seem to matter what time of year you fish the Toccoa tailwater - any day can turn out to be a banner day and there's seldom a bad day of catching here.

Here are a few photos (if you want to see the rest of the photos from this gallery, go to www.CannonOutdoors.com, click on 'Clients' in the menu bar and enter the password 'julianbyrd'):





David Cannon
CannonOutdoors.com

Tuckasegee River DH Opens October 1st

Stay tuned for next week.

Outdoor writer, photographer and recent book author, David Cannon http://cannonoutdoors.com/ and I hitch up the Clacka Craft and head up to the Tuckasegee DH to see whats going on. Should be a good time as the two of us look for eager fish willing to pose for a few pictures and eat a few fake bugs as we open the 2009 North Carolina Delayed Harvest season.

J Byrd

The Curse of The Red and The Cajun Cure

Some of you may have heard of the anguish I've gone through over the past three years regarding redfish. I've fished Steinhatchee, Destin, and Pensacola in Florida for them, Mobile Bay in Alabama for them and four different days along the Georgia coast for them... and still have never caught one! In fact, I've never even had a bite! I went to Belize last year and landed well into the double-digits of bonefish my first day there, but still couldn't catch a redfish in any of these places to save my life.

It got to the point where I started having a string of nightmares about reds. One involved me spotting a tailing fish in a drainage ditch alongside I-285 in Atlanta, pulling over grab the fly rod out of the back of my truck so that I could cast to it and finding nothing but the butt sections of fly rods in my rod bag.

The next nightmare had my brother-in-law and I driving around the Florida pan-handle in a white work van. He was driving and I was, where else, on top of the van like Teen Wolf ready to cast as there were tailing reds everywhere! In golf course ponds, canals that ran under the streets and even those pink stucco fountains in the middle of shopping outlet centers... all of them held reds. But, each time I would get ready to shoot my line, my brother-in-law would peel out like B.A. Barracus from the A-Team, laughing as we sped away.

The last nightmare was the most disturbing. I was fishing with Scott Owens - a very good guide on the Georgia coast - and he put me on this HUGE red. It must've been 40 inches. I somehow made the perfect cast, it's tail turned on it and tipped up and I felt a tug. I tugged back and the fight was on! After several minutes of the most real dream I've ever had - complete with screaming drag sounds of fly line cutting through the water - the fish was landed. At this point, I realized that I was dreaming. But, it didn't even matter to me. If I couldn't land a fish in real life - or in any of my dreams up to that point - then this one would do just fine. In a show of victory, I hoisted the giant red over my held and let out a big "WHHAAA-WHOOOOO!" But, as I brought the fish back down to eye-level, I realized that something wasn't right. A small zipper handle dangled just behind the fish's gill plate and curiousity got the best of me. I should've just woken up right then - heck, I knew I was dreaming, so I could've stopped all this madness - but I had to see what was going on. I set the fish down on the deck of the boat and started pulling the zipper back towards the tail. To my horror, this was no redfish. It was a striped bass wearing a redfish costume!

Do I need psychological help? Probably.

But instead, I decided to capitalize on a planned trip to New Orleans over the 4th of July this year with my wife and a few friends. As anyone who fishes salt knows, the Louisiana coastal area is the best in the world for redfishing. So I called up the best guide in the area, Gary Taylor (GoForItCharters.com), and booked a half-day with him. To draw a parallel, booking a trip with Gary Taylor for redfishing is like calling on Chef Paul Prudhomme to help you cook a redfish or artist Mark Susinno to help you draw a redfish. It simply doesn't get any better.

He told me it was going to be really hot and that we may not land anything. I told him that I expected nothing less as I was cursed, but that I had to keep trying. I told him about my nightmares and, as he laughed, said, "Alright, we've got to get you on a redfish!"

So on the morning of Saturday, July 4th, I met Gary at his boat with heavy clouds overhead and a stiff wind blowing - not exactly prime conditions for redfishing. "That's about right," I thought.

I strung up my rod, hopped in the boat and we were off. Now let me tell you, if we didn't catch a fish all day, I still would've had a great time. Gary is about 60 years old now, but was formerly a professional dirt-bike racer. This comes through as he hastily navigates his 17-foot Hell's Bay through the marshes he's been fishing for decades. The boat ride itself was just as fun as the fishing!

Gary almost immediately got me on fish and on one of my first casts - a ROLL CAST TO A RED ABOUT 20 FEET FROM THE BOAT - a fish ate and the fight was on. A few minutes later and the red was landed and the curse was dead!

Over the course of the next couple of hours, I landed several more reds up to 7.5 pounds, a black drum and a gar.

What a fun trip - and all of this during a time of year that is far from prime for this area. Gary said that the winter was the best time to be there and that you could catch about as many reds as you could ever want to catch on a day that time of year. Funny - the day seemed prime to me. And so far, no more red nightmares.

David Cannon
CannonOutdoors.com

A Flatlander's Dark:30

After almost a year of being away from my favorite river - the Chattooga - an opportunity arose to head there this past Friday afternoon. The drive north consisted of a little conversation, a lot of bluegrass pickin' music and a rush of memories of past trips to this special place. Visions of rising fish from the first ever "hatch" I experienced seemed as fresh as the new spring growth seen everywhere right now, and there was much anticipation of experiencing one again on this day.

As has been the case for me for the last year or so now, I have a hard time deciding whether to fish or to shoot photos. I wish I would just grow another set of arms and be able to perform both, but I don't see that happening without coming in contact with some sort of radioactive material (maybe a trip to the Savannah River Site is in order?). So, after arriving at the river around 3:00 in the afternoon, Guru started, well, fishing, while I shot a few hundred photos of my favorite place. Observing caddis and mayflies sporadically coming off the water and flying to a nearby hemlock, watching Jimmy catch multiple rainbows and brook trout by skittering caddis patterns downstream, and just getting to see normal water levels had me immediately satisfied before I even strung up the five-weight.

Of course, it finally got to me and the fly line was slid through the stripping guides and then the snakes and finally out of the tippy-top. Some 5X tippet was added to the leader and a parachute Adams was carefully tied with a securely-cinched knot. Cast after cast was made for nearly two hours without a single fish rising. But still, I remained satisfied. For the first time ever I was perfectly fine not catching fish. What's happening to me? Am I growing personally? (I'm reminded of an episode of Seinfeld where George says, "Personal growth of any kind really annoys me.")

Then, just when I had come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to catch a fish this evening, something changed. Tan caddisflies started flying upriver as if they had been summoned to some sort of important gathering of the caddis. A few mayflies - including some sort of huge light cahill/Green Drake/bald eagle hybrid - started flying around (they were so big, one flew close to my head and I swear the wind coming from its wing-flap blew my hair a little). And, just like that, it was on.

The waning light urged me to switch to a big, visible Yellow Humpy dry fly and drop the parachute Adams off of it. Nothing like fishing two dries. In one long run, I landed six rainbows, one of which went completely air born to grab the Adams before it even landed on the water!

After exhausting that run, a short hike up to a long, glassy stretch where I have caught a few decent browns in the past had me itching to "churn butter" and hook one or two more. Guru and I watched as several brown trout consistently rose, including one who had been doing his squats and bicep curls for a while. After a few dozen casts to "big boy," he finally rose to the Adams. "OOOHHHH YESSS!!" I screamed.

Now, when you hook a fish that runs, like all trout do, you're usually okay as long as they don't run directly AT you. This creates slack and that's not good.

Well, big boy did exactly that.

Luckily, I stuck him good and felt confident that the hook wasn't going anywhere. And, that extra time cinching down my knots had me almost certain that this fish would take up temporary residence inside of my landing net. And, when he neared my feet, I really caught a glimpse of how large this fish was (somewhere between 18 and 20 inches with some good shoulders on him).

There was one variable in this equation, however, that would possibly jeopardize the whole operation - a slight rust on the bend of my hook. The current state of the economy and its subsequent effect on people who are trying to write for a living, combined with the fact that I hadn't trout fished in a while (the bass are on the bed... REPEAT... the bass are on the bed) led to an all-too-neglected fly box.

So, while continuing to YELL "OOOHHHH YESSSS!" over and over, I came up with a new dance move that helps remove slack line - the "Trout-Tackler-Two-Step" is sort of a backward stumble that adds some crazy-fast stripping with the line hand to try to take out the slack. It worked and the fish was on tight again... for about two seconds. In an instant the line was totally slack and my flies were above the water again.

Upon further inspection, the Adams had lost the business end of himself in the battle.

Heartbreaker.

But, an immediate roll-cast to the side resulted in another immediate rise by a smaller brown and he was quickly landed. Another few casts to another rising fish had him on and landed - a NICE 15-inch brown. And before dark, another two browns were landed on that same glassy stretch.

The second half of the hike back to the parking lot was in darkness, save two flashlights from Guru and Dredger (who we met on the hike back) and was just as fun as the fishing. Stories, observations, fish counts, laughs and camaraderie were readily shared on that jaunt through the dark woods as another memory was filed away for the next drive north, whenever that may be.

David Cannon
CannonOutdoors.com