Old Yellar - Eagle Claw Performs Like A Champ

Unicoi Outfitters began stocking the old traditional Eagle Claw fiberglass fly rods earlier this year with the idea that it would give anglers an inexpensive way to get into the retro glass rod movement without dropping a paycheck on a new rod.  Little did we anticipate the popularity these classics would find among folks who just love fishing the soft, slow action.  Now, along comes a competition guy who's discovered the value of the Eagle Claw action when battling big fish.  We received this report from Landon Williams: 

Enjoy the pics of putting a Eagle Claw Featherlight 7 ft 5 wt to the test at Noontootla Creek Farms for big rainbows Friday and Sunday. I was doing a 3 day fly fishing competition and NCF was a venue. Many folks in the competition were breaking bigger fish off  in snags, jumps etc. The limberness of the yellow rod was perfect for protecting tippet when those crazy fish surged but had enough backbone to turn them when I needed too. I didn't break a fish off and went 4/5 for fish over 20 inches while there and the one lost was due to barbless hooks. 

Enjoy the intense Bend in the Rod shots/ and the pictures of mentioned fish!

I did very well! Won both NCF sessions and got 8th overall.


Landon

A Beautiful Golden "Brown" Day at NCF

I was really looking forward to this fishing trip.

I had not fished Noontootla Creek Farms for quite a while and it is definitely one of my favorite streams to fish. I met Larnx Allebrink at the shop in Blue Ridge and we were in the water after a short drive. Larnx now lives in Tampa, but was born and raised in Sweden.

After just a short time in the water, Larnx hooked and landed a nice red-sided rainbow--what a gorgeous fish--I could tell it was going to be a special day. In between hooking fish, we talked about fishing in Sweden--which was really interesting to me. I guess fishing in it's own way is an international language to all those who enjoy it, although Larnx did ask me to repeat myself a couple of times--that North Ga. "redneck" accent I guess.

We had a great time. We hooked several large fish that got off, but Larnx was never discouraged. I think we both knew that it was just a matter of time. He hooked and landed this beautiful brown on a rl stonefly--what else. He told me that it was larger and maybe even more stunning than any brown he had caught in Sweden.

Thanks, Larnx, for a great day and thanks for fishing with Unicoi.

I believe there's no better place than North Ga in the fall, especially if you're knee deep in a trout stream.

Thanks,

Ron

Great Time of the Year

Thanks Jimmy for the blog, I really enjoy what I do. And I probably am already paying Unicoi for guiding if you count all the "stuff" I have purchased at the shops.

As a guide or fisherman, I just don't think you can beat spring and especially the month of April for the best fishing of all the year. The water temp is just right, the rivers and streams have plenty of water, and the fish are aggressive and crazy--you can actually catch them on a fly larger than a size #20 midge.

I fished with Bo & Wendy Perry from Macon on Friday at NCF and had a great time. Neither had ever caught a trout on a fly rod--but that quickly changed when we started fishing. Bo hooked a nice fish on his 1st cast and landed several fish before we left the 1st hole. Wendy worked on her casting and presentation and before long she was hooking fish also.

She was very happy when she finally landed this nice rainbow, as you can see from the big smile on her face. We landed several fish and hooked many more. The fish were really acrobatic, just making jump after jump after jump.

I couldn't ask for a day to be much better--we had hook-ups on the very 1st cast and the last cast 0f the day--with many in between.

Thanks to Wendy & Bo for allowing me to fish with them--I believe they enjoyed it almost as much as me.

So leave work early, or do whatever necessary to get on the water, because this is a great time of the year to fish.

Thanks,

Ron

Oh yea, almost forgot--Pat's rubber leg stonefly!!

Noontootla Creek Farm is now Open!

After a long scorching summer, NCF is finally open to anglers again! Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take our Southeastern Simms Rep. Dave Chouinard over to sample some fishing on one of the South's best freestones. The trout were feeling good in the cooler water even though it was very low due to the drought. Dave caught this beautiful Brown trout on a hopper dropper combo along with several more nice fish coming to net. Luckily, we were not eaten by the black bear that left this track in the mud and compared to my fly reel he is a pretty big boy. Judging by the track, he's probably a 400 plus pounder. Our other private waters will be opening soon so grease up that elbow and come and get 'em!

A GREAT TIME

This week, I fished with Pastor Ray from Ohio and Mike from South Carolina. We had a great time, and the fishing at NCF was pretty good too. It's a joy to fish with folks that enjoy this stuff as much as I do--I believe they could have outlasted me on the water--well, maybe not.

We landed several nice fish, lost some good ones, and solved a lot of the world's problems. Hope to see them again before long. Good company just seems to make the fishing even better.

Thanks to both of them,

Ron

Nice Noontootla Creek Farms Brown Trout!

Bill Bentz with NCF Brown

Becky Strain reports on a recent guide trip she had at the farm:

"Bill Bentz of Jacksonville, FL, fishing with his father-in-law Bob Orton of Mineral Bluff, topped off a morning of excellent fishing at Noontootla Creek Farms on Saturday, June 19th, with this beautiful brown.  Fishing terrestrials early in the morning Bill and Bob both landed several rainbows in the 17 to 20 inch range, both had a couple of 'early releases', and Bill caught this brown nymphing later in the morning.  I would like to give Bill credit for staying with a pool that we both knew held fish.  He was definitely rewarded for his patience as this brown held deep at first and then decided to move downstream at a screaming pace.  Three pools later we managed to get him to net.  Bill  ended the morning casting very small flies to rising fish and managed to land another nice rainbow.  Thanks Bill and Bob for a great morning of fishing."

IT'S HOPPER TIME!

John and Lee McGarity joined me for a day of fly fishing on Noontootla Creek Farms today. As we made our way into the first pool of the day, John spotted a fish rising. We watched closely to try to see what she might be eating and the only bugs we saw were little yellow sallies. John pulled out a stimulator and made his way below the fish and a few drifts later the trout rose crunched the fly and after a brief tussle spit the fly and was gone. Lee was tossing a nymph rig to start with and got a couple of strikes but no hook-ups. Then a few minutes later someone flipped the switch and they caught fish or hooked up in pretty much each piece of holding water for the rest of the morning. Lee scored big time with a 23inch pig that took us downstream on a scalding run that would have gotten Norman McClean's attention. A big olive bugger was on the breakfast menu and the fish loved it. After lunch with the increasing temperature and the number of hoppers bouncing around in the grass, we shed the waders and strapped on a couple of terrestrials with a nymph dropper. We were not dissapointed. Lee and John were right at home tossing big dries and made some incredible casts resulting in some beautiful bows' coming to net including this 22 incher which was the last cast of the day. It's Hopper Time on the farm! Come and get em'!

Sporting Clays Fund Raiser at NCF

CLAYS FOR KIDS

to benefit Shriner's Hospitals for Children 

Sporting Clay Tournament

 Alkuwa Shrine Unit, Yaarab Shrine Temple

 

June 19, 2010 - Registration 9 AM  Shotgun Start 10 AM

 

Noontootla Creek Farms 3668 Newport Rd Blue Ridge, GA

706-838-0585

Lewis Class Scoring A & B Classes

 

$55.00 Per shooter - LUNCH INCLUDED

 

Make Checks payable to Alkuwa Shrine Unit

For more info: 706-633-9017 

The Evolution of A Work of Art

Many of you have probably seen some of Alan Folger's artwork displayed in our Blue Ridge shop. There's a piece right behind the checkout counter of a beautiful rainbow I caught. Recently, I commissioned Alan to create his image of this huge Noontootla Creek Farm brown trout that was caught by Jake Darling. To me, this brown was the epitome of the fishing experience at The Farm and he's definitely at the top of the food chain. To get an idea of the process Alan goes through to create his artwork, go to Alan's blog to see his progress as old brownie begins to take on form. You'll probably also enjoy reading Alan's blog posts as he's a very entertaining writer.

For those of you who would like to have a unique memory of that special fish you caught, all Alan needs is a photograph and he can preserve that moment in your life for eternity.

Giving Thanks

Good food, spending time with family and friends, and fantastic fishing - what a great Thanksgiving week.



I really enjoy fishing with kids, and I had several opportunities to do that during Thanksgiving. Jay Corte from Alabama had fished with me back in the summer on the Toccoa tailwaters and caught several fish. He wanted to fish NCF for larger fish and you can see from the pictures above, he caught those too. His Dad was along to take pictures and he did a lot of that because Jay caught a lot of nice fish.



The pictures above left are Rick McKibben and his sons, Jay and Ross. Neither of the boys had ever been fly fishing for trout. They caught on fast and were hooking and landing big rainbows in a short time at Frog Hollow. Sorry Dad, but I believe the boys caught the biggest fish. What a great family to spend time with on the river .

The picture to the right is Robert Schultz on his first fly fishing trip - pretty good for a beginner, huh? We fished at NCF and I think he landed 5 nice fish before he lost one. Well, he said his nickname was "lucky" - in fishing, that counts a lot. Robert really got into the fishing and I believe he enjoyed it almost as much as I did. I think he may be "hooked" for life.

And these last 2 fish were hooked on Thomas and Thomas rods. No, not the brand name, but on rods belonging to Thomas (me) and Thomas (my son Kevin). This is the other "kid" I enjoy taking fishing - we've been doing it for a long time. Spending an afternoon together fishing River North was really something

Thanks to Jay Corte and his Dad for fishing with me again, to Rick and his sons Jay and Ross,for sharing this special family time with me, to Robert for his enthusiasm, and to my son Kevin for spending time fishing with his "old man". And thanks to the folks at Unicoi and to Eddie for allowing memories like this to happen.

Thanks,

Ron

The Next Generation

In a world filled with computers, video games and tv sometimes its hard to drag kids outside and get them interested in fishing or anything else for that matter. Here is an exception for you. Riley is 11 years old, and obsessed with fishing. I could tell months ago when he first came into the shop, he would quietly walk back and forth looking at everything, you could see the gears spinning. He absorbs everything and has picked up fly fishing as fast as anyone that I have ever seen, and I mean anyone. After a couple of trips on the Toccoa his last visit he was well on his way to figuring this mess out. He and his family were up from Florida for Thanksgiving, and was antsy to fish but could not because of the generation on the Toccoa. That led us to one thing, THE FARM. Anyone that has fished the Farm knows that sometimes those fish will send even the most experienced anglers to the house with a "One that got away story". I told you that this kid could fish, so I will just let the pictures prove it. Don't mistake, he made the casts, he set the hook, he played the fish and got them to the net.

What a Day!

Blatantly stolen from our friend Alan Folger over at 52 Trout:

Chad with beautiful Noontootla Creek Rainbow

When I began sculpting trout a few years ago I was in dire need of reference material. At that time I hadn't collected a lot of photo references so I was taking advantage of every available opportunity. I was bumming old issues of Fly Fisherman and other journals from my buddies and I was watching the best of the fly fishing shows on TV. Any opportunity to get more familiar with my subject matter was taken. One Saturday morning I happened upon something called Fly Fishing Masters on cable. It was a national competition to select the finest fly fisherman in the land. The weekly episodes and the qualification trials were coming to an end and they were fishing that day at a place called Noontootla Creek in the mountains of north Georgia. Kevin Howell (who an hour later had won the competition)of Davidson River Outfitters was in the finals, so the program got my immediate attention.

Sure, the fishing was great...but the scenery, the creek...was just as inviting. I promised myself on that Saturday morning that I would someday fish Noontootla Creek.

Fast forward to 2 years ago. I was working my booth at the FFF Southeastern Conclave at Callaway Gardens and happened to meet Jimmy Harris, the proprietor of Unicoi Outfitters. From researching Noontootla Creek I was aware that Jimmy was one of the select few that had access to this prime water, so a plan began to take shape.

At about the same time I was getting started doing colored pencil commissions of catch and release trout and I thought that Jimmy, with his reputation and his access to such great private water, might be able to help me jump start the program. So I reviewed his website once again, picked out an image and got to work drawing. A week later I emailed the artwork to David Hulsey, who with his wife Becky, runs Jimmy's store in Blue Ridge, GA. The plan was to create an ad that included the artwork and the photo that it was based on, which would then be displayed in the store. Well David loved it...but. But he couldn't use it. Turns out the fisherman in the photo, unbeknownst to me, was one of their guides...and that particular guide had just been fired! Back to the drawing board.

This time I picked another photo. A photo of a guy that I didn't figure would be fired anytime soon. I picked a photo of Jimmy...and a beautiful rainbow trout that he had caught on Noontootla Creek. Well, Jimmy loved the final result and I offered him the original artwork...for a price...a day on Noontootla Creek. Jimmy agreed, but under one condition...that he wouldn't "guide." He wanted to fish, and who could blame him?

So this past Sunday, along with my son-in-law Chad, Jimmy and I headed out of Blue Ridge for the short drive to the creek. It was everything I remembered from that Saturday morning TV show. The water was in perfect condition and with the fall foliage at it's peak, we had the place entirely to ourselves. I, as usual, headed downstream while Jimmy and Chad headed up.

Olive Wooly Buggars, along with a couple of split shot(apparantly these big native rainbows don't care for coneheads), were supposed to be the thing, so that's what we started with. I spent the next two hours drifting them down deep through the runs with no luck at all. I varied the number of shot...tried droppers of all sorts...fished them upstream and down...even put on a strike indicator...all to no avail. Major frustration. Here I was on one of the premier trout streams in the southeast, and I hadn't had a bite! I even (horrors!)tried the old San Juan Worm. A little later, in desperation, as I was about to tie on an egg pattern that a guide on Big Cedar had forced upon me, I came to my senses. "STOP Alan! You don't have to do this! Dance with the one who brung you!"

Yep, I tied on a black and yellow marabou...with not one bit of weight. I was either going to fish the way I wanted to and hopefully land a fish or two...or I was going home skunked again. It didn't take long. Within just a few casts I had caught one of the beautiful, but small, par marked rainbows that grew up there. And not long after that, when fishing a very narrow and fast run I hooked into a lunker.

When we were gearing up back at the truck, Jimmy had made the comment that my old 1950's vintage Medalist made some sweet music when a fish took off. Well, had he been there at the time of this rainbows first, second and third runs...he would have heard a symphony. Jimmy had warned me about the strength of these fish, and it was no exaggeration. My old Fenwick had never had such a workout. Two times, as I stumbled my way downstream, I was able to get the fish out of the faster current and near to shore, and two times she caught her breath and took off again. Finally, after what must have been fifteen minutes, I got her about half way into the net and to the shore. I was praising the Lord...and shaking like a leaf. That fish, without a doubt, was the finest rainbow I have ever caught. I managed to get the hook out and get her fully revived, but I just didn't have the heart to keep her longer while I would have fumbled to get out my camera and record the moment. I layed my rod alongside for an estimation of her length (24 inches) and eased her back into the current.

Meanwhile, Chad and Jimmy were having some fun of their own. Chad couldn't get Jimmy to fish though. That man is such a teacher...such a guide...that even though he was carrying a rod, he rarely used it. Rather, he was teaching the finer points of nymphing to Chad (a situation that I'm not at all pleased about, as Chad will now be out fishing me with even greater regularity!) and netting his fish, including the fine rainbow that I've pictured above. From what I heard, Chad's battle was just as epic as mine.

What a day it was!
Thank you Jimmy!

Tie 1 On

Just wanted to say a word of thanks to everyone that showed up for our tying session last week--especially the 1st timers Kenny and young Jackson--hope you enjoyed it and we look forward to seeing you again next month. Thanks to all the others that were there--our flies are looking much better and we're still having fun tying them. Remember, we meet the 1st Tuesday of each month at Unicoi Fly Shop in Helen at 6:30 PM. If you just want to learn to tie flies, or learn to tie better flies, or teach us to tie better flies, you are invited and everyone is welcome. Bring a vise and equipment if you have them, if not, we have plenty.


Oh yeah, did I say that our flies catch fish? Just ask Jake!



Jake Darling with a beautiful fall-colored brown trout from Noontootla Creek Farms.

No Title Neccesary

They say a picture speaks a thousands words. So I will simply let Noontootla Creek Farms speak for it self.

Noontootla Creek Farms was alive with sounds of laughter!

If you Google the phrase “infectious laughter”, the most common definition is: One who’s laugh is so contagious that anyone around is overwhelmed with the uncontrollable urge to laugh without cause. Right beside that definition is a photo of this guy.

I had the pleasure of fishing with Rick and Margarita from Miami, who were spending a few days in the mountains of NE Georgia and decided they wanted to give fly-fishing a try. I thought I had met some pretty serious happy-go-lucky people over the course of my life, but then I met Rick.

The slightest thing would set him off with the most jovial laughter I have heard in a long time. I found myself drumming up every joke I could think of just to hear him laugh out loud. The first fish he caught he laughed so hard in excitement that I thought I was never going to land it because I was laughing so hard. I thought he was going to laugh himself into cardiac arrest when he set the hook on a warpaint shiner and launched that poor fish about 20 feet in the air. What a day, this one will be remembered for a long time. We caught several fish today, but that was secondary to the company I had.

Gone Fishin'-4-Days

The last two weeks I got the chance to spend four days with Bill Crowell, his son Pierce, and his friend Jeff. We spent one day floating the river and the other three at Noontootla Creek Farms - (It's hard to pass up Size #8 and #10 dry fly action). Fish at the farm are still looking up, some of them explode on a dry just out of nowhere, and others, it's like they are in slow motion. The ones that are so slow are the worst, as you anxiously sit and watch that big dry drift its way downstream, sometimes you can actually see those big fish start their move up from the depths. Usually about the time you think "there should be a fish right there" you will see that move, then is when the patience comes in. You have to sit, almost as if time is standing still, and wait as it approaches. Eventually, if you wait long enough, you will see that head break the surface, and your fly disappear and after what seems like a eternity, then you set the hook.

The guys caught fish on top and on the bottom, but as exciting as the dry fly takes are, the craziest thing happened nymph fishing. Mr. Crowell made a good cast to the top of a run with a big dry and had a good size fish roll at it, but no take. When all else fails get out the nymph rig, he made a cast or two back to the spot with no take. I think it was the third cast, after a short drift, the indicator twitched and he set, right away we knew it was not what we were looking for. As Mr. Crowell stripped it in, we saw that it was maybe a 6" horny head, not what had rolled at the dry. About the time the line got close enough for me to grab, things turned for the better. Suddenly, a sizeable rainbow shot up out of the hole, and after about three or four swipes (about three or four feet in front of me), it inhaled the catch. I could see just the tail of the horny head sticking out of its mouth as it dissapeared off into the hole. For about 30 - 45 seconds Mr. Crowell fought the fish all around the pool just as if it had taken the fly. When it started to calm down, and got close enough for me to see again, it still had the tail hanging out of its mouth. In pretty much the same spot as the ambush happened, the fish turned, opened its mouth and out came the horny head with the fly still hooked and the rainbow dissapeared into the hole. Not too often that you have to worry about something stealing your catch on a trout stream, but it's a blast to fish for trout that are big enough to eat like that. To sum it up, I enjoyed four days on the water, so thanks guys.

Two fun days in Blue Ridge!

This past week, I had the pleasure of fishing with Mark from France. He is an outstanding fly fisherman at the young age of 13. On the first day, we floated the Toccoa. Mark brought several fish to the boat by casting Light Cahill dries with spot on presentations.

The second day, we fished Noontootla Creek Farm tossing big hoppers to big rainbows. Awesome action on terrestrials since July. Mark made some of the most impressive casts I've seen out of someone so young.

If you're interested in some hopper crunching action give us a call!

Hot Fun In The Summertime!

This past Wednesday David Hulsey and I took Jake Moran to Noontootla Creek Farm to give him an idea of the variety of great outdoor activities available there. Jake is the Property Manager with Achasta Community near Dahlongega which has about two miles of the Chestatee River flowing right through the middle of it. Unicoi Outfitters is working with Achasta to develop a series of outdoor adventure type activities for their residents and guests that will include flyfishing classes, guided fishing trips, sporting clays and quail hunts.


The rains we've had this summer have been a true blessing for trout fishing in north Georgia and, while stream levels are low compared with fall, winter and spring flows, the early morning water temperatures are holding steady in the low to mid 60's. The exciting aspect of fishing in August is the opportunity to catch rising fish on big hopper patterns. There's not a much more exciting visual fishing experience than watching a huge rainbow swirl on a hopper, particularly when most of the rivers at this time of year are only fishing well with size 20 and 22 midges. Man, you can SEE a hopper out there! As you can see from the photos, Jake had a good morning at The Farm.

We had a fantastic lunch at nearby VanZandt's Store. If you've fished the Toccoa River in the Dial community area, you're familiar with VanZandt's. It's actually been in business since 1834, long before the area was a playground for trout anglers, canoeists, hikers and bicycle riders. Manager, Greg Johnson has totally renovated the interior of the old store and offers up some rib-sticking meals with excellent chicken salad, stuffed baked potatoes and homemade pies. Take it from an expert, his chocolate pie will make your eyes light up and your tummy say howdy! When the Delayed Harvest season kicks off on November 1st, treat yourself to lunch at VanZandt's Store. Greg is also an accomplished fly fisherman and even has a few leaders, tippet spools and flies in stock just in case you find yourself on-stream without them.

Emerging Dragonfly at NCF

I wanted to share this picture David took of an emerging dragonfly at Noontootla Creek Farm.

Bug life is great at NCF. You will even find the occasional water penny there.

Enjoy!

Connecticut Fishermen Come South!

Hello all,

Had a wonderful 2 days of fishing with a father/son combo team Ben and Neil from Connecticut on Monday and Tuesday. Monday we floated the Toccoa River putting in at the base of the dam and floating downstream a few miles to one of our take-out points. The fishing was GREAT to say the least. Fished a half-day trip and easily brought 40+ fish to the boat by the time the water generation caught us around 2:00pm. The bigger fish were not real cooperative, but we did manage a few fish in the 14-16" range. Monday was the 5th time I've floated the Toccoa in the last 5 weeks and I have had some stellar trips. You've got to work a little harder, but considering it is August and historically the fishing slows down, I've been trucking right along. Plus I have a couple of tricks in my Ju-Ju bag that have been helping!

Tuesday Neil decided that 5:00am was a little early in the morning for a 14 year old still on summer vacation to be out and about, so Ben and I headed out to get on the water at Noontootla Creek Farms at first light for a morning half day fishing trip. Even at 6:00am, you could hear big fish busting bugs on the surface. Within a few casts Ben was fighting his first 16" trout. We steadily caught fish all morning including one 28-30" Rainbow that rolled on Ben's fly for what seemed like an eternity before he finally sucked it down! "These fish are just like the steelheads I fish for back home", Ben kept repeating after each vicious hook-up and reel-spinning fight. Fortunately, the increased rain this summer has allowed the Noontootla to continue fishing well late into this summer. Had a great two days. Pictures to follow as soon as Ben can send them to me.

J Byrd