It’s “good and getting better” up here in our corner of the mountains. This week’s heavy rain recharged our trout streams, but they’ve already dropped to clear and fishable levels except for a few of the largest watersheds such as the Toccoa. Warmer weather is on its way, which will bump up trout stream temps and enhance the bite. Also, NC redosed its DH streams last week, enhancing your holiday catch rates.
On the lake front, gulls and loons are pointing out the shad schools and the big, fat stripers under them. Burning some gas has been the key to finding Lanier stripers. I did say “finding” and not “catching.” The fish have turned picky and fly rodders are having a harder time with hookups. Still, a pod of busting 10-pound stripers 20 feet from your boat will keep you coming back for more.
The weekend looks good and the first three weekdays look even better, thanks to a nice warm spell. Flex your work week a bit and take a weekday to chase your favorite game fish before another arctic chill arrives.
Catch Wes’ weekly update to his hot fly list and the latest fishing reports from our UO staff and friends here:
http://blog.angler.management/
Stop in either UO shop for your last minute supplies, gifts, and those coveted gift certificates. Sorry for the late report, but thanks for keeping Sydney and me super-busy at the Helen shop til closing today. Good luck finding that warming water and the hot fishing it will bring y’all!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: Micro chubby Chernobyl, orange stimulator, parachute Adams, elk hair caddis, blue wing olive. Griffith’s gnat.
Nymphs & Wets:
DH streams: Rainbow Warrior, twister egg, micro mayfly, gold ribbed hares ear, Girdle Bug, duracell, purple prince nymph.
Mountain streams: Pheasant tails, micro girdle bugs, prince nymphs, Zebra midges.
Streamers:
Olive buggers, shimmer buggers, sparkle minnows, CDC squirrel leech.
(Bass & stripers) Somethin’ else, Clouser minnow, micro changer, jerk changer.
Headwaters:
They’re looking great, thanks to the 4.5 inches of rain at midweek. Flows are good and clarity is excellent.
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/nwis/uv?site_no=02330450
UGA 5Rivers VP “Coop” and a buddy celebrated semester end in grand style yesterday. They hit an iced headwater creek high above Dahlonega and thawed out long enough to share this report: “An odd day on the stream today. John and I made our way to IDBIS Creek and proceeded to sit in the car for 45 minutes until 10 am because it was too cold to fish. We both dredged a tiny pheasant tail and a pats. Found out I have a hole in both legs of my waders now and John dropped his phone in 6 feet of water and had to take a swim. After those events, we decided to leave early. Rough day physically and we each only caught one fish. Mine was your average wild rainbow. HOWEVER… the day was worth it because John caught the biggest wild trout I've ever seen come out of a north ga stream! Check out his trophy creek brown!”
Delayed Harvest Streams:
They’re fishing real well, thanks to improved flows. Warm afternoons have produced better than cooler ones that followed icy nights. Egg/small nymph (pheasant tail variants) combos have done well, as have Euro rigs. Stripping small buggers and leeches, deep, has also worked well. Warning days ahead will fire up these DH fish.
Rabunite Bluejay lit up the Smith DH residents on Monday with his hot bug. He said: “Got the trout slam on Smith Creek today. All caught on a dark egg.”
Fellow Rabunites Rick and Nan also had a fun Thursday on Smith. Nan sez: “Rabunites Rick and Nan enjoyed a perfect North Georgia winter day on a DH stream, with bluebird skies and good water levels thanks to last week’s rains.
Rick landed a beauty of a stocker rainbow (16”) on a pheasant tail nymph fished under an egg. He almost topped that with a colorful, hook-jawed 12 inch male brookie. Split shot was key to getting the nymph down to where the fish were holding in the chilly morning hours.
They encountered Dredger on his therapy walk, who provided valuable pointers on flies and techniques, resulting in multiple hookups.
Nan got a crash course from Dredger in kamikaze streamer fishing — in front of logs, behind logs, over logs, and in between logs, earning some aggressive takes from trout in gnarly water.
Woolly buggers in black, olive and gold were the ticket, tossed downstream in the current and twitched back up with short fast strips through the tangled trees.”
Dredger checked the web on Monday morning and saw some slightly warmer air temps and an afternoon break between storm fronts, so he headed to Nantahala DH. The water was high and a chilly 44F,
but the air warmed into the mid-50’s through the afternoon and the rain held off til 5. (Thanks Fox 5 TV weather app radar forecast!) He had a decent four-hour stint Euronymphing with a heavy walts worm anchor and lighter #16 Frenchie dropper. The high water had scattered fish fairly well through his stream reach. Many were sluggish, but enough ate his bugs to keep him happy. Most were brooks and a few were browns and stocker bows.
The best were a half dozen wild bows from 4 to 9 inches, true Helene survivors.
The heartbreaker was the 17-inch brown that tore downstream into the whitewater much faster than old Dredge could clamber after him. Hey, the fight on 6X was still fun before he parted ways with that #10 sexy Walts worm.
Private Waters:
High water and cold weather kept us off most private reaches this week. Those fish are now well-rested and should be eager to inhale nymphs and streamers in the weekend’s warming waters.
Give us a call at 706-878-3083 to book your own trips now and in the new year. Or grab a trip gift certificate online here:
https://shoponline.unicoioutfitters.com/gift-certificates/
UO buddy CDB:” I actually got out to fish this week! Hope the pattern carries into next week as well.
Finally a little rain. The fish seemed awful excited about it too! Private waters fished well the first few days of the week. Tried and true patterns produced best with small leeches, zonkers and wooly buggers drawing strikes when stripped as well as when jigged in the current. Best colors were black or bronze with a red tungsten bead head.
The pattern continued on public water. When jigging, using a dropper with a size 16-18 pheasant tail, beadhead hares ear, or a variety of unweighted soft hackle flies was money, with the wet hackle performing really well.
What? Rain in the forecast for next week? Guess where I’ll be…”
Tailwaters
How about a warm welcome to our new Tailwater intel source, longtime UO friend Myles? He brings this first batch of hot Hooch fodder: “Over the course of this past week, I caught 12 wild browns this past Friday ranging from 4-10 inches on the hooch tailwater. I was using size 20 silver beaded pheasant tails with 6.5x tippet on the hooch. Turnover was still rough with stain, so only small silver beaded flies were working.
This past Saturday I caught about 6 fish in the mountains before heading to another spot and caught another 6 or so fish. Pink eggs and stoneflies were the ticket as well as my other spot. Only rainbows were caught between 6-18 inches in the Helen area. I’ve seen more bald eagles in the last few weeks of fishing than I have in the last 10 years, so that’s been awesome!”
Lakes:
UO guide Joseph: “The pond has fished well over the past week or so. We’ve seen large groups of fish feeding on threadfin in the backs of coves. We’re also starting to see groups of fish moving towards main lake creek arms. This is the time of year having good electronics makes all the difference. While we are seeing fish on top we are catching most fish deep. Birds can also help find fish but not all fish are accompanied by birds. The fish are still being extremely picky as far as presentation. We tried many different flies, lines, and retrieves before coming across a consistent pattern. Small weighted flies like Henry’s somethin else and clousers have produced the best. Here’s a few pictures of a recent trip with my client Henry. This time of year can offer some amazing fishing. I still have dates open for December and January so call the shop at (706)-878-3083 to book a trip!”
UO buddy AJ: “Striper fishing has definitely stabilized after those 20 something degree nights and has been really good. Fish are scattered all over the lake, both in the main channel and in the creeks. Water temps are still hovering in the low 50s. The rainy days this past week made for some really good trips, including 7 and 10 fish days. The fish have definitely been pretty picky and figuring out what fly they want, where they want it in the water column, and how they want it presented makes all the difference. And varies group to group. And speaking of groups, there are tons of schools spread out all over the lake. If you find a group of fish that already has 3 or 4 boats fishing them, please be respectful and give some space or just go find some other fish. I've been doing this long enough to know that if the striper are feeding in one place, there's a good chance they are doing the same thing somewhere else at the same time. I counted 13 or 14 fly boats out this past Sunday and all the running and gunning between schools can really put them down. Use your trolling motor to approach and to leave, even if the fish have gone back down. And hang around for a little while after they do go down. Chances are they will come back up nearby, as long as they haven't been split up. I'll get off my soapbox now. Let's go fishing!”
Alex Jaume
Lanier on the Fly
IG - @lanier_on_the_fly
GAWRD also has a bunch of fresh lake intel (walleye, stripers, crappie, and more) in today’s weekly blog, here:
https://georgiawildlife.blog/category/fishing/
Afar:
Athens Jay shared this: “Henry from UGA 5 Rivers went out on a rainy day in search of predators and had luck with Savannah area bowfin using a white and red dumbbell eye zonker.”
That’s the latest info as I wrap up this week’s edition at 8PM. Hopefully it’s still in time to help y’all point your trucks in the right direction this weekend. Come see us at either UO store and take advantage of our intel, gifts, and gift certificates!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
