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.

"Go Fishing With A Friend" and Get a Winston Ascent Fly Rod for only $65!

Winston Fly Rods "Go Fishing With A Friend" Rod Promotion

I just got off the telephone with the folks out at Winston, and they've got a great deal - just in time for Christmas - or the fall fishing season!

They're calling it the "Go Fishing With A Friend" program - the idea is that you can help get a friend or family member into fly fishing a lot easier if you have a spare rod they can use....we won't tell anyone, but it would also make a great back-up rod for you!

The deal is: From 10/1/2009 to 12/15/2009, anyone who purchases a Winston Premium Rod may also purchase an Ascent Fly Rod (valued $225 to $230) and case for $65. This price includes UPS Ground shipping directly from Winston so that they have a rod with which to "Go Fishing with a Friend".

Purchaser must send premium rod purchase receipt, warranty card, and method of payment for $65 to Winston to order their Ascent Fly Rod. Must be redeemed by 12/31/2009.
 
This is a great deal, and you can choose any of the Ascent rods you wish.  And it's easy to redeem:  just send in the warranty card, copy of receipt, payment of $65, and your choice of Ascent rod to the Winston HQ - no additional forms necessary.

This is a limited-time offer, so take advantage of it while it's here - we've got a selection of premium Winston rods in both our Blue Ridge and Helen shops.  And to get in the spirit of things, during this promotion period, Unicoi Outfitters will include a half-day unguided access to Nacoochee Bend for you and your friend with the purchase of a premium Winston rod!

Discount Flies Online - A Good Deal?

The folks over at Midcurrent just published a great article discussing discount flies sold online vs. quality flies sold at your local fly shop. They've made the argument for quality vs. price much better than we could: give Phil Monahan's "Ask The Expert" column a read and think about it the next time you need flies. We sell only quality flies at Unicoi Outfitters, from such sources as Umpqua, Rainey, Orvis, and select local tiers, including some of our own guides.

Loon Outdoors Shark Tooth Tippet Cutter

We mentioned this in the most recent Liars Club newsletter and have had a lot of requests, so we thought we'd make it easy for you to buy!

The guys were really jazzed about the Loon Shark Tooth tippet cutters they saw out at the fly tackle dealer's show in Denver last month.  I was talking with the Loon Outdoors folks, and they told me that none of the distributors or shops in the southeast had ordered these yet, so we decided to get some in and offer them online for all the early adopters!  They're in-stock at Unicoi Outfitters and ready ship.

If you want some more info, check out the description on our website...or click here to see a video demonstration.  You can order there, or we're making it super-easy to purchase the Shark Tooth here from the Liars Club Blog:  just select your size using the drop-down below, and hit the Buy Now button!  These retail for $4.95: we'll send you three Shark Teeth (Shark Tooths???) for only $16.95 shipped to any USPS address!

Small Shark Tooth - Fits most spools from Umpqua, Orvis, Cabelas and Climax

Large Shark Tooth - Fits most spools from RIO, Maxima, Scientific Angler, Cabelas, Frog Hair and Umpqua

                                           

$16.95 - Loon Shark Tooth - 3 pack Small $16.95 - Loon Shark Tooth - 3 pack Large

Loon Outdoors Shark Tooth Tippet Control System Video

Here's a YouTube video that demonstrates the Shark Tooth...



Click here to purchase!

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

Kayak Fishing Seminar in Blue Ridge with Tony Narcisse

Unicoi Outfitters is happy to announce that we will be hosting a free seminar with Tony Narcisse on Kayak fishing. Tony operates a guide service on Lake Lanier, specializing in chasing stripers from kayaks...or as he puts it: "The Ultimate Sleigh Ride". Visit Tony's website to learn more about his services, and come out to our Blue Ridge store on October 10th at 1pm to learn more about kayak fishing - and remember, we always discount kayak accessories 20% with the purchase of a Native Watercraft Ultimate kayak.

Here's a little background on Tony:

"I started fishing for stripers out of kayaks in 2006 and haven't looked back! There's nothing like the adrenaline rush of a big cow taking you for a sleigh ride."  Since his first encouters with striped bass in small plastic boats those few years ago, Tony has pioneered a sport that has taken firm root in one of the nation's most respected striper fisheries.

"Not only is Lake Lanier gorgeous, but she boast some of the best fishing in the country. And there is no better way to see/fish Lanier than by a kayak."

As the Founder of Georgia Kayak Fishing club, Tony's pioneering spirit, warm personality and deep knowledge of Lake Lanier's striper fishery  makes him the perfect guide for your Lake Lanier Adventure, and he'll be sharing some of that knowledge with us on October 10 - come join us!

No Title Neccesary

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

Potential Record Brown Trout in Toccoa River Tailwater

John Damer, Fisheries Biologist with the Georgia DNR just posted this on NGTO:

This beast is out there just waiting to be caught...





This fish was captured using boat mounted electrofishing gear as part of an ongoing study of trout population dynamics on the lower Toccoa River. It was measured at 28.3" in length and weighed 14 lbs, and then it was released (Where, you ask??? Gee, I don't remember ). If caught by an angler it would be the new record brown trout for the Toccoa River.

As an added bonus, any angler who catches this monster will find that it has one of our small green tags attached just below its dorsal fin, as you can see here:



To date we have tagged and released nearly 4,000 hatchery and resident trout in the lower Toccoa River. We ask that anglers help with the study by reporting any tagged fish they catch to 706-624-1161. For anyone who has not seen it, here is a link to our press release that explains the study:

http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/foru...ad.php?t=72424

As explained in the link above, one lucky Georgia angler who returns a tag to us will win a Lifetime Sportsmans License courtesy of the Blue Ridge Mountain Chapter of TU.

Just one more reason, to go fishing... Tight lines!

-John

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

TIE 1 ON

Our monthly fly tying session at the Unicoi shop in Helen will be Oct. 6 at 6:30 PM. Everyone is invited--no experience necessary. If you enjoy catching fish on a fly, we encourage you to attend. We're not fancy or fast--we tie simple patterns that catch fish. It's a great opportunity for learning, sharing and just having a good time. There are always Unicoi guides present that share their secrets with us--thanks Joel and Jake. We would also like to thank Jimmy, David, and John for allowing us to use their facility and equipment.

So, if you want to learn how to tie flies or tie better flies, come to the session-I think you'll enjoy it. Bring equipment and supplies if you have them--if not, we'll supply them.

Hope to see you Tuesday--have a great week on the water and at the vise.

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.

The Weather Gods smiled on Saturday!

The weather radar looked very ominous at 5:30am on Saturday as I made sandwiches and put together lunch for the day's float trip. As daylight broke I could see the ever-darkening skies southwest of Blue Ridge. But that is all part of being a fishing guide; sometimes you live and die by the weather, you just hope for the best and take what you're given. I met my two guys for the day, who were more concerned with the fact that they were going fishing over any weather problems and were determined to make the best of it. My kind of guys!

We pushed off from the bank about 9:00am under heavy overcast skies and a falling barometer. That, coupled with the lack of people, just gave me a sneaking suspicion that this could be a good day if the weather holds. As soon as our flies started hitting the water we began to see some action. Very few “large” bugs on the water, but the surface was littered with little (size 28-32) midges. If you saw a rising fish and got a good cast in front of him he either bumped your dry or took a swing at your dropper. We caught a lot of browns today. More than I have been catching over the past few weeks. Fortunately the weather held out for us today. Chad was keeping an eye on the weather radar for us with phone in hand to warn us if things started to get sporty.

After we got back to shop he was happy to report that the huge storm coming out of Alabama had split in two and went around Blue Ridge. I must be living right! All-in-all we boated around 25-30 fish, a mixed bag of 9-12 inch browns and rainbows with a few 14-16 inch rainbows. We missed that many more. Lightning-fast strikes and small midge droppers will make you talk to yourself sometimes. There were not a lot of rising fish to site-cast to, but they were actively feeding and a good drift through fishy looking water usually resulted in a strike. Right as the water caught us a very light sprinkle of rain started to fall, but by that point we were headed to the take-out anyway. The weather Gods smiled on us today.

Prospecting for Rainbow Gold!

Friend and Fellow guide Brad Wayne and I decided to take a prospecting trip on Saturday last week. I have some fly patterns that I have been wanting to try. Deer season, college football and school have started which tends to thin the herd down a little bit on the river. We started later in the afternoon as both of us had been getting up early the past few mornings and neither one us felt like getting up at the crack of dawn that morning………..it happens……….even to those who are hopelessly addicted to fishing. As best we could tell, we were the only boat on the water with a few scattered fishermen wading around in spots. There were a few bugs flying around with very little surface action, but once we got past the waders, the fish started rising all around us. Started sticking rainbows left and right and just about the time I made the comment to Brad that I had not caught a brown in a while “Wham”, a lively brown trash canned my dry fly. Today was goooooooood day. I won’t mention how many fish we caught in the 5 hours we fished because folks will want to check our boat cooler to see what we’re sipping on, but I’ll just say it was on. We didn’t get to fish long because the DAWGS were kicking off at 7:30 and we both had “obligations” to attend. Fall is here and the fishing is starting to pick up as the crowds dissipate and the temperature cools down.

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.