Unicoi Outfitters is north Georgia's premier guide service and fly fishing outfitter, located on the Chattahoochee River near alpine Helen. Look for fishing reports, gear and book reviews, and general musings here from our staff and guides.

Friday, February 28, 2020

UO Fishing Report - 2/28/20

Posted by Jeff at 3:02 PM

We are “high, clear, and cold” this week. It should actually be a pretty good fishing weekend, as streamflows finally drop to fishable levels across all but the largest trout waters. Our biggest challenges will still be double the normal streamflows for this time of year,

along with water temperatures sliding down toward that dreaded 40-degree mark of trout lethargy. We’re also expecting a half to two inches of snow at high elevations tonight. The bottom line: camp out early at Huddle House! Take your time in the morning to let the mountain roads thaw and clear, and let the stream temperatures head back toward the mid-40’s, or a bit higher if we’re lucky. Hit the streams hard and deep at lunchtime.
One other tip: go for thinner tippets and smaller, natural fly patterns. The gin-clear waters and their slightly slower velocities are allowing extra salmonid scrutiny of your offerings, so be ready to replace your gaudy Y2K with a softer colored apricot egg, and your big, bright lightning bug with a smaller pheasant tail or hares ear. Angler reports were more abundant over the past week, so we’ll share them with you now.

Private waters have just started to fish again. Flows have dropped to safe wading levels on the Soque and we’ve had some good client days over there. The Hooch at Nacoochee Bend should start fishing again this week as flows drop back down toward 2-250 cfs. Since these fish haven’t seen many anglers and flies in several weeks, their guard will be down. Don’t forget a big net!
Dukes at Smithgall was challenging even to its regulars. Ray V said he had to go down to 6X and some of his small secret weapons to fool its resident rainbows. He even landed a few!
Smith DH fished well for guests with good drifts and small flies. Michigan guide John Gouker and wife Chastity
did well on Wednesday on small, olive hares ears. We shared that intel with the Thursday’s two ATL anglers, who later called the shop after their successful Smith trip. Olive hares ears and small pheasant tail soft hackles produced well.
GAWRD spruced up both the Ami and Toccoa DH’s this week, as well as Little Amicalola Creek. Just be very careful with high flows!!! Check out the latest WRD weekly trout stocking reports here:
UNG student and UO weekend fishing guide Hunter Pittman had a short time to wet a line today. Here’s his intel:
“Amicalola at 53. Thirty minutes to fish. Landed one, lost one. They seem to be all in the big pool in front of the accessible pier. Water is still up, but barely wadeable for the holes that are close to the bank. Maybe 4-5 holes on this section that you can easily fish. Be careful!”
Our best bet has been the Chattooga DH. Dredger did really well on his two trips last week, despite really high flows that restricted his number of safe access points. A big handful of UCCTU members inquired with our shop, got that hot intel, and put it to good use last Sunday. In their own words,
“UO staff, thank you for the great tips, and I concur with Danny; it was a beautiful day on the water. We (Dan F and I) started the day (12:30 ish) fishing in the vast football field plus size glide, the one above the shelf that runs the whole stream. I picked up two very quickly (bow 9" and nice brookie 15" or so), with white mop/orange bead head.

Later moved up to the brown trout beach pool party with Danny and friends. Bugs started coming off about 1:30-2, a mix of LB Stones, Caddis, and a few Mayflies of some kind. The Georgia side had very aggressive rises from the pool down the side seam for a 100 ft or so and hooked a few browns on a 14 CDC caddis. Reminded me of being in Colorado, you would walk over the rises, and they would be back in five minutes. Dan F, did very well on the water for a newbie as well.”
“We had 7 TU guys out on the river and we converted a new fly fisherman, my brother in law. We showed him the UCCTU way by doing a parking lot cleanup. Cream Mop and zebra midge did the trick for fishing. To end the day, we had a late lunch with the biker community at Big Daddies in Helen. I bought my brother in law a new clearwater rod/reel setup from UO on Sunday evening on his way back home. ”
We had no NC stream reports last week, but nearby destinations like Fires, Nantahala, and the Tuck should rebound as their flows finally drop. Try euronymphing the pools and boulder pockets during the midday warmth in these cold, gorge-enclosed streams.
If you’re looking for less-crowded waters, aim for some “wash-downs.” Fish can’t read special reg signs, and many stockers are crummy at negotiating floods, so go prospecting below the DH signs at Ami’s 53 bridge and Tooga’s 28 bridge, and through the Hooch in Helen, where a bait angler told us he invited a half dozen rainbows home for supper this week.
Lake fans have two good choices this week: Vogel and Winfield Scott.
Check out the last two weeks of WRD fishing blogs for excellent lake intel. If you have kids, read about Little Ami ( park reflection pool):
Walleye fans should expect fish up the tributary rivers very soon. In the meantime, small Lanier stripers are abundant up the Hooch. The biggest angler challenge will be safely negotiating high, turbid flows. Details are in those two WRD fishing blogs, above.
The bottom line is that we finally have some dry weather and dropping flows. It might just be a great time to treat that cabin fever before our next big round of rains. Don’t forget your wool gloves and long underwear. Good luck!
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Monday, February 24, 2020

How To Set Up Your Reel

Posted by Jimmy at 10:29 AM

Sometimes we often forget there are a lot of new fly anglers out there who have never set up a fly reel. Great tutorial here from Orvis.






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Friday, February 21, 2020

UO Fishing Report - 2/21/20

Posted by Jeff at 3:16 PM

This week’s theme is “proceed with caution.” As we dry out and are now anxious to cure our cabin fever, we should think of a blinking yellow light during our trip planning. Why?


Right now (2/21 at 8AM) we must navigate continued high streamflows, black ice (especially in the shade of curvy mountain roads), icy-cold water that we don’t want to fall in, flooded reservoirs and parking lots, and dangerous lake navigation hazards such floating logs, detached docks, and submerged fences, walkways, and even picnic tables. Think YELLOW and, if you go, proceed with caution! When in doubt, play it safe and stay home.

On the good news side, we missed a full monsoon up here yesterday and are now drying out. Only a half-inch of rain fell, which did not bump up (already high) streamflows very much.
We’ll soon warm up and lose the black ice, at least where the sun will shine. Watch for slick spots in the shade, however. We also have at least three dry days coming and they’re finally landing on a weekend. Streamflows therefore continue to drop, albeit slowwwwly. Small streams are returning to fishable flows now, while larger waters may drop to safe wading levels over the week ahead. They will depend, once again, on how much rain falls at midweek.
Think of that blinking yellow light as you pick your streams, lakes, and departure dates. Everyone needs to know his/her own personal limits to their wading ability and the streamflows that are conducive to their safe wading. The same goes for impoundments. How well do you know your launch ramp, navigation route, and submerged, hidden risks along the way? As you make your own risk/reward analysis, know that it’s better to err on the side of caution. When in doubt, don’t go. Why? You’ll fish many more years and make many more angling memories!
One tool that has helped my trouting plans is the notes page on my smart phone. After a day of wade fishing, I’ll go home, check the web for the closest USGS stream gauge (my favorite streams are bookmarked) and record the gauge height or CFS on that notes page. Then I’ll write a sentence or two on my wading experience that day. Examples of my notes are “blown out,” “don’t cross stream, stay on west side and fish near bank,” “high but fishable,” and “easy wading today.” After three decades of trips up here, I have a good reference page that helps me relate to those flows on the internet gauges and make my go/no-go decisions. Maybe this “fishing flow log” idea will help some of you.
Flows are still high, and now we have dropping water temperatures again, so slide back into winter trouting mode: go low and slow and after lunch. Add some extra weight and bump trout on their noses. Despite last week’s high flows, we do have a few reports to share. Here we go.
On the trouting front, we don’t have any private waters reports. The larger trout streams generally were still too high for safe wading by clients. Smaller waters were fishable. Experienced wader Landon said he hit both Dukes and Smith DH last weekend and had decent days by dredging leeches, pheasant tails, and small olive soft hackles in the soft water pockets he could find.
Dredger hit one stream with a long history of his trips, found a few soft waters within casting distance of the bank, and did well by alternating among a brown Pat’s rubberlegs, a Y2K, and a cream mop on a 4mm silver tungsten bead.

Smaller fish rose on the sunny afternoon to the egg-laying winter stoneflies that were dipping down to the surface. He ignored them to dredge for heftier fish, and was rewarded with some nice rainbows and browns excavated from the bankside flood refuges.
Lanier bassin’ fans have some new bankside cover to pitch their spinnerbaits and jigs toward, as Lanier heads toward an all-time high. I hear the picnic tables are hotspots.😉 Enjoy the pics of upper Lanier, taken on my Wednesday trip to Gainesville. Seriously, many Lanier ramps are closed and a lot of floating debris, like whole logs, makes navigation hazardous.
Captain Mack has one of the best lake reports for our weekend trip planning:
On the walleye front, WRD says it’s still a bit early for the spring spawning runs,
but a few fish are starting to head uplake (right, Jake?😉). Stay tuned into the WRD weekly fishing blog for timely updates on early spring runs of walleye, whites, hybrids, and stripers. After all, they’re allowed to use the best bait of all time: electricity! Go to this page and click on the “walleye” and “fishing blog” links for timely intel by your fine Fisheries folks. (Okay, I admit some slight bias😉)
Stocker fans should know that Burton Hatchery renovations are big news. I passed the place on my way to a Tuesday Rabun TU meeting and saw a new dam and water intake, and big holes in the ground where buildings and raceways has existed. We wish DNR the best of luck in rebuilding a hatchery that will serve us well for the next 50 years. More here:
We hope that this “cautiously optimistic” report gives you a little hope for your fishing future. At least it should entertain you while you’re on the sidelines, waiting for thawed roads and your own personal, safe wading level to show up on the stream gauge. Good luck as you “proceed with caution. “
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Friday, February 14, 2020

UO Fishing Report - 2/14/20

Posted by Jeff at 5:04 PM

Right now we have a brief, pleasant change: blue skies and green water. It has finally dried out and the sun is shining down upon north Georgia, at least for a few days until another inch of rain falls on Tuesday. This week’s fishing forecast is basically a repeat of last week’s: nearly all streams are blown out. It’s not surprising when we look at the river gauges and find that a foot of rain has fallen on northeast Georgia over the last nine days. I toured local waters today and found the Soque real high (see Mark of the Potter video), the Hooch in Helen

ripping along at 4 times the safe flow for our clients, Dukes Creek still boasting standing waves, and Smith DH ripping but fishable for real careful waders and smart bank anglers. Region water levels are so high that Lanier might set a lake elevation record this week, with many ramps and parks closed by high water.

It’s still a good time to tie flies,
read some great blogs,
or listen to Tom Rosenbauer’s awesome Orvis podcasts. Have you wondered about nylon vs fluoro tippet? Tune in:
Our streams are high, but they’re clearing. Instead of chocolate milk, they now have a slight greenish-brown tint to them from the fine sediments carried by those strong flows. Trout fishing opportunities will again be limited to small streams and maybe the lake at Vogel State Park. Try casting along the dam and at the mouth of Wolf Creek where it empties into the lake. For small streams, look for flood refuges and pick your wading spots carefully. Even the small streams are slow to recede right now because of the constant, heavy rains during the last week.
The sun brought out a small angler hatch today on Smith DH. Yours truly found Rabunite buddy D.D. and fishing friend Bama Vic along the creek and we compared notes. All three had lengthy trout droughts until we found the few calm spots along the ripping stream channel. We found success in those eddies and deep pools with big (16) rainbow warriors, small dark Euronymphs and midges, and heavy (4mm) cream mops, fished DEEP.

Squirmies got a few half-hearted hits, but our legs, eggs, and buggers were ignored. It was still nice to finally wet a line, and our trio’s combined tally was a handful of rainbows, a few chunky browns, and even a few hungry, displaced redbreasts that likely survived a roller coaster ride from Unicoi Lake. The last fish was fondled around 6pm, so beat the expected weekend crowd by going early or late. Remember to check-in at the Lodge first, for the free fishing permit, before hitting the creek.
Despite the floods, there is some hope. Streams should slowly recede and provide more opportunities with each passing day of runoff. More importantly, it’s trophy trout season. Why? They have two “ reasons to leave” right now. The first is obvious: floods. The second is “rainbow romance:” spawning season. Look for big fish traversing public waters this month and next as a) flood wash-downs and b) spawner swim-ups. More tips are here, in the “big fish” program on the Rabunite Secrets page.
Be ready to strip a streamer or drift a big egg as soon as streamflows won’t knock you down.
Fly tying is still your safer bet this week, but if you have to wet a line, don’t wade deep or don’t wade at all. Pick some small streams and hit their eddies, especially when their flows drop some more. Flood flows are a bummer, but we’ll take them over extreme droughts and 20,000-acre forest fires any day! Good luck. Be safe.
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Sunday, February 9, 2020

UO Fishing Report- 2/9/20

Posted by Jeff at 5:14 PM

Thanks to all of you who visited our booth at the Atlanta Flyfishing Show. That’s always a fun family reunion of us fly flingers.

This week’s theme is “ a good time for tying.” With yesterday’s 6 inches of snow sandwiched between last week’s 6 inches of rain and next week’s forecasted deluge, our stream fishing opportunities are nearly nonexistent.

There isn’t enough split shot in our fly shop to even get the Dredger back in the game right now. He did ponder a 4-ounce pyramid sinker on his surf rod, with a big bugger cast from the fly shop porch, but decided that strike detection would be too tough.
Fishing addicts can still find some casting opportunities on flat water in between the storms. The GAWRD weekly fishing blog is a great place for reservoir intel. Their “shocking” reports provide strike indicators for early season river runs of walleye, whites, and reservoir stripers chasing shad in the muddy, warmer shallows. Scroll to the bottom of this page and sign up for the blog’s direct delivery:
As for the rest of us stream fans, we can celebrate the winter recharge of our water table and prepare for spring. It’s a good time to resupply our fly boxes via tying or buying. Before we know it, March will be here and little dark bugs will bring some trout snouts to the surface.
That won’t be the time to discover that we’re short on gray caddis, blue quills, quill gordons, and chunky hares ear nymphs. Prep time is NOW! Just call or email our shop if you need a helping hand. Also, here’s a little more help with those bug lists via our friends at Rabun TU: 1) the “spring dries and droppers” note on the Secrets of the Rabunites page and 2) the fly lists on each of their monthly newsletters entitled Tightlines. Look at last spring’s newsletters to prepare for this spring’s hatches.
It’s also a good time to plan next summer’s western trips. If you’re in the neighborhood next Thursday nite, the Blairsville TU chapter will host us for a program on fishing the Yellowstone region.
Before all this liquid fell from the north GA skies, we had some pretty good fishing reports. They’re old news now, but still entertaining and informative, so enjoy them while you await the road thaw. Landon hit some bluelines in the Hooch watershed and dredged up a nice handful of little wild rainbows with his leech/pheasant tail combo. He invited a few home for supper.
Chris Scalley has been nailing some chunky, wild Hooch Tailwater browns. Check out his reports and pics via his River Through Atlanta guide service.
Smithgall guests found some nice rainbows, including a few brutes to 22 inches, during prior high water events. Eggs, pheasant tails, and hares ears worked for two groups, Jacob B and the duo of Garland and Dr. Dave, but were shunned on another day. Angler Group 3 found success only with a big black bugger with crystal flash in the tail. Dukes moral: if you’re in fishy habitat and have made some good drifts, go ahead and change flies til you find what they want.
Delayed harvest trips were slow or nonexistent due to high water. Smith was slow for Aaron. Smith did get redosed last Friday, so it should fish better as flows recede. Half those fish should be there. Wily anglers might find the other half washed down into Octoberfest-land. 😉
Private waters fished well when they weren’t blown out by high water. Here’s a report from a fun trio of Nacoochee Bend guests, including GA TU Trout Camp grad Aidan, who found success last weekend on eggs and small nymphs.
“UO staff,
thank you so much again for a wonderful day! Your hospitality, sense of humor and genuine comradarie made us all feel so welcome and important! We will be back! Mike, Aidan, and Rick”

We hope this week’s “filler” will mitigate a bit for your midwinter angling depression. Our trout streams will recede one day in the future and we’ll get back in the game. And we’ll be ready with overflowing fly boxes and overflowing hope. May our tying and buying begin!
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Friday, January 24, 2020

UO Fishing Report - 1/24/20

Posted by Jeff at 5:23 PM

This week’s theme was coined by Jake this morning: anglers will “need an anvil” as overnight storms dumped an average of two inches on north Georgia watersheds. Right now (Friday at 3pm), our rivers are high and muddy and ripping! The Hooch in Helen is running about 700 cfs, way above the normal 160 cfs or so historic average for this day. The rain continues, but radar shows it clearing out shortly.

Big waters are gonna take two or more days to drop and clear to fishable levels, while small streams might drop to acceptable flows overnight. Just know your own safe wading levels and check USGS stream gauges or local tackle shops before you go.
The silver lining in all this cloudy news is rising air temps. Anyone lucky enough to fish during the upcoming weekdays will find a great combo of rising water temps and falling flows. If water temps are at least in the mid-40’s, and flows are still higher than normal but slightly discolored, anglers will have the advantage. Fish will wanna eat, but will have to make quicker decisions on drifting fodder, and will eat bigger flies on thicker tippet. We like that! Remember that lower elevation Georgia streams will be a few degrees warmer than NC streams. On really cold days those few degrees can make a big difference in trout appetites.
For hot patterns, the same winter best bets continue to hold true for this week: legs, eggs, buggers and leeches, and smaller stuff like princes and pheasant tails only after we can look thru three feet of stream and see our wading shoes again. Don’t forget little black stones, like our copper johns and lightning bugs in that color, since winter stoneflies are on the march now.
We have restocked some killer winter patterns here at the shop. The creator of the Y2K bug, Dr Dave Knowles from Arkansas, provided a big handful of our high demand patterns for GA traditionalists, including Y2K’s, fire eggs, root beer and ruby midges, and rainbow warriors. For our young guns, Jake tied up the new Eggstacy eggs in two colors, and Wes stocked up on UV2 roe yarn for the tiers among you.

Eggs and rubberlegs will continue to be a big hit for another month of cold, high water, until we see some spring nymphs getting restless in the warmer March flows and switch our eggs to big hares ears.
It was cold last week and angling effort and catches were both off, as expected. Folks here at Nacoochee Bend caught some nice rainbows on eggs, legs, and princes when the water warmed slightly after lunch. We’re proud of those tenacious gals with the GA Women Flyfishers, who braved the cold earlier this week and landed some chunky rainbows here at the Bend. Our friend “BigBrowns” shared this pre-monsoon Fires Creek report:
My buddy Stuart and I went up to fires creek yesterday (22nd). Spent the morning on the DH. Caught a 1/2 dozen or so each. Legs and eggs, Buggers and small natural nymphs, all fished deep of course. We spent the afternoon up above the DH in the wild water and had a really great afternoon, especially since us was a good 10 degrees warmer in the afternoon. Landed some nice browns in the DH and plenty of beautiful wild bows up top.

We took the road all the way up to around 3000' and found a really nice feeder creek that looked really promising. Will check that out next time for sure.
Dukes vet Landon finally filled his freezer with venison and swapped his rifle for his fly rod. He “landed” a Smithgall no-show slot last Sunday (19th) and had a big time, despite the cold. Here are his early and ending texts on that day:
Stonefly is winning over little stuff 3:1 right now.
Ended up with 21. Biggest was about 22”. Off the water early at 1430 when it got a bit too crowded for my taste. They ate the big bugs early and got off the big stuff once the sun came out, just random 16-18’s dropped off the back of a leech.
So there’s hope for us during the coming week. Keep your winter attire and equipment in your vehicles and go when the flows allow. With some high fifties in our weather forecast, the end of the week is looking real good for a rebound.
We’ll close this report with a quick look back and a glance forward. Thanks for the your fellowship at last Saturday’s Rabun Rendezvous, a great party of about 200 finatics. And we look forward to seeing you next Friday and Saturday at the Atlanta Fly Show. The lucky number there is F11.😉

Good luck and be safe while wading. It’s the time of the year for SIZE over numbers, so swing for the fences!
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Thursday, January 16, 2020

UO Fishing Report - 1/16/20

Posted by Jeff at 5:33 PM

This week’s theme is “winter mode.” Finally, our local forecasters are predicting a cold spell ahead. We’ll soon see a 20-degree drop in air temps and a similar plunge in water temps. That cold shock may dampen trout appetites for a few days until they reacclimate to “normal” winter water temperatures.

Despite the chill, at least it will be a little drier after the 2-3 inches of rain that fell recently and flooded out many streams.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?02330450

The rains blew out most of your planned trips as well as our own, so this past week’s fishing reports are rather sparse. That’s okay since the techniques and catches from last week’s warm spell certainly won’t apply to our upcoming, chilly trips. Let’s spend our time looking ahead instead of back.

On the positive side, recent rains have recharged our watersheds. Small streams have already receded to fishable flows, while bigger waters have been slower to drop. The Hooch and Chattooga should see fishable flows in the next day or two,

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?02176930

while the Nan is still high and the Toccoa is really rocking along at 900+ cfs, great for whitewater rafting fans but a bummer for wade anglers.

This combo of high and cold water suggests that we will finally enter full winter mode. Unless we are on the slightly warmer tailwaters, GA trouters will now need to fish really low and slow. That could mean Euro techniques in pockets and runs, and super-deep indi rigs in the big pools, which are winter flood refuges for trout pods.

How deep? During winter, we often retire our tapered leaders and, instead, go to 8-12 feet of straight 6 or 8 pound mono, with 5X tippet knotted to the far end before we tie on a fly. Why? Fat leader butts just catch the current and drag our flies off the bottom. Instead, we cut thru the water column with thin leaders and tippet, and get into the winter strike zone quicker and longer. More details can be found in the “winter tips” articles on the webpage called, Secrets of the Rabunites.” Don’t forget that big bag of split shot and a bobber big enough to still float, despite its burden.

On big waters, the “legs and eggs” combo is a traditional winter go-to. In fact, Hunter says Nacoochee Bend fish are eating eggs right now, as I type this on Thursday at 3pm. If fish get picky, then pick only one of those two big patterns as your first fly and then drop a small (#18) pheasant tail nymph off the back. Other good patterns are small black or olive buggers, little black stones, black zebra midges, a little rainbow warrior, and the ole reliable prince nymph. After all, winter’s colors for natural bugs in the drift are black, brown, and olive, so “match the hatch” of the drifting blue wing olives, winter stones, fish eggs, and misc midges.

On smaller, clearing waters, aim for the smaller, natural flies, as these veteran fish have seen many fly patterns and have now smartened up. Better flows should give you the chance to use some size 14 and 16 bugs instead of the super small (#18, 20) stuff exclusively, since fish will have to make quicker decisions in faster currents. If the natural stuff isn’t working, go to something really off the wall, which the fish haven’t seen. Today it was a chartreuse mop fly for one successful Smith angler! Watch small stream water temps closely. Headwater wild trout may shut down if your thermometer nears that 40 mark.

Our 60-degree January afternoons may finally be history. Get ready for ice in rod guides and numb fingers and toes. And, if you get into full winter mode, also get ready for multiple fish excavated from each deep pool by your low and slow dredging techniques. Good luck. Call or come by the shop if we can help further. Better yet, join many of our UO staff at the Rabun Rendezvous, Saturday at 5pm at Dillard House. We’ll share some fish stories and cheer for each other’s raffle bucket wins!
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Friday, January 3, 2020

UO Fishing Report - 1/3/20

Posted by Jeff at 5:45 PM

This week’s theme is “rain check.” With one to three inches falling so far, north GA river fans will be sidelined for 1-3 days until streamflows drop back down to safe wading levels. “Rain check” is also a great reminder to check those USGS stream gauges for updates on rainfall totals, current flow conditions, and indications of when north Georgia streams will drop to fishable levels.

There’s actually some good news hidden in these soaking rains and heavy runoff. Those strong flows “polish” our trout waters. They flush sand and silt and loosen stream gravels. Have you ever noticed how much cleaner our streams appear each winter? Wild rainbows, in spawning mode from now til mid-March, appreciate Mother Nature’s help with cleaning up their spawning areas. Redds are dug easier in clean gravels, and eggs and trout fry enjoy fresher flows thru those incubation chambers within stream gravels.
While our big water game is on hold, small streams are already returning to fishable levels. Needing a break from tying Rabun Rendezvous auction flies, I ran up to Smith DH and Dukes Creek today (3rd) around 4pm and found both of them high, but fishable (see forthcoming vids). With less than a half-inch of additional rain expected overnight, north Georgia’s small streams and ponds (ex: Vogel) will provide some good angling opportunities for new year anglers itching to wet a line. Be careful wading and get down to the fish to score. It’s gonna be tougher than last week, as our air temps drop back down to seasonal norms tomorrow, but we should have some action in waters above 40 degrees.
Here are a few recent reports to aid your own angling plans.
Smith DH: Today’s sparse crowd of rainware-donned folks were having very good luck on eggs and small Euro nymphs. The stream had already receded a bit and had hardly any color to it. The warm, rainy, overcast weather and ample streamflow created perfect fishing conditions. I’d expect a big weekend assault on the creek, so go early, late, or somewhere else until Sunday afternoon, when most folks head home to ATL.
Dukes: should fish well for reservation holders and early-risers lucky enough to snag a rare vacancy from a reservation no-show. Be ready with smaller tippet and flies, as this stream was also high, but already clear at 5 this evening. Rabunites Pat and Tammy Hopton spent the New Year holiday at a Smithgall cabin and caught some nice rainbows, including at least one whopper netted by Tammy.
Headwaters:
Should fish decently until the air temp dives. Try a dry/dropper combo in deeper pools.
Private waters: fished well last week. Our guides had good trips on the Soque, Nacoochee Bend (Hooch at our Helen fly shop), and Noontootla Creek Farm. Enjoy the pics of shop manager Jake’s two clients on the Soque and NCF.

Some secret egg patterns did the trick. Hunter’s Hooch guests did well nymphing and then stripping streamers when the water warmed in the afternoon.
Unnamed Border River and Trib:
Looks like Sam did well!
Nan DH:
A random Rabunite and young TUer Cameron F celebrated their new year in grand style. Brooks, browns, and rainbows (stocked and wild flavors) hit the Euronymphs at noon and after 330pm. For two mid-afternoon hours, however, the fish looked up to a BWO hatch, and the angling duo celebrated their earliest dry fly season start, ever, on January 1st!
North GA Bassin’:
UO asst mgr Wes and his buddy, home for the holidays, did well on Hooch shoalies before this week’s monsoon. Buddy landed 20 and 21 inchers. Jake ran up to Burton today (3rd) and said his best five spots and LMB’s pushed 22 pounds. Bassin’ fans can push these two guys for intel or book a trip by visiting their info booth at the Jiminar tomorrow.
More North GA Intel:
Check out the weekly blog by our good friends at GAWRD. This week’s author is John “Deadly” Damer, who tosses a mighty tight loop himself on north GA’s bluelines and on Montana’s Big Mo.
Good luck this week. Big storms are an inconvenience, but they sure beat extended droughts.
Give us a call (706-878-3083). or drop us an email if we can help you further.
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Friday, December 20, 2019

UO Fishing Report - 12/20/19

Posted by Jeff at 5:53 PM

 UO Weekly Fishing Report - Special Holiday Edition

This week’s theme is “Holiday Cheer!” We have much cheer headed our way during this very special week: faith, family, friends, and maybe some extra fishing time, too! Let’s pile on even more cheer: higher streamflows, forecasted warm afternoons in between next week’s chilly days,
and some GADNR holiday gifts in our Delayed Harvest waters! One DNR elf also said that Vogel Park’s lake might be a great place for a child to break in his shiny, new Christmas fishing pole. JLT suggested drowning worms under a bobber for little Timmy or Tina’s first fish. For the latest DNR intel, check here late on Friday afternoons:
Given these presents from your state and federal hatchery elves, decorate your fly patch this week with your big, flashy stuff: orange and red eggs, neon Y2K’s, tan and lime mops, and brightly beaded buggers.
For veteran fish, however, you’ll see a common theme among our guides and anglers: a chunky rubber-legged stone as the lead fly, followed by a tiny trailer like a size 16-18 pheasant tail, hares ear, midge, black copper John, or soft hackle wet. Subtle colors are the key to those small trailers. You’re imitating the top three bugs of our winter stream drift: midges, blue wing olives, and little black winter stoneflies. If you try a bead, try a black one. If you only have silver heads in your fly box, carry a black Sharpie pen with you and “adjust on the fly.” 😉
These reports also illustrate that technique trumps fly pattern. With higher flows after rains, everyone’s adding an extra shot or two to get down to the action. Lesson: adjust your shot numbers and the depth (height) of your strike indicator before changing flies.
While stream temps are cold, they’re not yet bone-chilling like they’ll be in the new year. They’re still running in the mid- to high-forties, so trout are still eating well.
The key has been to get the flies rolling along the bottom. During flood flows, drift them through the flood refuges (low velocities). That’s often right along the streambank or behind that big bedrock ledge that runs all the way across the river, perpendicular to streamflow.
Here we go with some fresh intel from this week’s angling elves:
Ben S: Small stream action has been very good, with many fish fondled on his favorite egg pattern, which is top secret. Both DH and wild streams have fished well. He also caught one on top, on his strike indicator - a buoyant hopper!
More small stream reports:
Regular shop guest “TN Tourist” said he took some coveted UO intel and put his GA buddy on his first true speck. He showed us a pic of a beautiful seven-inch brookie. I believe they were tossing Caddis dries inside the Rhododendron tunnels. Where? Well....
IDBHS!
Young bucks like Ben S, Trey, and Ben D have also been harassing the abundant, little wild rainbows in the Tallulah. Hot flies were eggs and squirmies, trailed by a #16 or 18 hares ear nymph. Hint: hi-stick to achieve perfect dead drifts and fool these wily “natives.”
Weekend guide Ben D sez:
Water was high and a tad more challenging than usual. Had to run slightly larger flies such as stones, mops and other leggy bugs. Ran super heavy just to get the flies down in the seams. Fish were spread out whereever they could take refuge. Average size was 10 to 12 inches. No tanks netted all weekend. Had two clients break off very nice fish, though.
Private Waters - UO Guide Hunter Pittman’s Report:
With the rain we have had recently and with more rain on the radar, my “go-to” rig lately has been a heavy, two-fly nymph rig. Up top I am using a black rubber legged stone fly pattern or a girdle bug.


If they don’t like it then that will be replaced by an egg or a creme mop fly. My dropper or bottom fly in my rig has been a soft hackle with a dark or tan body, or a hares ear. If neither of those work I’ve been able to catch them on a root beer midge and a trout crack midge when they were being more picky. Even with this rain some places have remained very clear so I have been using 4x to my top fly, and 5x to my lower fly in those places. I also make sure that I have enough weight to reach the bottom. Sometimes I have to use multiple medium-large BB’s to get down there. I always try to add extra weight and change flies before changing spots, that little change can often produce for you. With the incoming rain and rising water levels, I would be focusing on the middle to back of pools.
Tooga: New fly flinger Walter G from Greenville happened upon a random Rabunite while wading the Chattooga DH last Sunday afternoon (15th). He re-rigged with the Rabunite’s suggested “legs and eggs” combo, added two shot, and looped a thingamabobber way up his leader butt. With a few practice casts, he was schooled on the deadly art of the drag-free drift and...
Was immediately into fish, with a nice handful of rainbows and a fat, strong 14-inch brown fondled. To top off his day, he was invited to the Rabun Rendezvous on Jan 18, where 250 of north GA’s trouting fans will gather at Dillard House for bluegrass, BBQ, and a boatload of prizes. You’re invited, too!
Dukes: has been hit or miss. The high batting averages were by veteran hitters who took lots of batting practice through the years and know how to fish that trophy stream. Fish up to 24 inches were reportedly landed. Rookies with crummy averages are striking out in the clear water because they haven’t yet developed their home field advantage. Smithgall rookies can learn by clicking more than once on the internet and reading the scouting reports there : articles and YouTube vids. And then by fishing the place to develop their stream reading skills. We vets call it, “paying your dues.”
Fires on fire: check out Big Browns’ great Fires Creek trip report on NGTO:
Muskies:
UO staffers Wes and Jackson trekked north to throw out their shoulders via ten-weights and huge wet rags known as musky flies. Rumor has it that Jackson connected! Details will surely follow.
Stocking stuffers: need one more? Grab a Dream Trip ticket from your local TU chapter. For ten bucks, you have a shot at winning the March raffle for a summer week in Yellowstone. You’ll be lodged and guided by our fishing buddies, John and Laine McGarity. How about that for a memorable Christmas gift???
Tix will also be available at the Rabun Rendezvous on 1/18.
Thanks for taking a look at this week’s report . We hope it puts a few more holiday fish into your nets. Feel free to share your own fish stories with us. Also, please remind your older web grinches (like Dredger) that they don’t have to be Facebook members to sneak peeks at our UO Facebook page and snag all of this timely trouting intel.
The UO staff sure appreciates our gifts of your friendship and patronage. We’ll be closed on Christmas and New Year’s Day, but open on all others. Give us a call or, better yet, stop by the shop to swap some lies with our Liars Club. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!
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Unicoi Outfitters

Helen, Georgia
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