Moment of Chill

We thought we’d borrow a concept from the Orvis main office. Here’s a southern version of their “Moment of Chill” social media posts.  May y’all find it relaxing.

And for trout prospectors, here are your “current” conditions.  Our waters are low,  clear, cold, and leafy, so you’d better bring your best summer drought game with you this weekend. That means drab clothes, a stealthy approach, long leaders, light tippets, and small, soft-landing bugs. And a warm hat and gloves for the early risers among y’all.  

Here are some shots from my White County recons this week. I hope they help your weekend trip planning.

Hogpen Gap:

Looking south toward Yonah:

Hooch trib 1:

Hooch trib 2:

Unicoi Lake:

Nora Mill at Nacoochee Bend:

Pack your vehicles soon and come up to enjoy another really nice weekend in the north Georgia mountains.

Catching the Bad Guys!

My good friend, GADNR county game warden Ann, reminded me that a recent incident of interest to the trout fishing community was now up on her agency’s Facebook page. I’m sharing it with y’all.

Remember that each of us anglers  can be part of the solution, too. It’s as easy as 1-2-3. 

1. Follow GADNR LED’s Facebook page.

2. Memorize and use their 24-hour TIPS hotline: 800-241-4113

https://gadnrle.org/ranger-hotline

    3. Know your county warden! Ask about local hunting and fishing opportunities for yourselves, and share any intel you have on the bad guys, from poachers to polluters.

https://gadnrle.org/find-ranger

Good luck in the woods and on the water this fall. Let’s all conserve our fish and wildlife resources. Be an extra set of eyes and ears and help our game wardens to find and bust the bad guys.

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com

From GADNR LED:

“Earlier this month, Cpl. Joe Hill, GWFC Ethan Franklin, GW Matt Kiracofe, and GW TR Dooley were in route to a wildlife checkpoint when they encountered a man walking out of the Chattahoochee River in White County. He did not have a fishing pole with him. After further investigation, they found a cast net the suspect had hidden behind a bridge pillar. The suspect was charged and the cast net was seized.”

Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report - 10/14/22

Let’s call this week’s prospects “drought troutin’ and afternoon bassin’”. The weather up here in NE GA is absolutely beautiful and the leaf colors are coming on strong, especially along the lower elevation roads. Our morning air was 40 degrees in Cleveland and in the 30’s to our north, while daytime highs are reaching the 70’s.  It’s a perfect time to get outside.

Best bets this week are wild trout wherever they survived the summer heat, private water trout in the pay-to-play operations, and dredged river bass in the afternoon warmth.

We only had one-tenth of an inch of rain this week, so our droughty trout streams have dropped even further. Continue your low water techniques of camo, stealth, lighter tippets, and smaller flies for best success. Although flows are low here and in NC, water temps remain perfect (50’s to low 60’s) for salmonids. Trout will eat if they don’t spot you first. The freshly stocked DH fish in NC have been suckers for anything cast their way, but will smarten up right after another weekend of angler assaults, so be ready with smaller, natural flies soon.

(Have you read my new fall trouting guide on our blog?)

It might be our last call for river bass as water temps drop out of their prime window. Hit the rivers as they warm in the afternoon sun, dredge some streamers and crawdad flies, and try slowing down your retrieves. On the good news front, it might be time for size over numbers, so keep chucking some meaty flies and you might land a trophy shoalie or spot for your troubles.

The lake surface bite turned off last week, according to HenryC. Hopefully that will turn around soon. Cover a lot of water and watch your sonar for bait schools, and you might be the sole beneficiary of a striper blitz.

Check out more pics, Wes’ hot fly list,  and our full report on our Facebook page and at blog.angler.management (link in bio). You’ll be glad you did. Good luck this week!

Wes’ Hot Fly List:

Dries: parachute Adams, orange stimulator, royal trude.

Nymphs & Wets:

Flashback pheasant tail, mop, squirmy worm, peach egg, girdle bug, micro mayfly, and small, dark soft-hackle wets.

Streamers & warm water:

Sparkle minnow, bank robber sculpin, finesse changer, small black woolly bugger for DH trout and leftover stockers.

Headwaters:

GAWRD trout biologist Sarah had a nice blueline report in today’s WRD blog. She also posted a neat video of brook trout spawning.

https://georgiawildlife.blog/2022/10/14/georgia-fishing-report-october-14-2022/

Delayed Harvest:

The NC streams are running low, but the fish are still cooperating when not spooked. Several of our friends had epic days “educating” those fresh stockers. Remember that they’ll soon smarten up, so have your better drift of smaller bugs ready to go.

UO fishaholic friend RSquared: “I ventured north of the state line where the DH season is in full swing. I was able to show two former North Paulding High School students one of my favorite streams. The water was very low & gin clear. However, it was full of recently stocked, hungry & naive Brooks, Browns, and Rainbows that were willing to take almost anything we offered them. In the coming weeks, they will be smarter & more selective in their feeding.”

UO buddy Lumis;

Went to XXX creek today since the NC DH opened up recently. Took a friend with me and it was his first time fly fishing. It was packed with people. The day started off slow since the water was very low and it didn't seem like there was evidence of stocking. Turns out that they probably just stocked the holes mostly and the fish hadn't spread out yet. Once we found ourselves an empty hole to fish, we started pulling out a mix of rainbows, brookies, and browns. Unsure if the browns were stocked or wild but there were some very large browns in there that absolutely refused to eat or even look our flies. We caught around 2 dozen on a mix of stocker flies.”

UO buddy RonW: “I made a solo trip up across the state line today to check out another DH stream.  I arrived shortly after 8am and nearly had the place to myself.  I drove up to the top of the DH and worked my way down, crossing the stream serveral times and covering a little over a mile of water. 

The trout sure were picky for being a bunch of new  "dumplins".  I had to work and cover water to find fish. I plucked out several on my Olive Rubber legged, mostly brookies at first.  I caught them on the drift while slightly jigging it, also on the retrieve just twitching it back upstreamand also across the current.  They didn't want the egg dropper at all other than 2 skinny brookies.  Got a few on a #18 frenchie as well. 

I changed out the dropper to a #18 black soft hackle and the "switch turned on". Fish after fish came to hand on either the bugger or the softie.  I continued working downstream, picking up a fish ot two in almost every spot. 

I came to a really nice deep run and had an absolute giant come out the depths and chase my Bugger. He thumped it and I'm not sure if he missed or if I got too excited and yanked it out of his mouth.  He checked it out a few more times but wouldn't commit. He went back to his lair and was turned off to the Bugger after that.  I changed out the bugger for a #12 tungsten black stone and ran it thru there. 1st drift with the stone and the line went tight.  Fish on!  After a good 3-4 minute battle, I had a beautiful 18" brown in the net.  

 I met a guy named Jim from North Carolina whom I offered up the run I was fishing to him and his buddy.  He found my fly box I was missing and told me where he put it.  I went and retrieved my box and came back to see them on my way down stream. I gave him one of my Rubber legged buggers as well as one of my purple roncos as a thank you. I told him to tie on a girdle bug for his buddy and run it through there. I saw him on my way back up about an hour and a half later and sure enough the girdle got his buddy hooked up tight with a goodun.

It ended up being another fantastic day on the water. I fished from 8:30 till 2pm, caught a few dozen trout, 4 slams, and a stud brown on a second chance offering.  I was home in time to cook dinner and watch some football.  I'll be tying up some more black stoneflies ASAP. “

Stocker Streams:

GAWRD  stocked a few streams during the last week of September, so it’s slim pickings now.  But if catching is not the only important part of your trip, the fishing is still good.  The crowds are gone with the stocking trucks and the weather is fine. Enjoy a lot more stream to yourself. Again, cover a lot of water to find the washdowns or some resident wild fish. You might even stumble upon a BWO or midge hatch in the afternoon warmth, so keep your eyes peeled behind your polarized sunglasses.

A certain neighbor state does some fall stocking, so you might venture to the border for some Wild and Scenic action on bridge wash-downs.  Strip a small woolly bugger deep and cover a lot of stream to prospect for scattered stockers.

https://www.dnr.sc.gov/fish/stocking/results.html

Tailwaters:

UO friend Landon: “I waded the Hooch one morning this week.  The Stain has picked up from Lanier stratification, but fishing was better than expected. I did well on a Size 14 rainbow warrior trailed by a zebra midge.  I was surprised there were still as many rainbows as there were in that stretch.

(Ed note: it’s stratification and not turnover each fall.  True Turnover happens around Christmas. Right now the upper Tailwater re-oxygenates by Highway 20 due to turbulence.

https://georgiawildlife.com/lake-lanier-turnover-facts)

Chris Scalley had a good Hooch report in today’s GAWRD fishing blog.

https://georgiawildlife.blog/2022/10/14/georgia-fishing-report-october-14-2022/

Private Waters:

UO guide Caleb: The rain didn’t stop the trout from biting on Wednesday. I had a great morning at the Bend with this client. We were indicator-nymphing and almost all takes were on squirmy wormies or egg patterns. We had a few bonus hits on a size 10 olive/brown girdle bug.”

UO guide Israel:  “My clients have been most successful by running dry/dropper combos in the low water. Not much was hitting the surface, but we had good success success was the soft hackle pheasant tail dropper. These are from our new Soque River property.” 

UO guide Ben: “My two clients had a good morning on the water! Nacoochee Bend bows were eating small, non-beaded nymphs and soft hackles fished on 5 and 6X tippet in the low, clear water.”

Call the shop soon (706-878-3083) to reserve your preferred fishing dates, as our fall calendar is filling fast!

https://www.unicoioutfitters.com/guided-fishing/

If you’d like to learn how to flyfish, check out our Gilligan Special. 

https://www.unicoioutfitters.com/learn-to-fly-fish-2/

Warmwater Rivers:

No recent reports, as most folks’ attention has now turned to trout. The river at Highway 115 was low and clear today. I bet the crowds are now gone til next summer and you’d have a good float. Just use some brown trout techniques (stealth, longer casts, fluoro tippet) on them and you’ll get bit on your streamers, crawdad flies, and jigged soft plastics.

I did have one great September photo left over, so here’s to our company manager, Big Fish Jake, and his humility!

Reservoirs:

Hank the Yank said the Lanier surface bite died for him last week, but he’s hopeful that our cooler weather will drop reservoir temperatures and tempt Shad and bluebacks back to the surface.   He said: “ Slow on the pond. Scattered fishing for stripers and even the bass have become ghostlike...”

www.henrycowenflyfishing.com

Academy Jack found some Lanier stripers, so check out his report in today’s GAWRD fishing blog.  Hopefully you’ve already signed up for direct delivery of that weekly intel to you via email or text.

https://georgiawildlife.blog/2022/10/14/georgia-fishing-report-october-14-2022/

Afar:

UO friend Sautee: “Yesterday afternoon was another great day on the water. Windy with water temp of 46. Thought fish wouldn’t be looking up so I  tied on a half Chernobyl #10 for an indicator and a pheasant tail dropper. No action for a while, even after changing dropper 3 times (hare’s ear, prince nymph and rainbow warrior). Nothing. 45 minutes into the day, the wind dropped significantly and my first fish hit the half Chernobyl. Suddenly, every fish was looking up and hitting my indicator!  So, I cut off the dropper and fished the orange and brown half Chernobyl the rest of the evening. Good numbers of brookies and browns,  and hit the trifecta on my last fish of the day, a 10-inch rainbow. It was an unexpected surprise to fish on top all day and have the success I had. It made the long walk back to the car a joyful stroll through Rocky Mtn National Park.”

https://sauteetravelers.com/

UO owner Jimmy: “My grandson, Crosby, was catching rainbows on the San Miguel River near Telluride, CO.  The guide was Jacob Ramirez (Crosby's "favorite" guide).  They were fishing a hopper/dropper.  The dropper was a size 16 Jig Halo nymph.  By the way, he was fishing a 2 wt. fiberglass rod!”

Events:

Remember that Jimmy will be giving a Sunday program at the Orvis-Atlanta store. See our prior post this week. Fishing manager Devin also posted a nice video fishing report to the store’s Instagram page today.

Enjoy the weather and the low, clear water. It’s a great time to explore these streams and memorize the trout hiding spots now, so you can return and cash in during winter’s high water. Daily air temps are perfect, trout have turned on, and the Braves and Dawgs are still in the championship race. Good luck choosing your hobbies this week. As for us, we’re certainly gonna fit in some “hydrotherapy” around the ball games. Call or stop in either UO store if you need hot flies and/or tips for your own October escapes.

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com

Fall Trouting 101

Flyfishing appeals to many of us because we are always learning something new. Like golf, each day presents new challenges, and our success is not guaranteed - but very sweet when we achieve it.  But flyfishing can be intimidating to new anglers.  This column simplifies the sport.  I boil it down to the basics for trout flyfishing this fall.  

I recently gave this program to the UGA 5Rivers Fishing Club. Some of the intel in the presentation appealed to those young fly anglers, so I thought I’d write it up for all of our loyal UO followers.

I’ll outline this as the “Q&A’s of fall trouting” and cover the four main Q’s: 1) who, 2) where, 3) what, and 4) how, to be successful as our weather finally cools. I’ve collected a lot of our past online guidance and placed it into this article as “one-stop shopping” for our newer flyfishers.

First, who?  The “who” is you! My advice is to buddy-up, as fishing is more enjoyable and safer with a good friend or two along for the trip.  And if you’re rookies, please get adopted by an experienced angler or two. Your learning curves will be much flatter with regular doses of their gray-haired wisdom. YouTube is great, but an instream mentor or guide is the best teacher.  Find some friends by hanging out at your local fly shop or joining a group like a 5Rivers college club, the GA Women Flyfishers, or a local TU chapter near you. Those clubs and chapters are listed here:

https://www.georgiawomenflyfishing.com/

https://www.tu.org/conservation/outreach-education/headwaters-youth-program/explore-fishing/tu-costa-5-rivers-college-clubs/

https://georgiatu.org/find-your-georgia-tu-chapter-here/

Many of them have regular club fishing trips, so try one out.  You may also find some friends via online trout fishing groups like North GA Trout Online or the GA Trout Anglers Facebook group. Mentors are worth their weight in gold!

Now the “where.” For rookies, it’s hard to beat Delayed Harvest ( DH) streams. They’re stocked regularly and managed under catch & release regulations. Most state agencies have good online maps of these waters. For GA, the Wildlife Resources  Division has a trout page full of intel.  Visit it here:

https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout

If you scroll farther down the trout page to the special regulation section, you’ll notice the DH streams named. Click on each name and poof, you’ll discover a stream map! Here’s an example.

For starters, try Smith Creek in Unicoi State Park as a small stream option and the Chattooga River on the SC border for a taste of big waters.

Several NC DH waters, such as the Tuckaseegee, Nantahala, and Fires are also within striking distance. The Wildlife Resources Commission also has some great maps.  Start your search here:

https://www.ncwildlife.org/fishing/fishing-in-north-carolina

Then go through the menus as follows: where to fish, public mountain trout waters, regulatory classifications- choose DH and hit the search button. From that stream list, pick one and click on its map icon on the left. Poof- you have an interactive trout map. Here’s an example, the Nan near Andrews:

If you’re more experienced and would like the challenges of wild trout this fall, hit the high elevation headwaters of trout watersheds in GA and NC. The Chattooga, Hooch, Little Tennessee, and Toccoa watersheds all have some good opportunities for bushwackers stalking small, cagy residents of cold tribs, up high.  Dry/dropper techniques work well. Residents will attack your dries while water temps stay above 50. Below that mark, your subsurface dropper will get more attention and your dry will serve as the strike indicator.

The mountains of NC national forests are full of trout streams, as are the Smokies. Those taller mountains north of our border keep more waters cold through our hot summers. The national park also has a great interactive map here:

https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/maps.htm

For more info on stream opportunities, consider buying these guide books: 1) Peach State Trout by Jimmy Jacobs, the Flyfishers Guide to NC & GA by Nick Carter, and the FF Guide to GSMNP by Jim Casada.

https://shoponline.unicoioutfitters.com/fly-fishing-for-peach-state-trout-jimmy-jacobs.html

On to our third topic, the “what.”  When rookies ask trouting vets what they caught all their trout on, many vets will reply, “a good drift.”  In most cases, “how” trumps “what,” as our technique is more important than the fly pattern.  So having a basic box of bugs is all you need to get started. Just pay very close attention to our upcoming topic, the “how.”

Long ago, I suggested a basic box of a dozen fly patterns. It’s still a good reference. You can find it here, on Rabun TU’s website. 

https://rabuntu.org/

Click on about Rabun TU, then education, then secrets. Near the bottom is the basic fly box. (Peruse the other topics, too, for some great  intel.)  Here’s the box:

For fall and winter fishing, just load up on six subsurface patterns: egg, worm, rubberleg stone, woolly bugger, hares ear nymph, and pheasant tail nymph. Buy at least three flies of each pattern because you’re going to lose some flies to fish, trees, and submerged boulders.

Before next spring, you can add those dry fly patterns to your box.  Fished right, these 12 patterns will put you on fish year-round and across the country. You can add other “hot fly” patterns as your time and budget allow, but first stock up on these dozen bugs and learn how to fish them well. 

Which brings us to the most important aspect, the “how.” If you can master the heron-stalk, the short cast, and the drag-free drift (DFD) you’ll be in business. An outline of the DFD is on that Rabunite secrets page, and a brief narrative and two great demo videos are in our blog, here:

http://blog.angler.management/2021/11/the-dfd-and-hooksets-are-free.html

If your strike indicator floats downstream at the same speed and in the same current line as an adjacent leaf or bubble, you’ll be in business. Just be sure that indi “ticks” occasionally to show you that your flies are bumping the bottom every now and then.

That’s all you need to know to have some early flyfishing success this fall. Grab a buddy, get adopted by a mentor, scope out a DH stream or two, and arm yourself with a well-stocked box of the 6 or 12 fly patterns. Most importantly, dress like a rhododendron bush, stalk like a blue heron, and perfect your drag-free drift. Before you know it, that flimsy fly rod will bend and dance, and you’ll be hooked for life.

Just like us. Welcome to the affliction. There is no cure. We all must simply take regular treatments!  

There are costs for this great intel. Are you ready to pay? First, pass it on. When you enhance your own skills, watch for that struggling streamside newbie and be the hero.  Take an hour out of your day to offer a hot fly and some instream advice. Turn their crummy day into a memorable one.  You’ll catch some smiles that will rival those spawned from the fish you landed. Second, conserve. Do your part to protect trout waters and their forested watersheds. Join a conservation group and be the next generation of caretakers for your adopted waters. Do we have a deal?

Good luck from our UO gang. Tune in to our weekly fishing reports for more timely tips.

http://blog.angler.management/

Stop in or call us if we can help you further down your trail of flyfishing success!

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com