APRIL, 2006 UNICOI NEWSLETTER

Trout anglers this month have witnessed some of the most impressive caddis hatches we've seen in a long time; particularly on the tailwater streams like the Toccoa, Nantahala and Tuckaseegee Rivers. At times they have literally been blanketing the rivers like a fog. When you throw in a mix of March Browns, Hendricksons, and Blue Wing Olives, this is truly a magical time to be on the water. We've even seen fish taking flying ants off the surface. This is normally something you don't see until the weather really heats up but, with that blast of hot air we experienced last week the ants were out and the fish were dining on them. If you only fish "dry flies to rising fish" as the old Englishmen say, now is the time to be here. Lee Hiers even caught a trout in mid-air on the Tuck this past week. Seems Lee spotted an aggressively rising fish (read, coming completely out of the water after caddis) and cast to it. As his fly reached the end of the cast but had not settled to the water, the trout jumped clear of the surface and literally took the fly in mid-air. Talk about a drag free presentation! It's fun out there right now and we hope you are taking advantage of it.

Recently on the Nantahala River, we've been using big caddis dries (size 14's) with a green body. On the Tuckaseegee, we've been seeing mostly tan or grey bodied caddis (size 16). On the Chattooga, it's been cream caddis as well as green bodied caddis with tan wings (size 14 & 16). The Chattooga late in the evening also has a lot of mottled grey caddis in 16's & 18's. These can be a little difficult to see on the surface so drop them off the back of the larger cream caddis fly.

While you're fishing for all these surface feeding fish, don't forget that, even now, the overwhelming majority of a trout's diet is obtained subsurface. Small wet hare's ears, partridge and peacocks, soft hackle pheasant tails or any of the other myriad varieties of wet flies will catch lots of fish now. Rig your line with a 9' tapered nylon 5X leader down to your dry fly. From the bend of your dry fly hook, tie on about two or three feet of 6X fluorocarbon (it sinks better than nylon) and use your top fly as an indicator with a hook in it. This can be a very effective combination this time of the year. Treat your dry fly with floatant before fishing it and, while you've got the floatant on your fingers, grease up a few inches of your tippet as well. This can often help float a dry that is trying to be pulled under by the dropper. When casting this rig, open your cast up just a little to help prevent tailing loops. An interesting phenomenon often happens when fishing this type of rig. You will frequently see a fish "rise" and swear that it has taken your dry fly. When you get it in, you'll find that it has actually taken the nymph/emerger dropper. You get the thrill of the take of a rising fish but you have the added opportunity of fooling them with the dropper.

On a trip to the Chattooga this past week, we noticed good hatches of bugs popping up out of the riffles in the morning. The dry/wet fly combo proved deadly in those areas with about 5 fish taking the wet for every one on the dry. As the sun climbed over the ridge, bug activity died down and, obviously, so did the number of fish rising to the surface. However, the dry/wet rig continued to take fish. Late in the evening, around 7:00 PM, things began to start happening again. From then until dark, it was continuous action on dries and double dry rigs (remember the mottled grey caddis dropped off the larger cream caddis). Biologists have known for years that most insect activity in the southeast occurs after dark. Take a good flashlight with you and hang around until you just can no longer see to fish. You will be surprised at the experience. Remember, the Chattooga delayed harvest season ends May 15th. We hope you can experience what this phenomenal stream has to offer.

If small mountain streams are your forte, you've probably already been making the trek to your favorite places. While the hatches may not be as impressive as on the tailwaters or the larger streams, it's still a good time for dry fly fishing. On these streams it isn't always what fly you fish with as much as it is how you present it. A good attractor pattern that can be seen well in low light conditions will often produce just as many fish as one that was designed to match the hatch. Royal Trudes, Parachute Adams, Light Cahills are all easy for the angler to see but will catch plenty of fish. Food in these high mountain streams is pretty scarce and the fish are conditioned to bite first and ask questions later. If it looks like something they can eat, and you present it well without having spooked them on your approach, they'll rise to it.

Before we move on from the latest fishing reports, we wanted to tell you about the Toccoa River below Blue Ridge dam. Many of you know it has been a real Jekyll and Hyde stream since last fall. Fishing was tough, no doubt about it. Many anglers had even expressed some concern that warm water temps last fall had negatively impacted the trout population. Well, we have a couple of interesting things to report to you. First, Georgia DNR recently did a sampling on the Toccoa to determine whether or not something had happened to the fish. While there was no good baseline information available to compare with historical sampling numbers (a 2003 sample was done during high water because they didn't have a shocking boat small enough to use on the river at low water), their survey did find reasonably good populations of rainbows and browns in the river with some pretty impressive fish taken. Wayne Probst, Fisheries Program Regional Supervisor for Northwest Georgia, had the following summary of their findings:

"Several interesting comparisons can be made between the 2006 sample and the 2003 survey. The ratio of rainbows to browns was nearly 1:1 in the 2006 sample but was 2.4:1 in the 2003 survey. Rainbow trout averaged 193mm in the 2006 sample and 244mm in the 2003 survey. Brown trout averaged 275 mm in the 2006 sample and 239mm in the 2003 survey. The differences observed between the sample years could be related to season, personnel, water level or equipment differences. However, we were unable to detect any reduction in the trout population between the two samples. Recent reports of large insect hatches remains an interesting factor that may be related to the reduced catch rates reported. Following the 2006 sample we turned over rocks and conducted a few kick net samples at Curtis Switch Road. Although the number of caddis flies, scuds and other invertebrates appeared to be present in modest numbers the mayfly population seemed very abundant."

Now, this information, coupled with recent successful trips on the Toccoa, is good news. If we simply aren't catching as many fish because of an abundance of food in the river, then we've just got to become better fishermen. Three of Unicoi's guides, Butch Martin, David Hulsey and Julian Byrd floated the river this past week and caught over a hundred fish. Many of them were very nice, quality fish caught by stripping size 10 Olive Woolly Buggers but quite a few fish were also caught on dry/dropper rigs in the riffles. Another of our guides, Kent Klewein, recently landed a huge Toccoa brown trout right at dusk that measured 26" (see http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55349 ). David Hulsey had a recent guided trip on which the clients also had a successful day with the largest fish being a 21" rainbow. So, what does this say about this great fishery? You just need to get out there and figure it out. Some of the most popular and storied streams in the country are those that require a higher skill level than your average stream. Is this the new Toccoa? We can't say but we can tell you we're going to have fun figuring it out.

FOR SALE!

How many fly shops do you know that will help someone else sell their stuff? Only Unicoi Outfitters! Ha! Actually, we think this is a great project and want to encourage our friends to check it out and, possibly, support it. We received the following information from John Kies of the Pisgah Chapter Trout Unlimited (John used to live in Atlanta and was a long-time member of the Georgia TU Council):

The Pisgah Chapter of TU decided to sponsor "Trout in the Classroom" with a $500 starter for one of our middle schools. Instead, we had a benefactor appear and we are now at the $5000 level and we're putting 75 gallon aquariums in all four of our local middle schools! One way this is being funded is via a very unique donation, a collection of bamboo rods and old reels. All the proceeds directly support the Trout in the Classroom program. I am not a bamboo person (could not afford it anyway) but from what I know, this is a great collection and the prices are notable. The web site that goes to the newsletter page is http://www.main.nc.us/PCTU/snagsandsnarls.pdf. Go to the website and scroll to the bottom of the page (actually, there's some good stuff to read on the way down the page) for details. There are some true collectors items in the collection. Tell them you heard about it from Unicoi Outfitters.

YOU GOIN' FISHIN' OR JUST SHOOTIN' CRAPS?

Ed. Note: The following was submitted by our friend and long-time nemesis C. K. Nyms

"In the past few weeks, I have had multiple opportunities to go a-stream with a variety of friends and acquaintances who are in various stages of learning to flyfish. Some genuinely new to the sport (been fishing for a year or two) and others with decades of experience, though it's sometimes hard to tell from watching them. Now, I don't claim to be an expert angler by any means but folks do seem to search me out for advice and instruction so one could conclude that I must know more than those doing the asking, or at least it appears I do. And while appearances are important to people, they are not so important to trout. If you're fishing for trout and have any expectations of doing any catching, you've got to do it their way or you're just shootin' craps. Matter of fact, your odds may be better at craps. It's a wonder some anglers ever roll a winning number. I'm not complaining, understand, it's just that we all have so little of our valuable time to spend on a trout stream that I often wonder why more anglers don't try to be at least a little bit better at it. A good friend of mine is fond of saying, "A trout has a brain the size of a pea. If it was the size of a butter bean, some folks would never catch one." Friends, this is the gospel.

"Well, this whole situation has been weighing heavy on my mind lately. I realize the novice flyfisherman has a lot to learn and, hopefully, will stay at it long enough to pick up some good habits along the way. The great flyfishing diety, Orvis, will tell you that 80% of the people who go through their schools never pick up a fly rod again. That's real disheartening! It's probably because you can't learn a whole lot in a two and half day class, most of which is spent somewhere other than on the water. But what's even more discouraging is to see the "experienced" angler struggling once they do get on the water. If you're still reading this, please bear with me while I list a few observations I've made.

"First, if you're going to invest the time, energy, and money (which now includes floating a loan for gas just to get to your favorite creek), why won't you ask somebody to help you be better at it? The Bible says pride goeth before the fall and, Lord knows, there's plenty of falling in trout fishing. Don't be ashamed to ask someone to show you how to be better. And if they volunteer to help, stay at 'em til you get the answers you need. Make them be specific. Why did you choose that fly? What leader are you using? How long is it? Is it 5X or 6X? How long is your dropper section of tippet? Why did you cast right there? How long do I fish here before giving up and moving on? You need to be just like a little kid who's annoying the heck out of his parents asking questions. If you don't have any friends who will volunteer to go through this with you, then break down and pay somebody. If they're a taking ya money, they got to listen to ya.

"In the past couple of weeks, I've watched some pretty good casters doing some awful fishing. And I've seen some pretty lousy casters, doing some pretty good fishing once they got the fly on the water. So, secondly, you need to decide up front whether you like casting or you like fishing. And either one is okay but they ain't necessarily mutual. I can tell you this, you ain't catching much unless your fly gets on the water now and then. If you're there to fish, try keeping your false casts to a minimum, like zero. You try learning to fish without even making a backcast and you'll catch more fish, simply because your fly is on the water longer than the guy who makes a half dozen false casts before he sets it down. You pick out a spot to cast to upstream from your position, let it drift past you and use a waterhaul to load your rod and flip your fly back upstream. Since we're likening this whole experience to shooting craps, you just upped your odds of being the guy at your table who rolls a winning number because you, in effect, just got to roll more times than the guy next to you who's doing all that false casting. You don't have to cast far in the part of the world to catch a trout. You just have to make sure the cast you make is to an area that may hold fish.

"Thirdly (if that's a word), learn how to fish with different techniques. I've seen some anglers who spend a lot of time fishing but they only have one technique, like swinging a woolly bugger through a run and stripping it back at the end of the drift. There's no doubt this can be an extremely effective way to fish, but it doesn't apply in all situations and, to me, is no fun at all when I know I can catch fish on a dry or wet fly on or near the surface. It certainly eliminates the high demand for a drag free drift but don't let that be your reason for not trying to broaden your skills. You'll have so much more fun when you fish with the confidence of knowing you can drift a dry fly or a nymph without drag, or that you have learned how to detect a strike without having to feel it on a tight line. Learn what causes drag (varying currents) and how to manage your line either with mends or by "high sticking" your fly through the fishy places. And learn how to set the hook. Those aren't gar we're fishing for with mouths made of bone and armor-like scales. These are trout with soft, fleshy mouths. You set the hook like you're bass fishing with a Hopkins spoon in 30 feet of water and you'll rip the lips right off a trout. The hook set is most often just a slight, quick lift of the rod. Your rod hand may not move more than 6 inches, it's just got to be quick.

"The next thing is learning where the fish are most likely to be holding. Nowadays they call it "reading the water". And with a little bit of practice, you can learn to figure out where a trout may be just by looking at the surface currents. Now I know Jimmy Harris has that real interesting underwater video he travels around showing folks and that's all fine and good but, unless you stick your head under the water, you can't tell exactly what's happening under there so you've got to learn some things about what you can see on the surface to help you figure out why a trout may or may not be in there. There are some books available that address this subject but you really need to get on the water before you learn anything about it. And I would suggest you don't take the book on the water with you cause the other anglers may think you're kind of funny acting when they see you standing in the middle of the creek with your book open to the page that has a picture that looks like what you're seeing there. Start with this idea: a trout's got to have clean, cold water, food and protection from the other critters that want to eat him. If you're in a creek that doesn't have clean, cold water, then don't worry about the other two ingredients cause they don't matter. If you're lucky enough to find a good stream, then start looking for places where the current will funnel food to the fish. You'll get better at it as time goes by but in the beginning just look for places where the current is channeling debris or those bubbles lines created from organic matter in the stream When you find that, then ask yourself if the trout will feel safe holding in that area waiting on his dinner. What makes them feel safe? Well, being invisible to their predators is pretty much ingrained into that little pea-sized brain. How do they become invisible? Color in the water certainly helps. Right after a rain that has clouded the water they may hold in a place where they would never set foot if the water was crystal clear. So your approach to fishing changes if the water conditions change. They can also find security in depth. The deeper the water, the more difficult it is for an osprey or an eagle to see them. Us, too; it's more difficult for us to seem them in deep water and we're one of their predators. At least they think we are. If there's no deep or off-color water around, they'll look for rough water areas with a lot of chop on the surface. That chop keeps us from seeing them underneath. It also keeps them from seeing us up above which means we can get closer to them and make shorter casts. See how this works? Logs and rocks can also provide cover as long as they're in a place in the stream that has enough current to bring the food to the table.

"Fly fishing can get as technical as you want it, or it can be simple and fun for everybody. Myself, I like simple. I like fly boxes with nothing in them but a variety of sizes of pheasant tails and hares ears. I like small streams and little wild fish that aren't so sophisticated that I have to have a PhD in entomology to pick out my fly. Shoot, I don't even like to hear scientific names for bugs, it makes me nervous that you'll think less of me cause I don't know what you're talking about. Give me a big grey fly and I'll drop a little brown one off the back of it and let's go fishing! There was a time early on in my flyfishing life when I thought I had to know all that stuff. I was real uptight on the creek one day when a good friend comes up on me and notices by my language that I ain't having much fun. He says to me, "Dang, C.K., it's just fishin'." That was an epiphany moment in my life and I've tried to remember that every time I go onstream.

"I hope I haven't offended any of you. I didn't set out to, I promise. It's just that I see some of you out there flailing away in places that don't hold any fish, or I'll see folks coming along behind you catching fish in the place you just spent 45 minutes fishing. I just want you to have a better time when you're out there. Now and then lots of us will tell you that it's just great to be out there whether we're catching anything or not and, to some degree that's the truth. But I can just about guarantee you that if you like just being there, you'll like it even better if you're catchin' fish. Find you somebody who's willing to help you become a better flyfisherman. They're out there. You just got to ask cause we ain't always bold enough to walk up to you and tell you how bad you need help. I want to see you folks have as much fun as I do when you step in the creek. Thank ya'll for listening to me. I hope I see you on the river one day soon." - C. K. Nyms

THANK YOU

As always, we are grateful for your friendship and your patronage. If you ever need current fishing information or specifications and recommendations on gear, please call us at (706) 878-3083 in Helen or (706) 632-1880 in Blue Ridge.

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Tight lines!

The Liars Club http://www.unicoioutfitters.com