The regular season for trout has now been open for 3 weeks and we're finding good to great fishing most everywhere. Although we've had a warm spell for the past week or so, we expect normal Spring time temperatures to return over the next few weeks. Good rains have helped stream levels across north Georgia this Spring, but meteorologists are still predicting a continuation of the drought which has plagued our state for four years now. Let's just hope they're inaccurate in their projections and we'll have good fishing through July and August. In the meantime, let's enjoy what we've got right now; really good fishing with a lot of dry fly action! The Chattahoochee River through Helen is still loaded with fish and fishing well, even with the seasonal impact of the fair weather anglers looking for their limit. Flies that are producing in town are Y2K Bugs, #14 Pheasant Tails and Soft Hackle Pheasant Tails, Olive Woolly Buggers, and Parachute Adams. Up in the management area, the river is fishing well also. With the warm weather we've been having lately, there are lots of bugs hatching and the fish are looking up. Try #16 Yellow Humpies, #14 & 16 Adams, as well as #14 & 16 Light Cahills. Smith Creek is still under Delayed Harvest rules until May 14th and is still being stocked with nice size fish. We've had several successful trips there lately with lots of fish being caught; including some relatively large ones. Flies that are working well are #16 Parachute Adams during the middle of the day (11:00 AM -4:00 PM) and #16 Brown Caddis later in the afternoon. One other note about Smith and the Delayed Harvest program. We recently had a customer tell us they had reported an angler fishing Smith Creek with corn. Georgia's delayed harvest program is a good thing for us trout fishermen, but it is abused on occasion. If you see someone violating the law, please don't hesitate to report them. DNR needs our support. These people are poachers and game hogs; don't let them get away with it. The Chattooga River has been good in the afternoons. Light Cahills are working as are #16 Peacock Caddis. The Georgia/South Carolina cooperative Delayed Harvest program for the Chattooga River is looking like it's going to become a reality this Fall. That will make an awesome fishery! For those of you unfamiliar with that section of the river, Unicoi Outfitters has the only Forest Service permit to guide on the river. We would love to schedule you for a full day guided trip there next Fall or Winter. Give us a call. Dukes Creek has been as schizophrenic as ever lately. Anglers either love it or hate it. Understandably, those who love it are catching fish; those who hate it are pretty much getting skunked. We had some ladies with the Tennessee Brookies down a week ago and they had a good morning on Dukes. Largest fish was a 16" rainbow. The ensuing week's anglers (at least the ones who stopped by the shop afterwards) had some really tough times. Our suggestion would be to simply remember that Dukes Creek gets to see something like 90 anglers each week. That can make the fish pretty wary. Approach any likely fish-holding water with extreme stealth. Make good casts and, above all, get a drag-free drift. If you think you're fishing over a place that holds fish, don't be in a hurry to move on through. Keep presenting your fly until you think you have put it in front of the fish with absolutely no drag! "NO" drag! That's the number one reason people don't catch fish. Our float trips are becoming very popular. With 100+ fish days, it's not difficult to understand why. Don't expect lots of big fish like we have on our private streams. However, you'll catch plenty of smaller fish, with an occasional nice fish in the mid-teens. Largest fish landed by a client on a float trip this month was an 18" rainbow; beautiful fish. Private WatersThis is a fun time to be guiding on our private streams. We're catching lots of fish, many on dry flies, and some of them extremely large. We're using the usual dries like Humpies, Adams, and Caddis patterns, but we're also having phenomenal success with big dry flies like Tarantulas, Chernobyls, and Hopper patterns. Butch Martin put on a short Nacoochee Bend dry fly seminar for our TU meeting in April and proceeded to catch 5 big rainbows in 30 minutes on the Tarantula. The smallest was at least 18" and they all literally attacked the fly. Frog Hollow is also producing some dry fly action, as is our Super Secret Stream. Frog Hollow is consistently producing fish in the 10-pound plus range. Hamp Cross has a running grudge match with an abusive rainbow in the 15-pound class. Seems this fish has repeatedly shown absolutely no respect for Hamp's professional guide status and, during their last encounter, proceeded to show him exactly what he thought of a 7 wt. rod and 2X tippet. Hamp, along with several clients, is still "0 for every time" the big fish has been hooked. What's NewWe've begun carrying a new line of flies at the shop. We now have a selection of patterns from McKenzie Flies. Patterns like the Electric Prince, CDC Pheasant Tail, and a Green Caddis Worm among others. We're really partial to the Green Caddis Worm. While we can't exactly claim that we invented this pattern, we can say that we had never seen it prior to 5 years ago when one of our guides came up with the pattern and immediately began catching lots of fish with them. Now they're available commercially. Stop by and take a look at these unique patterns. Some times all it takes to catch fish is to show them something they haven't seen before. ESPN2Nacoochee Bend and Frog Hollow will be featured in May on ESPN2's "Fly Fishing America" with Chad Foster. At this point, we think it will air on May 20th at 11:00 AM, May 22nd at 11:30 AM and May 25th at 10:00 AM. To verify these dates and times, you may link to ESPN2's website from Unicoi Outfitters' homepage (http://www.unicoioutfitters.com). Watch for us! As always, we want to thank everyone for allowing us to be your fly shop. You are all very important to us and we are grateful. Also, remember, if you would like to have your name removed from our email list, please simply type "Remove" in the subject line and send us a reply to this newsletter. Likewise, if you know someone whom you think would like to receive our monthly updates, please send us their email address. Now, go fishing! The Liars Club |