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June Unicoi Newsletter

Hey, we're back! Hope everyone has had a great Spring fishing season this year. After a brief scare a few weeks back when the water temperatures spiked up into the 70's in the afternoons, we have returned to more seasonable conditions. Water temperatures on our trophy streams are in the mid-60's right now and fishing is good all day long. Temps in the headwaters are considerably cooler and the fishies are happy. If there is such a thing as dry fly season in Georgia, this is probably as close as we'll get. Caddis, cahills, sulfurs and yellow sallies are common enough to warrant using even if you don't see a hatch coming off. Terrestrials are also coming into their own with the warming of Summer. Parachute ants, hopper patterns and Stimulators are all working well on most streams. Drop a small pheasant tail off the back of the hook to cover all your bases. You can also fish a nymph/dropper nymph rig with good results, but, to tell you the truth, we just can't pass up the opportunity to watch that dry fly drifting along. What's New We should be receiving the first of the new Orvis Clearwater Classic Rods within the next couple of weeks. Honestly, we were prepared to be underwhelmed by this latest development from Orvis. In the past, we have thought so little of the Clearwater rods that we didn't even bother stocking them in the shop. In our opinion, there were better entry level rods on the market, some for even less money. Thus, history led us to expect little from the "new and improved" models. Guess what. We were wrong! Our new Orvis rep showed up recently with a couple of the new Classics. The first thing you notice is that they are darn good looking. Black sanded blanks with maroon wraps, spigot ferrules, redwood reel seats and attractive pewter colored hardware. Good lookin' rods! But, bottom line, how do they cast? This was the real shocker. They cast nicely - very nicely. We had a 3 wt. and a 9 wt.; one extreme to the other. The 3 wt. is smooth and cast well from 10 feet to 60 feet. The 9 wt. has plenty of power, yet the action is not the least bit stiff. After only a few warm up casts, we were casting the entire line with little effort. The Clearwater Classic line of rods is currently available in 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 weights, priced from $165.00 to $185.00. The 5 and 8 weights are also available in 4 piece models priced at $195.00 and $210.00 respectively; not bad for a good travel rod. As with all Orvis rods, these come with the 25 year warranty. Stop in and try them out; you'll be surprised. What's Up? The Georgia Outdoors television program, "Georgia Trout Grand Slam", we mentioned in last month's newsletter will air Saturday June 22 at 6:00 PM and again on Friday June 28 at 11:00 PM on GPTV. Our part of the show features wild brown trout fishing on Jones Creek. Also, for those who missed the Fly Fishing America episode featuring Unicoi Outfitters and Frog Hollow, we will be part of their season-ending "Best Of" show. Air times are June 24 at 11:00 AM, June 26 at 11:30 AM and again at June 29 at 10:00 AM. Fishing in Drag Well, actually we're talking about fishing "with" drag. You can bet that most fly fishermen don't really understand why they aren't catching many fish. And not just beginners, either. We've seen many an experienced fly fisherman with a decent grasp of how to cast a fly rod, but with no clue how to fish one. Undoubtedly, the number one reason most fly fishermen don't catch many fish is because they are not getting a drag-free drift on their fly. Those trout have a brain the size of a pea, but they ain't stupid. If what you're offering them doesn't look and act like one of the natural food choices they have, odds are they will ignore it. They'll do more than ignore it; they'll actually move out of the way of the passing fly to let if blow right by. Talk about adding insult to injury! What is a drag-free drift and why is it so important? Without getting into Gary LaFontaine's territory, suffice it to say that most of the insects available as food to trout are usually either crawling around on subsurface stones or free drifting along with the current. Seldom are they capable of swimming either against the current or ahead of the current. Granted, some insects do go through a stage of their life cycle where they rise to the surface to metamorphose into the adult stage of their lives and, when this is happening, we can certainly use our ability to fish with drag to our advantage. And this whole concept may be the topic for another article. For now, let's concentrate on getting that drag-free drift with our fly. Now, here's where some of the more hard core, do it by the book, casters may be coming up out of their chair screaming "Blasphemy!" Here's the concept in a nutshell: "You do whatever you have to do with your rod and/or line to keep that fly drifting along naturally with the current." Forget, for a little while, everything you've heard or learned about the proper way to cast a fly line. You know; start with the rod tip low, stop the rod in the two o'clock position on the backcast while your line straightens out behind you, abruptly stop the rod at the ten o'clock position on your forward cast to make that tight loop sail toward your target. All of this is critical to know you to understand how to make a cast, no doubt about it. But! None of this does you one bit of good if your fly begins to drag as soon as it hits the water. What we want you to do is play around with making unorthodox casts just to see what you can do with the line and how many different ways you can lay the line on the water that can be helpful in allowing your fly to drift naturally when in view of a fish. Did you know that you can actually aerialize (is that a word?) your line in much the same manner as a cowboy doing lariat tricks or, even more impressive, like the young Olympian performing rhythmic gymnastics with a ribbon on the end of a stick. There is no law that says your fly line must travel in a straight line behind and in front of you. Practice those little sky-writing movements with a relatively short line (no more than 20 feet), putting the fly down on the water at really odd angles. For example, if you're right handed, and the current is moving from your left to right, try making figure eight movements overhead with the tip of your rod; wide, flowing loops that are simply meant to keep the fly under tension at all times as it follows your line through the air. As you begin the final forward motion to present the fly o the water, tilt the rod tip hard left over your head, stopping it at an angle which is high enough to allow the tippet to turn over and land lightly on the water. What you'll find is that your line will have so much slack in it, while being upstream of your fly, the fly simply drifts along with the current, unimpeded by drag from a line pulling it downstream. Do you have too much slack line on the water? Probably not. Consider that you may be somewhere between 5 and 6 feet tall; your arm is another couple of feet and, finally, you have an 8 or 9 foot fly rod in your hand. With 15 - 17 feet of lever at your disposal, you can move a lot of line when the need arises to set the hook. The important thing is, you'll have more opportunities to set the hook because you'll be getting more strikes from the fish than you ever were before because your fly looks natural as it drifts with the current. There are many alternatives to the straight-line cast that can give you an edge when pursuing the wily trout (that brain's got to be larger than a pea!). More than we can go into here in this one article. There are mending (a totally foreign concept to many flyfishermen), tuck casts, puddle casts, reach casts and other methods that may not even have names but can make the difference between catching and not catching fish. Don't worry about what others think of your style.You can't violate the laws of physics and cast your fly line, but you can experiment with alternative methods that can help you in certain fishing situations. On your next fishing trip, spend some time practicing this technique.You may be surprised at the results. 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. If you know someone whom you think would like to receive our monthly updates, please send us their email address. Tight lines! The Liars Club

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