Regional Trout Fly Fishing
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There are many other fly fishing opportunities within one and a half to two hours of Unicoi Outfitters. These include streams in north Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Consider too, that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is about a two hour drive from Unicoi Outfitters and offers something for the entire family as well as some fine trout fishing.

The thing to remember about fishing in the Southeast is that you do not have to retire your trout rods for the winter. Many quality streams are open all year. In fact, some anglers consider the "off season" to be the best time to fish. The weather is generally mild with cool mornings and relatively warm afternoons, and there are fewer fishermen to contend with. Some tailwaters offer nearly daily hatches of midges right through the dead of winter when it is possible to hook 30 to 40 fish a day using subsurface and surface patterns such as pupas and emergers. Not bad for a mid-winter day in January or February!

North Carolina and Georgia both offer delayed harvest streams that are stocked with larger-than-normal trout and managed throughout the winter months as catch-and-release fisheries. Delayed harvest seasons generally begin in late fall and extend to late spring; fishing is usually excellent, depending on water levels. Tennessee has four outstanding tailwaters that provide year round fly fishing for rainbow and brown trout. 

State resources:

Regional resources:

  • Hatch Chart for Southern Appalachians - Chart applicable to streams in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia
  • Chattahoochee Tail Water Hatch Chart - Chattahoochee Coldwater Fishery Foundation
  • Aquatic Ecology Page - This is the site to visit for information concerning aquatic life and ecology. Of particular interest to the fly fisher and fly tier, is the Insects section with listings for Ephemeroptera Galactica, World Trichoptera Checklist, Chironomid Page, Plecoptera (a listing of North American stone flies), and the Dragonfly and Damselfly Links page. Many sites have close-up views of mayflies, caddis, midges, stoneflies, and other aquatic insects that you can download and display on your computer as you tie flies. This is a SUPER site for entomological information.

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