UO Fishing Report - 6/5/26
A rainless week now has our trout waters low and clear and our bass rivers slowly clearing. Wild trout, stockers, and even private water fish were on fire, thanks to an atypical run of cool weather that knocked down water temps. Pond fishing was also hot, while we’ve had no news from reservoir fans.
The first week of June is National Fishing Week and GADNR offers two free fishing days, so introduce a friend to fishing for free! We have the events list in our full report.
Catch all the angling intel and event list in our full report, here:
https://www.unicoioutfitters.com/fishing-reports
(Link in bio)
Stop in either UO store for supplies and advice. And come to our Sautee shop tonite for burgers, dogs, and fish tales!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com
Sautee: 706-878-3083. Open 8-5 daily. (2454 GA Hwy 17, Sautee-Nacoochee.)
Clarkesville: 706-754-0203. Open 8-5 from Monday thru Saturday.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: yellow stimulator, purple haze, yellow humpy, micro chubby, water walker, tan elk hair caddis.
Nymphs & Wets:
Squirmies, Mops, and buggers for stockers. Soft hackles, zebra midge , micro girdle bug, frenchie, duracell, jig CDC pheasant tail.
Mountain streams: Pheasant tail, prince nymph, small Frenchie, sunken ant, and soft hackle partridge
Streamers:
Sparkle minnow, jig mini bugger, bank robber sculpin.
Reservoir Bass & Stripers:
Cowen’s somethin else, low fat minnow, game changer, Clouser.
River bass:
Topwater: Boogle popper, stealth bombers
Streamers: Thrasher, leggy boi, feather changer, black woolly bugger, clouser minnow.
Bottom bouncing flies: crittermite, crawfish jambalaya, jig bugger.
Bream:
Boogle bugs, Bumble butt, prince nymph, bream reaper.
Carp:
Carp it bomb, hybrid worm, ball peen craw.
Headwaters:
They’re skinny once again due to a week without rain, but water temps are still good for your wild trout trips. Remember your black and yellow summer bugs.
Athens Jay: “I did some camping and mountain bike fishing for wild trout this week. I saw a few bugs here and there, but no fish rising to eat. I did have good luck with yellow dry flies. Yellow elk hair Caddis, parachute light Cahill, yellow stimulator all worked when presented properly. Lots of “bump refusals” as usual with wild fish.”
UO guide Syd: “On my off day this week, I took a friend to my favorite small stream and we wore out some small but BEAUTIFUL wild rainbows. He caught about an 8 inch “trophy”. Then we did some evening fishing at the lake and I caught my biggest bluegill !”
Delayed Harvest:
It’s now over around these parts and we’ll look forward to next fall’s program restart.
Dredger went on a farewell trip to Nantahala DH Sunday evening, as the NC program’s spring season ends on the first June Saturday.
The water was slightly low but still stained from all the recent rains. He started at 4PM with a dry/dropper rig in deeper pools and pockets while he waited for some dusk bug activity. The stain and overhead clouds helped and fish cooperated, with more hitting the Frenchie dropper 3 feet below the Adams dry.
He moved up to shallow pockets and runs and traded the frenchie for a cahill dry. Hits weren’t as numerous, but were all on top. He was happy to have his license checked by a fine new NC warden.
As the sun set around 7:30, a few cahills and yellow sallies began to fly, so he hatch-matched. His best dusk bugs were a #16 yellow Sally and a #18 para-cahill. Some picky fish that refused the dead drift were convinced via a twitch or skitter.
Stocked bows, browns, and a few brooks came to hand, along with a few little wild bows and browns. His final fish hit the net at 8:15 and he quit at 830, the sole angler on the river for the last three hours. Despite the stormy forecast, he stayed dry the entire time. A trip highlight was competing with a mink for fishing hotspots in boulder pockets. It was a fine “last call” at the NC’s delayed harvest season.
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Stockers:
The GA program is still going strong. With warmer days forecast, the big-stream action will be better in the mornings, before water temps rise with the sunshine. Small, shaded streams will still fish well throughout the day. Check out the newest stocking list here and sign up to get your own copy each Friday afternoon.
UO guide Syd: “My public water guide trips have been fishing well early in the mornings. This week I got a mom and her daughter on her first trout ever and then took them to the lake to catch some bluegill. It was a fun time for our trio.”
Private Waters:
We’re done until next fall, except for a few instructional sessions vis our Gilligan Special. The last few, cool days gave us a nice closeout. Syd reports: “ My client had a great time yesterday at Rainbow Point due to a cool morning that had the fish very active! We caught a lot of gooduns on pats and squirmies.”
Tailwaters:
No recent reports.
Warm Rivers:
Most of our larger rivers are finally clearing after last week’s post-storm, muddy messes. They’ll be a best bet as long as the storms back off and the water clears.
UO buddy RSquared: “Early this morning(5th), a neighbor & I made it to one of our local NW Ga. Streams. The water was still high, fast, and dingy, but I was desperate for some hydrotherapy. I was able to find some of our local “Alabama Brook Trout”(Coosa Redeyes ) looking up. Yellow continues to work on these scrappy little natives. Great fun on a light fly rod!”
The UO gang closed its two shops last Tuesday for their semi-annual staff fishing day. Three raftfuls of anglers , armed with both fly and spin gear, assaulted a muddy Hooch, with just 2 or 3 feet of visibility. The fishing and fellowship were fun, while the catching was slow in the YooHoo. They landed a bunch of feisty redbreast on small poppers and a handful of river bass on plugs, ned rigs, and crawdad flies.
Trip highlights included Syd earning a new nickname, Flipper,
and Izzie’s tank Shoalie. Israel also earned “hero” honors by retrieving Jimmy’s Shelta hat. I’ll let y’all ask Jimmy how he lost it…
It was a great time together on a beautiful Tuesday “shooting the Hooch.”
Ponds:
Still a best bet, especially when you can locate the bream beds. Athens Jay: “Blue moon, blue boogle bug, bluegill: Piedmont pond paddleboard fishing was good to me this past week. Lots of topwater action using a large blue Boogle, and using a big tan chubby Chernobyl.”
UO owner Jimmy’s grandson has been wearing out north metro pond bass on swim baits and Coikes (those urchin lookalikes).
Lakes:
No recent reports.
Afar:
As he does every year, Dredger drove north of the border to extend his spring dry fly action. Yesterday he hit the Smokies after a late lunch at Haywood Smokehouse. Stream temp was a fine 63F at ghis 4PM start. The water was low and clear and there wasn’t any bug activity, except for some midges. It was pretty much dead for the first hour, with only 3 refusals and one fish lost on his dry/dropper rig.
The sun dipped behind in ridge at 5PM, a few sallies and cahills buzzed about, and the action turned on. He caught a nice handful of bows and three dink browns. All but a couple fish hit his yellow stimmy, with the rest on his black zebra midge trailer. He cut the dropper off and just threw the stimmy for the rest of the evening.
The bugs disappeared around 7 and so did the fish, with only two more to hand before he quit at 830. He drove through a highway 441 “obstacle course” after dark, successfully dodging all grazing elk that strayed into the road. It was another fine afternoon in the national park.
Events:
Don’t forget our “First Friday” gatherings at the Sautee shop! Our first one is tonite! Details:
Speaking of free, introduce a friend to fishing on one of Georgia’s free fishing days. Details:
GADNR and the USFS often host kids fishing events at this time of year. See the list here:
Here’s one that Dredger’s Rabunite clan assists the USFS with, the 6/13 event on the Tallulah River. Bring the kids!
That’s the latest news as we transition from cool weather to June’s normally warm days. Stop in our Sautee store for your trout bugs and our Clarkesville store for an awesome selection of bass lures. Come up to our cookout tonite in Sautee and swap some fish stories with us!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com