Our fall foliage is near its color peak and leaf lookers are out in full force, so get up here early to beat the traffic. Watch out for trick-or-treaters, too. Our streams and rivers are clear, cool, and pitifully low, but the trout and bass are hungry if you don’t spook them first. Delayed Harvest stockings resume next week, so those GA and NC streams will come back into play. Don’t miss our tips to start your own DH season successfully.
Reservoirs have really turned on, with stripers busting shad at the surface- if you’re in the right spot at the right time. Bass are shallow, too. Our intel will help you do just that.
The rain forecast has really lightened up and most of this weekend is supposed to be dry, rather than the washout predicted earlier this week. We need the rain, but welcome the afternoon warmth. So get outside, enjoy the awesome fall weather and beautiful foliage, and catch a fish or two! We’re here to help you!
Check out all the details in our full report, here:
https://www.unicoioutfitters.com/fishing-reports
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: October caddis, orange stimmy, parachute ant, para Adams
Nymphs & Wets:
DH streams:
Squirmy worm, egg, mop, bugger, micro girdle bug, psycho prince, root beer midge, duracell.
Wild trout:
Pheasant tail, zebra midge, micro girdle bug, squirrel nymph, ruby midge.
Streamers:
Olive woolly bugger, mohair leech, sparkle minnow, mini gulp sculp.
River stripers:
Mop tail changer, bangtail, clouser.
River bass:
crittermite, hairy fodder, thrasher, leggy boi, clouser, sparkle minnow
Headwaters:
Super-thin and super-clear, but water temps are perfect: in the 50’s. A lot of anglers have had trouble sneaking up on spooky wild fish that lack much escape cover. Cover a lot of ground and cherry -pick the better spots with cover: deeper pools and some runs with broken surface water. Speaking of spooky, here’s a TU tip:
Rabunite Gabby: “We had some old fishing buddies visit Rick and me this week. Went to park yesterday. Elk everywhere, trout scarce. Water crazy low and crystal clear. We got a few small trout on a tributary on October and Goddard Caddis. Same situation on Nan DH. Water super low and trout spooky. We caught one each. Still a wonderful time to get outdoors!”
Stockers:
Stockers are scarce. You might find some SCDNR fish on that border river, and a good number of summer leftovers in the two GA tailwaters. The border river lots have been packed, even on weekdays (we saw packed Hwy 28 lots on Thursday), with some web reports of success.
Private Waters:
Still fishing great, as long as you don’t spook them in the thin, clear pools. Book a trip with us soon!
UO-Helen manager Wes: “Private water trips continue to fish well! The fish are starting to get wiser in the low, clear flows. Keys to success for me this past week have been drifting lightly weighted nymphs and emergers.
Heavy nymphs, especially with tungsten beads, seem to sink too fast right now in the limited current we have. I have been using a lot of nymphs and wet flies with either no bead or a small brass bead and they have worked great.”
UO guide Sydney: “Lots of happy first time couples on our Gilligan trips ! Beautiful colors are showing and the fish are bitin pretty well. The action had been starting slow in the morning, then around 10:00 or so picking up with the catching more consistent.
I’ve mainly been using a double nymph rig with a bead in the front (pats rubblelegs or something to get it down) and then a weightless fly off the back! We’re enjoying fall leaves and pink rainbow cheeks. On one trip, we had our client’s first trout in the net and a bald eagle flyover at the same time!
Tailwaters:
No reports this week.
Feel free to contact the Hartley duo for your Hooch Tailwater intel and maybe a guide trip:
Ryan Hartley: 678-468-0440
Myles Hartley: 678-900-0835
Delayed Harvest:
DH opportunities loom on the horizon (Nov 1) for Georgia and North Carolina program fans. DH stockings start soon after the 1st. Are you ready? We helped you with our Wednesday post:
Here’s more info on the NC DH program:
And the agency’s updated stocking schedule:
Warm Rivers:
Still low and clear and cool, but river bass are cooperating.
UO owner Jimmy: “Kathy and I had our good friends Audrey & Steven visiting from Texas this past week, and they wanted to fish as much as possible, so that's what we did. Friday afternoon, right off the plane, we hit Lake Lanier to look for stripers. We didn't have any luck, but it was a great start to the visit. Saturday, after a tour of leaf-looking through the mountains, we spent the afternoon trout fishing. Squirmy Worms brought a few to hand, but the ticket was a brown wet fly imitating a Caddis pupa. The trout could not stay off of it. Sunday morning we went looking for stripers once again, to no avail. The wind prediction for early morning was 4 - 6 mph. The reality was 12 - 15 mph! That wasn't much fun, so we called it early. Sunday afternoon, we hit the Chattahoochee for Shoal Bass, and they did not disappoint. Steven's largest was 19 inches. He did well with subsurface lures on a light spinning rod.,All in all, it was a great weekend with good company, beautiful weather, and FEESH!.”
Ponds:
No news.
Lakes:
UO’s Lanier guide Joseph: “Had an awesome time on the pond this week! Yesterday I had the pleasure of having Troy and his son Indy on the boat for a few hours. The fish really showed out for us. We saw most schooling action around main lake structure and creek mouths.
Troy and Indy had most success with conventional gear throwing serpentine swimbaits and walk the dog style topwaters. For the fly flingers: I had most success earlier in the week on my somethin better and gamechangers.
I still have a few dates available for November and the fishing should only get better from here!!!
To book visit my website at www.josephclarkflyfishing.com or call UO Sautee at (706)878-3083”
UO company manager and mountain lake guide Jake: “The reservoir bass fishing was really good this week. Still seeing really good surface feeding activity, with our bait selection being about if the wind is blowing or not. Topwater walking baits, flukes, and wake baits all produced well this week, and even caught some fish mid water column on baitfish style baits. Not really sure what the bottom bouncing bite may be like because I didn’t have to pull it out this week, which is always a plus for me! “
UO owner Jimmy: “I took my neighbor John out yesterday afternoon. We almost had the lake to ourselves, but mostly stayed in one area that had fish rolling on the surface for an hour and a half. Cowen's Somethin Else was the ticket!”
Afar:
UO buddy RonW: “I celebrated 24 years of marriage with my best catch ever over the weekend up in the Pisgah National Forest. I was able to fish a few creeks for about 30 minutes each. I hooked a small wild rainbow on my first cast on a stimulator, he received a mid-air release. I’m out of practice and also didn’t have my waders on.
I fished a dry dropper rig and never changed flies, #14 stimi up top and #18 PT down below. Not much after that other than a few splashes from some 3” fish. It was still great to be in the woods and with my lady!
There is some absolutely gorgeous water up there and at good elevation. Y’all should plan a weekend exploring that region. We stayed in Old Fort at my nephews. It’s a speck on the map kind of town, just my kind of place and a good base camp if you don’t want to stay in Brevard or Asheville. I recommend Hillmans Brewery for eats and beverages! It was an old textile and hosiery plant repurposed into something really cool. “
UO buddy MD: “While fly fishing and fly tying is my passion, surf fishing remains my happy place. In the FL panhandle near the FL/AL line this week, and today I’ve pulled in a couple of my favorites: Florida Pompano and flounder. Fabulous weather should hold through the weekend. The weather is here, wish you were beautiful.”
Events:
Take a riverside horseback ride with our next-door neighbors, Chattahoochee Stables in Sautee, and then visit our fly shop.
11/14 Atlanta Swap Meet
11/17 Program
Mark your calendars. Athens Jay will be the program speaker at Rabun TU’s monthly meeting. Guests welcome. It’s gonna be a good one: “People, Places and Dreams”. Details soon at rabuntu.org
While our waters are low, the weather is perfect and the fish are cooperating. Get outside and enjoy these southern Appalachian wonders. Hopefully November’s rains and Delayed Harvest stockings will be great treats to counter this weekend’s “tricks” of thin water. Come in and see us soon for your fall fishing goodies. No costumes required.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
