Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report - 10/9/26
Cooler weather has renewed our fishing success up here! We’ll have a brief weekend timeout due to the expected storm, but our fine fall fishing should resume early next week as streams and rivers drop and clear and reservoirs continue cooling off.
Good luck getting past tomorrow’s wind, rain, and high water and then cashing in on October’s harvest. 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:
Frenchie, October caddis jig, Duracell, micro girdle bug, micro mayfly, emerger caddis.
For stained water try squirmies, black girdle bugs, and dark olive or black buggers.
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, stealth bomber or Boogle bug in afternoon.
Bream & Carp:
Hybrid worm, carp it bomb, gill scorpion, amnesia bug, mini jig bugger.
Headwaters:
They’re droughty and clear and cool enough to fish all day. At lunchtime today, the Hooch in Helen was low and clear, while Dukes at Smithgall was also skinny, crystal clear, and a nice 61F. Those conditions will likely change drastically overnite!
We just have to hunker down now and see how much wind and rain we get over the next 24 hours. Make sure streamflows have recovered enough for your safe wading, and national forest roads have been cleared of any downed trees. Watch the USGS stream gauges, the Chattahoochee Forest news feeds, and updates from local fly shops like ours as you plan your next trips north.
Stockers:
Except for 1-2 fall stockings and the DH streams’ monthly dosings, trout stocking season is over in GA. Your best bets for summer leftovers will be the two tailwaters, once they clear from stormflows.
Private Waters:
They’ve reopened and, while low and clear, are fishing very well. Fishing should improve even more if their streamflows increase next week, after the storm.
UO-Helen manager Wes: “Despite the low flows, our private waters are back open and fishing great! The best patterns for me have been mops, dead drifted buggers, small flashy nymphs, and soft hackles.”
Tailwaters:
Tailwaters may get blown out for a couple days if this storm dumps the predicted rainfall on their tributaries and muddies them. Fishing success will be restored as tailwaters clear around the middle of next week.
Delayed Harvest:
The GA DH program resumes on Nov 1. Recall from last week’s report that NC DH regs started on Oct 1, but the agency is delaying stocking until November. We have some great Delayed Harvest tips in our beginners guide, on our website:
Warm Rivers:
They’re extremely low and clear right now (the Hooch at Highway 115 was skinny when I crossed it last night), but they will likely get blown out by midday tomorrow. Watch the relevant river gauges or call your favorite tackle shops to learn when fishable flows return. Rivers will likely be too cool now for much topwater action, so stock up on favorite fall streamers and bottom-bouncers for your best chances of success.
UO buddy Athens Jay: “Piedmont rivers are very low and clear. Water is still warm enough for wet wading. Fish are concentrated in deep holes and somewhat spooky. I did have some luck with black/purple articulated streamers on a long 10 lb. fluorocarbon leader. Nothing big, but the species diversity was pretty cool.”
New UO buddy and rookie flyfisher Francisco shared a report: “Sorry I could not make it to your First Friday event, but my brother-in-law wanted to go fishing at tugalo river. I had an amazing day catching a lot of bluegills. I got at least 15 today with the elk hair caddis. I started with a dry/dropper but they only hit the dry, so I dropped the dropper and some topwater fun.”
Ponds:
Still a good bet, especially when our favorite streams and rivers are too high and muddy. UO buddy RSquared: “I fished Heath Lake at Rocky Mountain PFA in Floyd County again this week. I was fishing a popper/dropper rig with a yellow Boogle Bug on top & a Sinking Cricket as my dropper. I used 2.5ft of 4x fluro to attach the dropper to the popper. This state-managed trophy bass lake was not kind to me again this week. I landed one small bass & several Bluegills. I talked with a few other anglers & found out they were having little to no success. However, this lake is known for great fishing & a good chance at a big one. If you don’t go, you don’t know!”
Lakes:
UO Lanier guide Joseph: “The wait is over!! I was able to get out on the lake yesterday evening with a buddy. We hit things just right and had a few fish schooling over open water. Things are still pretty inconsistent, however that will change in the coming weeks.
I still have some of availability for October and November but prime dates are going fast. To inquire or book call the Sautee store at 706-878-3083 or visit my website at www.josephclarkflyfishing.com”
Afar:
UO buddy Ryan: “I just returned from Colorado a few days ago. Our entire family went out and had an incredible time. Many had cautioned us of the low water conditions, which had me nervous. While some sections of creeks and rivers I’ve fished in the past were indeed too low to make them worthwhile, we still found an incredible amount of water with good flows and cool temps to fish. From alpine lake action with leech-eating cutthroat and lakers, to catching quality browns and rainbows on gold medal designated sections of river, we had a blast and numerous great fish were caught. The exact same flies I throw in the southeast for “wise” or pressured trout worked incredibly - sz 18 & 20 hares ear and frenchie jig nymphs. My friend and I landed ~93 fish between the 2 of us just on our last day. I can’t wait to get back out there again!!”
Events:
UO owner Jimmy: “I just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that a couple of the managers from SET Flyfishing will be at the Sautee store on the evening of 10/20.
Beginning at 5:30 PM, please join us for an evening of learning about fly fishing the famed waters of northern Patagonia with SET. We'll have hors d'oeuvres and refreshments, plus we'll have a drawing for door prizes.
My hosted trip with SET that is scheduled for 2027 (2/27 - 3/6) still has a couple of openings. It's a wonderful cultural and angling experience! Sign up soon to join me.
Good luck as we all hunker down and get past this storm. It’s sure looking positive on the other side of the bad weather as we wave goodbye to hot, dry days and usher in some fine stream trouting and reservoir action in the cool, fall weeks ahead. Give us a call or stop in for the latest intel on water conditions and your best flies and lures for those October predators.
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
