Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report - 4/24/26

The weather and water conditions haven’t changed much, so our fishing report won’t, either.  The big news is that we have several chances at rain over the next week. That would be most welcome, given our parched forests and skinny streams.

Headwater trout should still be good when you can find water deep enough to cover their backs.  Delayed Harvest trouting is still a best bet, especially for folks who can stay til dark and match the hatches. Tailwaters continue to fish well, too, while the GA stocker season is in full swing.

Bass rivers have warmed up and the fish, while spooky in shallow water, are responding. Same goes for pond bass and bream, which are another best bet this week.  Reservoir fans are finding many more spots than stripers, but both are fun on light lines in shallow water.

Note that we will close our UO-Sautee shop on Sunday, May 3. It’s a special day for us, as all available UO staffers will serve as volunteer guides at this spring’s Casting for Recovery -GA retreat near Helen.

Catch all of the hot intel and fresh fish tales at our full report, located on our website. C’mon by to share your own stories and pick up those dusk, hatch-matching flies soon.

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com

Wes’ Hot Fly List: 

Parachute Adams, tan elk hair caddis and micro chubby during the day,  yellow stimulator and sally , para light cahill, emerger caddis, and sulfur Drymerger as dusk hatch matchers.

Nymphs & Wets: 

Squirmies, Mops, and buggers for stockers.  Frenchie, sexy Walts, hares ear and pheasant tail soft hackles and nymphs as droppers for DH and wild fish.

Mountain streams: Pheasant tail, prince nymph, small Frencie, soft hackle partridge for blueline wilds.

Streamers:

UV polar jig, sparkle minnow, small buggers and leeches for stockers and a few DH and Tailwater fish.

Reservoir Bass & Stripers:

Cowen’s somethin else, low fat minnow, game changer, Clouser.

River bass:

Dead Ned, crittermite, polarchanger, clouser, sparkle yummy, black woolly bugger. Try a boogle bug or Kent’s stealth bomber in the shade and see if a few bass will rise.

Headwaters:

They remain low and clear, but water temps are still perfect for headwater wild fish. Smith DH and Dukes at Smithgall both ran 58F at noon today. Little wild fish will eat about anything on a good dead drift - if they’re not spooked.  Toss an Adams, caddis, or small yellow stimmy and enjoy topwater action. Add a small frenchie or pheasant tail dropper to prospect any pools over 3 feet deep.  Rain is expected on Saturday and maybe a few weekdays, and that will really help all mountain trout fishing.

UO buddy Ryan: “Last weekend, a friend and I started off chasing wild fish in a tributary that’s never mentioned, in a WMA I’d never explored.  This little Maxcatch 6ft 2wt is a blast on small streams, especially flicking dry flies.  Although it seemed like the creek was marginal trout water (already warm to the touch), we managed 1 wild bow and 1 stocker who must’ve swam upstream a long ways!  We caught mostly chubs which was our sign to hit new water.  We headed to the river, and my friend had a chance to sharpen his tight line nymphing skillz on some rainbow trout.  An egg pattern and hares ear jig delivered all of our fish. “

Delayed Harvest:

While skinny, they are still fishing well. Daytime fishing in the high sun has been slow, but early morning and late evening action has made up for the midday siesta. The Adams/frenchie combo prospects really well in high sun. During the last hour before dark, switch to cahills, caddis, and even our May bug, a #16 yellow Sally, since they’ve arrived early this warm spring.

Upper Smith DH is still loaded with fish today. I watched one angler land a chunky bow on a dry/dropper rig during my short stop for a water temperature.

Rabunites Rick and Nanette hit a skinny Nantahala DH on Wednesday. Their afternoon action was slow on dry/droppers, but turned around at 7PM when yellow smallies came out to dance. Some Foothills TUers did better during the day by dredging nymphs in the shade and depths.

Nanette provided details: “Mostly small sallies, but also Cahills plus a couple of rusty-brown caddis right at the end (could those be March browns?). Interesting thing was that I didn’t see that many fish rising, but they were aggressively attacking my flies. Most ate the yellow sally, but the two browns I caught went for the larger fluffy Cahill I was using as the lead fly.

Also interesting was that Rick said he only saw one or two insects down at the deep pool. So I guess the switch can be “on” in one stretch and off in one directly adjacent?

Speaking of switches, we turned off the lights on the river last night. Didn’t see another soul around on our drive out.”

Stockers:

Fat state and federal hatchery rainbows are hitting the water and making the spring harvest crowds happy. Most are getting cleaned out quickly. Savvy stocker chasers will cover 100-200 yards below or above likely stocking truck stops and pick off migrants in the small pockets and runs.

Check out the stocking list here and sign up to get your own copy each Friday afternoon.

https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout

Private Waters:

Our private waters opportunities have been tough! There’s just so little water to get a good drift and make fish react quickly to our flies. These streams are in greatest need of good rains and improved flows. For now, stealthy dry/droppers rigs on light tippet, in the mornings, are working best.

UO guide Israel said low, warm flows are making river trout trips very challenging right now.  Rain and cooler weather are needed to revive them.

UO-Sautee manager Wes: “I did a private water trip on the Soque yesterday morning with Gary and Stan. The low water levels had the fish very spooky, but with a good drift they were able to fool some big fish. The best flies were an emerger caddis and the ole trusty squirmy worm. Get out there early for your best shots at private water trout right now.”

Tailwaters:

Heavy spring stockings and plenty of cold winter water make them a best bet.

UO buddy Ryan:  “The Chattahoochee has remained steady in action as well.  Caddis hatches have remained consistent at my local parks on the lower end of the tailwater.  Anything natural, drifted well, has been getting hammered.  5x-6.5x tippet has been my go-to. With the drought and lack of rain, the river gauge height appears to remain a consistent 4-6 inches lower than typical.  Visually, many runs that may usually hold fish seem just a hair shallow currently.  This has made for a fewer amount of “holes” or substantially deep enough runs that may happen to be loaded.  When we are finding fish, it seems like 4-6+ fish may be in the same spot waiting to be caught.

I’ve had the chance to take out a handful of guys to sharpen their tight line nymphing skills.  As Dredger once told me that “Stockers are like Doritos, the hatchery will make more of them.”  So I’ve made sure they’ve had stringers to appease the Missus, which apparently helps when you’re out fishing until dark! We do put all the wild browns back, though.”

UO friend RSquared: “Wednesday, my youngest brother, Ricky & I traveled North of the state line to Reliance Tennessee & the Hiawassee River. The water was the lowest I have ever seen it, but the rubber drift boat was able to float most of it. We had to drag it over shoals only twice, which was not bad for the conditions. The fishing was amazing! We quickly lost count of the trout we caught. We were using hopper-dropper rigs. A size 16 & 14 Soft-Hackle Pheasant Tail dropper tied on a jig hook with a pink tungsten bead was the hot fly of the day!”

Warm Rivers:

The water is warming and so is the river bass bite. While most are still inhaling wet flies (streamers and jigs), are few are just starting to look up for surface bugs.

UO buddy and Georgia Trout Unlimited prez Rodney:  “This past weekend GATU hosted the Ga. Tech 5 Rivers Fly Fishing Club at my farm in AA. (Almost Alabama) Saturday, all student’s kayaked down Big Cedar Creek in search of Coosa Redeye Bass. By the end of the day, all student’s had caught, landed, photographed, & released their first ever Redeye. A friend & I wade fished Big Cedar while the students paddled. Small, yellow Boogle Bug poppers worked for my friend & all of the students. I caught all of my fish on a Chernobyl Ant with a yellow belly. I managed to land double digit numbers of Redeye’s & sunfish. A 10” Coosa was my big fish of the day. That evening we sat around the campfire and enjoyed homemade venison chili. GT 5 Rivers are a fantastic group of young conservationist/anglers & were a blast to host! They plan to return again next year!”

UO guide Sydney: “I when home last weekend.  My dad and I fished the Flint and got on some shoal bass. The water was very low, which made the fishing really difficult, but we still caught a few nice bass.  I caught mine on a hellgramite pattern.”

Athens Jay: “Anna from UGA 5 Rivers invited me to float a beautiful river across our northern border. Water was very low and clear and we had an awesome day. We observed active chub nests with multiple species swarming on them.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXcLd4OEbbD/?igsh=MTI5eGQ2ZWx6aXgwZA==

We caught some feisty river bass on small articulated streamers. The best color combination was brown with some red/orange (matching the hatch of shiners, chubs and suckers). “

Ponds:

UO’s Rome buddy, Gayland:  “I enjoyed catching bass and bream on a yellow #6 Boogle bug yesterday afternoon on a local, spring-fed pond.   I saw several grass carp cruising along and I cast to this one.   He sipped my bug off of the top and bolted once he realized he was hooked!   Lots of fun on a 5 weight fly rod! “

Athens Jay:  “Kris and I hit a local pond late afternoon hoping for some topwater action. We observed numerous swarms of small bluegill in the shallows and several areas where bluegill beds indicated spawning activity on the last full moon.  Many fish were caught using both a big tan foam hopper and a yellow Boogle Bug.

The streamer bite was also very good for frosty pond bass. Much fun on a 5-wt outfit!”

Lakes:

Stripers are spotty but bass have turned on. Don’t miss the dawn herring spawn for your best shallow-water action.

UO guide Joseph’s Lanier report: “Fishing on the pond has been good over the past week or so. Stripers remain scattered all over the lake and can be hard to locate at times. Bass fishing on the other hand has been great. Most of the fish we’re catching are off of main lake points with the exception of early morning herring spawn. For flies gamechangers, wiggle minnows, clousers, Cowens coyote and my one “somethin better” have been working great.

We’re right around the corner from some amazing topwater bass fishing. If you’re interested in booking a trip call UO Sautee at 706-878-3083 or visit my website at www.josephclarkflyfishing.com”

UO owner Jimmy: “My grandson Crosby caught a nice Spot yesterday while trolling Lanier.”

While it feels like May, it’s still April and the action is hot. Bugs are hatching and trout are rising. Bluebacks are spawning on the banks and bass are also “rising.” And with some rain finally in the forecast, it should only get better.  Leave your matches and BBQ grills at home, grab your fishing rods and headlamps , and cash in on another fine April of mountain fishing.  Stop in a UO shop soon to stock your fly box with what’s flying around at Dark30 right now!  Good luck, hatch-matchers.

Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.

www.unicoioutfitters.com