Unicoi Outfitters Fishing Report - 9/4/26
Here’s your holiday weekend report:best bets are river bass at low light, stockers before lunch, and little wild trout at dawn, but only on north slopes or really high on taller NC and NC mountains. Streams are low, clear, and hot from the heat wave and scarce showers. These conditions enhance river bassin’ but kill mountain trouting, except for our two cold tailwaters.
Remember our monthly open house in Sautee tonite and the Soque River Watershed’s fundraiser this month.
Check out all the details in our full report, here:
https://www.unicoioutfitters.com/fishing-reports
Stop in either UO shop to cool off and stock up on some September flies and lures.
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:
(Wes said the weather and water haven’t changed, so last week’s list is still valid)
Dries: parachute ant, para Adams, yellow stimulator, griffiths gnat, yellow humpy, and small chubby Chernobyl for dry/dropper fishing.
Nymphs & Wets:
Drowned ant, UV green weenie, frenchie or pheasant tail, sexy Walts worm in higher flows/deeper water.
Streamers:
Jiggy bugger, muddler, micro peanut envy, small buggers for stockers
River stripers:
Mop tail changer, bangtail, clouser.
River bass:
stealth bomber, Boogle bug, hairy fodder, Cowen’s coyote, big black bugger.
Bream & Carp:
Hybrid worm, carp it bomb, gill scorpion, amnesia bug, mini jig bugger.
Headwaters:
The heat wave still has most north GA trout waters too hot to fish or marginal in the mornings - only if we get some cooler nights. Stockers are still fair game, even when stream temps hover around 70. Give the little wild fish a break until it cools off or unless you find come colder water on the higher mountains north of the state line.
Stockers:
This week’s stocking list should be long, since it’s the last big holiday weekend for the 2026 stocking season. Get out there real early to find some mountain streams under 70F, or detour to the Hooch or Blue Ridge tailwater, discharging cold winter waters from their depths.
UO’s newest friend, “KM,” drove up from Atlanta last Friday and said he wanted to catch his first trout. Sautee staff armed him with a new ultralight outfit, some spinners and Powerbait, and directions to a nearby, best-bet. And he scored: “Morning! Had good luck on that black and yellow panther martin spinner. Saw alot of yellow jackets so i threw it on and caught my first ever trout! Caught both a bow and a brown.”
As always, find the 2026 master list here to find those creeks that will still get stocked late in the season.
Private Waters:
Forget fishing them in til October, but book your trips now! Call your favorite shops and guides soon to book those prime fall weekends. For guided trips now, hit the tailwater outfitters, who are fishing cold reservoir outflows.
Tailwaters:
Important rerun: Lanier’s late summer stratification is starting to affect the upper tailwater. More here on Lanier’s stratification and it’s eventual Xmas turnover:
UO buddy Mo: “The upper tailwater was on fire last weekend. Deeper holes produced a few fish here and there but faster runs and riffles held a lot of fish. The river is already turning green and it won’t be long before it’s pea soup. Glad it held out this long. Started out with a #16 gasolina perdigon dropper and a #20 brown walt’s on point and didn’t have to change flies once. They ate both flies with gusto throughout the day with the walt’s out-fishing the perdigon by a handful. Euro nyphing with two flies and a micro leader wears them out every time without fail.”
Warm Rivers:
They remain low and clear and a best bet, thanks to many rainless days. Toss surface bugs at dawn, dusk, and into deep afternoon shade, and bottom-bouncers into deeper cover during the midday sunshine.
UO owner Jimmy: “Yesterday afternoon, I went down to the river for about an hour and a half. Landed 7 of these guys and lost a couple more. I had anticipated they would be tight to the bank, with a little cover over them. However, every one of them came from the middle of the river in water that was between 3 and 4 feet deep. I caught them on small soft plastics, crawled along the bottom. We have a great selection of them at our Clarkesville store.”
UO buddy Gayland: “I went fly fishing for (Micropterus coosae) this last week on Big Cedar Creek in Floyd County. It was a beautiful morning for wet wading and casting a #8 yellow Boogle bug, which the red eye bass readily took.
Looking forward to another wade trip next week.”
UO buddy WM: “A buddy and I decided to try a new redeye creek this week and ended up catching around 20 or so before noon, all on poppers.”
Our Alabama border resident, Rodney, said that NW GA river redeyes and bream are still partial to his small yellow poppers. He’s a big believer in Boogle Bugs.
Ponds:
No news.
Lakes:
No news.
Afar:
UO buddy Capt Bert: “Good morning Jeff. I fly-fished the east side of Okefenokee for 2 1/2 hrs Saturday morning and caught 11 bowfin on my Bladed Flies. Electric chicken, fire tiger and yellow worked best and fish number 10 was this monster 9lb 12oz bowfin. It ate the yellow Bladed Fly. I caught everything on my 8-wt custom rod (I built) and a Liquid reel I bought from Wes a couple years ago. Fall is fun-time down here!”
Rabunite “Bluejay” has been making the most of his time in Yellowstone. See his photo evidence.
Rabunite Nanette just returned from far north and west: “Rabunites Rick and Nanette (aka "Gabby") ventured wayyyy north for their summer fishing vacay, to the spectacular land- and aquascapes of Canada's Yukon Territory. This was their second year staying at Dalton Trail Lodge and sampling the countless lakes and rivers of this vast wilderness the size of California but with a population of only 48,000 (and just 894 in the nearest town to the lodge, Haines Junction).
The weather gods were not quite as benevolent for them this year, bringing cold, rain and lots of wind, but they still had a blast catching pike and lake trout (in spawning colors) on streamers, and big grayling and rainbows on dries.
Events:
Come see us tonite in Sautee!
Support the Soque River Watershed Association as it improves water quality in one of north GA’s most well-known trophy streams.
Good luck this week. At least the days are getting shorter. Hopefully the nights will start getting cooler, too. Aim for eager river bass on top, interested tailwater trout on the bottom, and willing morning stockers in the mountains. Have a great, long holiday weekend. We appreciate your support!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.