UO fishing report- 5/22/26
Dodge the storms to success! We’re finally getting some rain up here. It’s not amounting to much and we need a lot more to restore our streamflows and lake levels, but every drop is helping out. The cloudy weather is helping the bite, too!
Stream trouting is good in the headwaters, tailwaters, stocked streams, and in the NC delayed harvest streams to our north. Our private waters trips are just about done for the spring.
Pond fishing is on fire and lake bassin’ is still good, too. A few bonus stripers have been mixed in.
Several of our UO staffers had a great vacation in the Everglades, with snook and tarpon tales and pics to prove it.
Catch all the details in our full report, here:
https://www.unicoioutfitters.com/fishing-reports
(Link in bio)
We hope you have a nice, long weekend and remember to give thanks on Monday for all those who sacrificed for our freedom. Stop in either UO shop for the best bugs and breaking intel. Good luck!
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:para-Adams, #14 water walker, tan and black Micro Chubbies, 409 Yeager yellow, yellow humpy, yellow stimulator, black Para-ant.
And dusk hatch matchers: para light cahill, yellow sally, emerger caddis, and sulfur Drymerger.
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 for blueline wilds.
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, gill scorpion, bream reaper, girdle bug, prince nymph.
Carp:
Carp it bomb, hybrid worm, headstand.
Headwaters:
They’re low and clear, but getting an occasional boost in flow after each storm. The cooler, cloudy days have also helped the bite. Stick with fluffy dries when the water is clear. If it’s higher and stained after a rain, use a buoyant dry like a micro chubby and drop a small frenchie or sunken ant 12-18 inches off the back. If it’s muddy, dredge a squirmy or big pats rubberlegs for a trophy.
Delayed Harvest:
GA’s DH season is over and will return next November 1st. Thanks to higher mountains and colder water, NC’s DH season extends til the first Saturday of June. Their hatches usually run 1-2 weeks later than GA streams, so some caddis, cahills, and sallies will bring fish up at dusk. Bring a headlamp.
Dredger woke up yesterday, checked the USGS river gauges, and went for a NC double-dip. He detoured to Nan DH yesterday evening after his earlier river bass trip. The clouds were out, a light rain occasionally sprinkled, and the stream was slightly stained and 62F upon his 5PM arrival. And the fishing was hot in those perfect conditions! He started with a fluffy 14 Adams and a 16 frenchie dropped 3 feet under it. Fish hit both the dry and dropper, with a lot of refusals on the dry. So he switched to a single dry and downsized the Adams to a 16. That was the ticket, as all three stocker species, a handful of wild bows, and one nice wild brown came to hand. Some cahills hatched at 7PM and he added a 16 cahill dropper behind the Adams to pick up a few bonus fish. The bugs flew off at 8 and the fish went to sleep, too. It was a fine spring evening tossing dries with his 4-weight Clearwater in this mist of the Nan DH.
Stockers:
The stocking season is still going strong. GaDNR’s stocked brookies have been a hit with anglers this week. The agency will stick heavily for the expected large holidays crowds. Check out the newest stocking list here and sign up to get your own copy each Friday afternoon.
UO buddy RSquared: “A few stocked trout have managed to withstand the fishing pressure in NW Georgia’s trout streams. Some of the marginal streams might get one more stocking of fresh rainbow’s before the holiday. “
“It’s a rainbow!”
Rabunite “Gabby” spent her Saturday mentoring several fellow members of the GA Women Fly Fishers club. The club had their monthly outing on the Tallulah and club rookies were treated to instream flyfishing instruction by veterans like Gabby. Great job!
Interested ladies oughta give this club a try.
Private Waters:
Low and slow. We had few trips last week, as several of our guides were on vacation. UO manager Jake had a good trip: “John and I had a great morning at Rainbow Point on Tuesday. He is new to the sport, but I think we broke him in right! We mostly fished dry/dropper rigs with the water being low and clear, with the key being downsizing to 5.5x tippet to get the bites. Most of our damage was done on a small Chubby with a size 18 Diamond Midge dropper.”
Tailwaters:
Going strong, thanks to cold winter water. UO buddy Ryan: “I hit the Hooch tailwater yesterday with a friend wanting to try out his new euronymphing setup, a 10ft 2wt. We fished a section known for being technical,where smaller flies and tippet are the key. We fished 6.5x (3lb) tippet and size 20-16 jig nymphs. We put a pile of fish in the net in about 3 hours on the water, with a fun mix of rainbows and browns. The water was lower than expected, so finding the deeper remaining holes, pockets and runs was crucial to finding fish.”
Warm Rivers:
Catch them when they clear after the storms and they’ll fish really weak. Most fish will respond to subsurface bugs, but throw some floaters when the shadows are long and you should catch a few on top, too.
UO buddy RSquared: “The warm water fish are very active in late afternoons until dark. It’s been a month since I had an early trip, but I would imagine the morning bite is just as good as the evening bite. I’m still catching Redeyes ,Largemouth, & Bluegills on Boogle bugs and Stealth Bombers. If I’m fishing midday, I go sub-surface.”
UO staffer Dredger checked the USGS river gauge, packed a 6wt outfit and his bass sling pack, and decided to risk a NC trip yesterday in search of his first smallies of the year. The river was wadeable and slightly stained, with 3 feet of visibility. He worked hard in the stained water but still landed 6 smallies to 11 inches. Half were on the dry (stealth bomber) and half ate the wet (#4 black bugger). He left early to try a double-dip on trout water on his way home.
Ponds:
Still going strong. One customer said he had a good bassin’ day paddling Unicoi Lake by tossing swimming plugs around the perimeter.
UO buddy Athens Jay is still wearing out the big pond bream on boogle bugs.
UO buddy Athens MD: “Sometimes the bluegill are so big and belligerent they overshadow the couple of nice topwater bass you pull in. I took the kayak out on a local Athens lake and landed some nice largemouth bass on a Dahlberg diver-style deer hair fly—one of which I sight-cast to in about 15” of clear water. A bit later in the evening I rigged up my 3 weight with a chubby Chernobyl/black Teeny nymph combo and landed several beefy bluegill in about four feet of water. Kingfishers, great blue herons, and a Canada goose family were on hand as witnesses.”
Lakes:
Aim for bass and the stripers will be a bonus if you find some. UO owner Jimmy: “Crosby and I went looking for bass on Lanier Monday. The herring spawn was happening so we were focusing on the top water bite. It was pretty exciting early morning then tapered off.”
UO buddy Henry Cowen: “North GA resident and retired 4-star admiral Sam Locklear had a nice outing on Lanier this week. Gamechangers, small swim baits, and walk-the-dog baits were the ticket. Spotted bass fishing is getting better and should improve over the next several weeks for fly fishing and top water too. Stripers are still in play but are really thinning out on artificial flies/lures.”
Afar:
UO guide Joseph: “Had a blast in the everglades with some of the UO crew! We had a great week of tarpon fishin, hooking 3-5 fish every morning on fly and conventional gear. Grant and I also boated close to 40 snook throughout five days of fishing.
We’re already looking forward to next year!
Events:
Summer is a great time for outdoor gatherings. C’mon up for Unicoi Outfitters brand-new plan to promote our fly fishing community, our “First Friday” gatherings at the Sautee shop!
Details:
That’s the latest as the raindrops fall here in Cleveland. Toss some dries in clear flows and dredge some squirmies in dirty water. Hit Lanier at dawn and the bass and bream ponds in the dusk shadows for some flat water fun. And take a moment out on Monday to honor and thank all of our fallen heroes who gave their all for this great country of ours. Good luck and God bless America!
Unicoi Outfitters: Friendly. Local. Experts.
www.unicoioutfitters.com