Jimmy Harris
Senior Member
We delayed today’s report to count the raindrops and give you the most updated stream conditions possible for your weekend adventures. Here’s a status report as of 5 PM today.
We had 1.5 to 2 inches of rain so far, or about double what was forecast. As a result, big streams are blown out and will take a day or more to subside to safe wading levels. Small streams are fishable, however, and will drop and clear by morning. DH streams have been redosed by DNR.
Spots and stripers are stirring for lake fans, while their tributary rivers are starting to see early arrivals of some walleye and white bass.
Good luck picking some winning waters this weekend. It will only get better as next week warms a bit. Just don’t forget your raincoat.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: Rage Cage Caddis, parachute Adams, Drymerger BWO, Griffith’s gnat, yellow stimulator, or small micro Chubby Chernobyl as a headwater dry for your droppers.
Nymphs & Wets: Micro flexi girdle bug, Montana prince, frenchdipity, holy grail, depth charge caddis, mottled brown American nymph.
Streamers & warm water: (Trout) Squirrely bugger, sparkle yummy, micro leech, bank robber sculpin. (Bass & Stripers) clouser minnow, finesse changer, crittermite, jiggy craw.
Headwaters:
Helen has netted 1.5 inches of rain so far and the precip is finally winding down. Headwater creeks are running a bit high and just slightly dingy and will be fishable in the morning. Spoilcane was a bit high and slightly stained.
Dukes was high and well-stained and Smith DH was high but clear, thanks to the lake.
Remember that these small streams shed rainfall quickly and are usually fishable less than a day after a hard rain. Try dry/droppers in high water and then a single dry as the flow drops and your stream thermometer registers at least 50F.
The Hooch had higher flows and more color. The river on the WMA was ripping pretty good and had moderate stain. It will be good streamer water for careful waders who stay near the bank tomorrow. The Hooch in town was high and muddy. It will clear overnight but will still be high. We typically cut off our trips above 220 cfs.
Delayed Harvest:
Local anglers reported tough fishing at Smith DH last week. It was low, clear, and 50 F when I hiked its trail yesterday at 5 PM. We expect this slow fishing to change with warming water and a March restocking by WRD, so have your buggers and squirmies ready.
Note: this just in from GAWRD: “Trout Stocking: The delayed harvest areas received fresh stockings this week and the higher flows will help spread these trout out. Be careful and wear a lifejacket, as these higher flows can make for dangerous fishing conditions. Please note that the stocking of the Morgan Falls DH section has temporarily been suspended due to unfishable conditions related to large water release from Lake Lanier.”
We’ve had only one recent report from Chattooga DH, but that river should be fishing well when the water warms and flows recede to safe wading levels. Right now it’s likely blown out for the weekend, as the watershed got two inches of rain today. Recall last week’s report stating that SCDNR had redosed the river. I met Chris from ATL on the river some time ago. He sent me this report last Saturday: “My son out-fished me on the Chattooga today… thanks for your tips.”
We had mixed reports from our NC streams. Rabunites Rick and Nan said Fires DH was slow due to low, clear, cold water and spooky fish. In contrast, Nan DH fished well for us on nymphs and dries last week. It should only get better with warmer days boosting water temps. Don’t forget some March dries, too (Adams, Hendrickson, gray caddis, little black caddis). If you’re carrying a new fly angler with you, then check the NC DH stocking schedule before you go. March is Refresh Month!
North Georgia Private Waters:
Caleb: “Last weekend on the Soque started slow, with few fish to the net using nymphs. But a switch to streamers really got things rolling. While it wasn’t a high numbers day, the streamer bite brought in some large fish to make it a memorable day.”
CDB: “Monday afternoon weather was glorious and on private waters the fishing matched it as well. Bronze jig streamers with some dark green in the body wrap worked well as did size 10 brown woolly buggers with black tails. If you preferred nymphing, drifting a small orange or peach egg bouncing on the bottom was the ticket.
Tuesday's weather was perfect. The fish disagreed. Some fish were caught on wooly bugger patterns but the action was slow on everything else. It pays to switch up your techniques.
Public water Thursday AM, Frenchie and Walt’s worms with some orange worked well as did most anything with an orange bead head fished deep.”
Tailwaters:
Be on the lookout for little black caddis and the larger gray caddis. Tailwaters usually run a bit warmer than mountain streams right now and spring hatches happen earlier there.
RonW finally got back in the game: “The trio hit the Dam last Sunday 2/25 and it didn't disappoint. We arrived around 9 am only to realize that a release was going on until 10:10. The 3 of us made a rookie mistake by not calling and checking on the generation schedule. Oh well, It gave us plenty of time to get geared up and caught up, as we've only fished one time since the new year.
We walked the trail down to about the halfway point of Bowman's Island. We got to our put-in spot right around 10:10, just in time to watch the water start to slowly recede. We were able to get in a good 10 minutes later and start fishing.
The guys started with dry dropper rigs while I started with a double nymph rig. We got into fish relatively quickly, all on the nymphs. We worked our way upstream, fishing all of our favorite runs and picking up a fish here and there. A #20 black France fly and #14 black stone fly caught most of my fish (about 8 browns and 2 rainbows) although I did land a few on a black bugger.
Once we got above the Island, the wind died down and fish started rising everywhere around 2 pm. The guys were both able to land a few on dries, unfortunately I was unsuccessful. It was a cool thing to see a brown in the 14-16" range rising and feeding. He wanted nothing to do with my size 20 dry.
We landed a good 30 fish among the 3 of us, all browns except for 4-5 bows, 1 of which Moe caught that had a golden belly just like a wild brown. Unfortunately, that fish was extremely camera-shy. It was another fantastic day on the water with my brethren for some much-needed hydrotherapy! I can't wait to get back out there! Time to tie up some #22-26 dries!”
Warm Rivers:
RSquared: “The smaller male White Bass are starting to stack up in large numbers at the various tributaries along the Coosa River in NW Ga. The large females have not shown up yet. The Crappie are also on the move. White woolly buggers & white/chartreuse Clousers are bringing our fish to the net.”
Small Lakes:
AthensMD: ”Fishing opportunities have been few and far between lately, but I finally got out on local waters last weekend for a full afternoon of kayak fishing. The crappie are not yet fired up, but they are on the move. I had a great response to a size 10 jigged "euro" streamer in black suspended about 30" below a chubby Chernobyl. The takes were incredibly subtle, and I suspect the crappie were gently taking the jig from below. Largemouth bass and bluegill were much more aggressive. Also, I usually wind up hooking a number of golden shiners this time of year in this particular body of water: they feel like you've got a frozen fish filet on your 3wt. Looking forward to the crappie turning on over the next few weeks!”
Gayland: “I was fishing for largemouth bass last week at Rocky Mountain PFA and saw a school of shad trying to escape bass that were working the shad into a bait ball. I cast a shad imitation lure with a spinning rod into the area and landed this pretty 6 pounder! It would have been even more fun on a fly rod!”
Reservoirs:
Jimmy: “Jake and I were out on Lake Lanier yesterday, primarily to tweak my Garmin forward-facing sonar unit. But, we did take some fishing rods along. Lots of bass activity all day with this 5 lb. Spotted Bass providing the icing on the cake.”
Ben: “ Here's a 5lb Spotted Bass from Tuesday! Fishing was good on our mountain lake despite the wind and rain. Mid-strolling and jerk bait techniques both worked well.”
There’s some really good striper and walleye intel in today’s WRD weekly fishing report:
Afar:
Athens Jay: “Last weekend a couple of members of the Oconee River Chapter of TU
accompanied the leadership team from the UGA 5Rivers Club to the Georgia Coast. We were treated to an extraordinary experience thanks to the family and friends of one of our members (Carson). This was the first saltwater experience for some of our members, while others were old hands. Winds beat us up pretty badly on Saturday, but things settled down on Sunday. Persistence paid off and we found a few specks and reds on the flats.
More importantly, we spent time with amazing people who care deeply about preparing the next generation of fisheries conservationists.”
Devin said his gang had a great road trip to the White River in Arkansas, where they stripped streamers for resident browns.
That’s the latest on a cold, soggy Friday. At least the weekend will warm up and dry up. Watch those USGS river gauges and pick your targets.
That will be headwaters tomorrow and the rivers possibly Sunday or early next week. Don’t forget the mudlines in reservoirs, especially when a sunny day heats stained waters and pulls shad into the shallows. Predators will follow, looking for lunch.
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