Allatoona Fly Fishing

Yesterday morning was my first skunk of the year. Found some deep stripers by the dam. They were 20 feet down,120 feet to the bottom. I fished them for 45 minutes and was about to leave when I got a strong hit and had one on for about 3 seconds. After that I stuck around for another 30 minutes. Decided to leave, and wham, another hit. Stayed another 15 mins and was just about to leave when a hybrid follows my fly right to the edge of the boat. Figure eight didn't work. By now the sun was up and bearing down hard. So I headed for a flat to look for carp. Got there, water temp was 87°. The water was a little deep and less clear due to rains. Only spotted one which I spooked up. Shockingly, I also spooked up two giant bass in that hot water. Circled the flat two more times until I got hot and sweaty and called it a morning. No new video footage worth posting on YT, but hey, I got out on the water. I'm happy with that.
 
Got out again this morning between rains. Man it was awesome out there. Cool, no boats, cloud cover bringing fish up top. Found some blow ups south of Bethany bridge. Not enough for anyone to get excited about, but managed to get a hybrid and a heavy fish break off. Should have checked my tippet after the hybrid, but I also saw some big gar in the area. I brought my son in law with me who is learning to fly fish. He had one of the bigger spots I have seen in a while sip in a popper right in front of us. He didn't set up well and it came unbuttoned. He immediately bent over and grabbed his head in the "I can't believe it came off pose" not realizing that two more good bass were also looking at the now expelled fly. I yelled keep fishing it but they spooked when he stood up straight. It's funny how missing fish like that can actually get you more hooked on fly fishing than catching them. He didn't want to go in even though the weather was threatening.
 

trad bow

wooden stick slinging driveler
What type poppers are you using? I fish Oconee and use a silver/blueback popper I made.
 

Steve Hudson

Senior Member
Try a Gurgler configured as a diving fly (lower lip) or as a gurgling topwater fly (both lips). I like them in a simple white color scheme on size 1 or larger hooks. A Crease Fly will also work (again, go big). And it's hard to beat a foam-bodied popper, especially one configured so it'll dive. They're easy to make from foam flipflop soles!

By the way, remember to check that your hooks are sharp. They should grab a fingernail with very light pressure. If not, a few strokes with a diamond hook hone can work wonders and give you a lot more hookups.

And there's no need to go small with your leader. I use my typical saltwater leader, which tapers from 40 lb to 20 lb. I've had no complaints so far!
 
Try a Gurgler configured as a diving fly (lower lip) or as a gurgling topwater fly (both lips). I like them in a simple white color scheme on size 1 or larger hooks. A Crease Fly will also work (again, go big). And it's hard to beat a foam-bodied popper, especially one configured so it'll dive. They're easy to make from foam flipflop soles!

By the way, remember to check that your hooks are sharp. They should grab a fingernail with very light pressure. If not, a few strokes with a diamond hook hone can work wonders and give you a lot more hookups.

And there's no need to go small with your leader. I use my typical saltwater leader, which tapers from 40 lb to 20 lb. I've had no complaints so far!

All great advice!
 
What type poppers are you using? I fish Oconee and use a silver/blueback popper I made.

My go to is a crease fly. I tie mine to float high, so no epoxy. They still last through a lot of fish. I also like sliders, pencil poppers and gurglers. The hybrid spit up several 1 to 1.25 inch baitfish. So that's what I was trying to emulate.
 
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