Jimmy Harris
Senior Member
It’s another great weekend to fish our mountains! Streams are low, clear, and chilly. Trouting is good early and even better by mid-morning, once the sun has warmed the water a few more degrees. Pond fishing is good, especially after lunch, while river bassing has slowed a bit. Reservoir bass have been consistent on top, while stripers are still spotty but improving with each passing, cold night. More areas of North and South Carolina are reopening after the storm, and their wild trout and local businesses are both welcoming our visits. Good luck everyone.
State/Fed Openings and Closures
The National Forest in North Carolina reopened its Pisgah (Brevard) District yesterday.
The Smokies Park update is here: https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/conditions.htm
Good luck planning your fall trips north of the GA border.
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: Chubby Chernobyl, Orange Stimulator, Parachute Adams, Parachute Black Ant, Tan Elk Hair Caddis.
Nymphs & Wets: Pink Bead CDC Pheasant Tail, Duracell, Zebra Midge, Pats Rubberlegs, Squirminator, Gold Ribbed Hares Ear, Depth Charge Caddis. Slush Egg.
Streamers: (Trout) Sparkle Minnow, Buggers & Leeches, Micro Dungeon.
(Bass) Clouser minnow, party crasher, finesse changer, jiggy craw, crittermite.
Panfish: Amnesia Bug, small Chubby Chernobyl, Bluegill Spider, Dry and Wet Ants. All after lunch in warmer water.
Headwaters:
They continue to fish very well. These cold mornings have slightly slowed the early bite, so add a nymph dropper below your dry until the sun rises and warms the bluelines a bit. Got some orange Stimmies?
Athens Jay got into a nice batch of wild bows and a few stocker browns on small, fluffy dries high above Helen last weekend. He paid some hefty dues for those fish with his steep hike in and out.
Stocked Waters:
There are still some early October stocker browns around for prospectors who cover plenty of ground. See that stocking list here: https://georgiawildlife.com/Fishing/Trout
Tailwaters: No recent reports.
North Georgia Private Waters:
Wes: “As the fall weather continues to cool down the fishing keeps getting better. I made a couple of trips this week and the fishing was great! The dry fly bite seems to be tapering off with the cooling temps but nymphs and streamers are very effective right now. My go-to patterns were CDC Pheasant Tails, Girdle Bugs, and Sparkle Minnows.
Don't overlook swinging soft hackles either. During the warmer afternoon hours, we were able to fool quite a few fish on a Yellow Soft Hackle Partridge.
Israel had a fruitful trip on the Soque yesterday. He said, “Flavors of the day were a #16 CDC Pheasant Tail and #18 Purple Rainbow Warrior.”
Jake was out yesterday, too. He said: "Things fished very well this morning. The water is very clear, so lighter tippet and natural flies were the key for me. We caught all of our fish on small Girdle Bugs, Soft Hackle Pheasant Tails, and small Duracells.”
Joseph: “Private water trout were biting good on Wednesday! We were able to pick up some fish in the morning on nymphs deep, but the majority of our fish came on a #6 Sparkle Minnow in royal or natural sculpin colors. For nymphs, small natural bugs like Pheasant Tails and Montana Princes fished the best.”
Warm Rivers: no reports. They’re getting pretty cold now and the bass bite is probably slow.
Ponds:
They continue to fish well in this cooler weather, especially after some sunshine warms them. Athens Jay said: “Pond fishing in the Piedmont is good in the afternoon. The bass like my black streamers,
while the trophy bream are succumbing to a rubberleg stonefly nymph.”
Reservoirs:
Jimmy: “The topwater bite on the mountain lakes tapered off a little this week but the quality of the catch is still good. Jake put us on some real nice fish.”
Joseph: “Lanier fishing has still been steady. Stripers are still feeding sporadically on top, but most fish can be found sitting on humps. The topwater fishing for spotted bass has been on fire and we are still seeing large schools of fish around the mouths of pockets and creeks. I’ve had the best luck with serpentine swim baits and walking baits. As the water cools the topwater bass fishing should dwindle slightly. However with the nightly lows in the 40s some amazing topwater striper action is just around the corner! “
Afar:
Travel is improving in NC and the fishing has been hot on wild trout streams that weren’t scoured by Helene. Delayed Harvest stream stockings are still postponed, however, due to the hurricane’s impact on NCWRC trout hatcheries and the stocking access roads to streams.
Rabunite Nanette said that she and Rick caught a few Smokies trout last week on dries, but a guide that they met said that his client had an excellent trip.
In fact, we visited yesterday. I left my rod at home, packed up all my spare winter clothes and some camping gear, and headed north. After dropping off our supplies at a Sylva donation center and an awesome BBQ lunch in Dillsboro, we topped off the trip with a stream recon and evening elk-watching in Cherokee.
It was a great day in our neighbor state as it recovers from Helene. Consider a road trip and/or donation soon yourselves to be part of the western NC comeback.
Here’s an angling update from DRO owner Kevin, in Brevard.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/837933258205608/?mibextid=ZZyLBr
Kudos:
Kudos to the UGA 5Rivers club for passing it on! Check out these activities.
Club member Isabella: “This past weekend, UGA’s 5Rivers Club hosted a new angler fishing day, introducing students to fly fishing. Experienced club members paired up with mentees for one-on-one instruction and had the chance to fish from both the bank and Jon boats. It was thrilling to see eager mentees catch their first fish on the fly!
A big thank you to a local landowner and UGA supporter for graciously allowing us to fish at his beautiful ponds and providing his boats. It was a beautiful day for the event, making it a memorable experience for everyone involved. We look forward to more events like this in the future, continuing to inspire the next generation of anglers!”
Club member Matt Graf was the program speaker for the Kanooka Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Matt cover the club’s activities, from fishing to outreach to conservation.
Club VP Cooper said: “This past monday, 5 Rivers @ UGA gave casting lessons at The Bridge church to Athens kids to introduce more people to our fly fishing community.”
It’s shaping up to be a fine fall fishing season. Just dress in layers so you can “winter-fish” before lunch and then “spring-fish” on the sunny, warm afternoons.
