Jimmy Harris
Senior Member
Our waters are looking very good for regional trouters. Area streams received only one-half to three-quarters of an inch of rain last night and are in great shape for your weekend adventures. My morning circuit to White County streams showed them in prime condition for your pursuits as early as today!
These warmer days have boosted stream temperatures, too, making some afternoon dry fly action a real possibility. In fact, we had some topwater action yesterday afternoon, which was a great hint of Spring!
Wes’ Hot Fly List:
Dries: black elk hair caddis, parachute Adams, BWO, Griffith’s gnat, yellow stimulator or small micro Chubby Chernobyl as a headwater dry for your droppers. Start carrying some quill gordons and hendricksons, too.
Nymphs & Wets: Pheasant tail nymph, rainbow warrior, little black and brown stones, holy grail, sexy walts, Frenchie, twister egg.
Streamers & warm water: (Trout) wooly bugger, sparkle minnow, micro leech, bank robber sculpin. (bass & stripers) clouser minnow, Cowen’s Somethin Else, craw changer.
Headwaters:
They’re clear and running well, while the Hooch in Helen has just a slight stain that will aid your catch rates. The stain will probably be gone by this afternoon. Water temps are great and will give y’all a shot at some dry fly action, too. At 8 AM this morning Spoilcane ran 51F and Smith DH was 50F. It should be a great weekend in the mountains. Here are some recent tales.
UGA Five Rivers clubber “Coop:” “I hiked into a NEGA wild trout stream a couple of weeks ago. It was a great day to fish, but the wild fish were hard to find. Ended up catching them on one of Dredger's rigs: 18 inches of 5x to a wooly bugger, then a size 20 pheasant tail soft hackle dropped off the back. I added a split shot a foot above the bugger to get my flies down to the fish. “
Rabunites Rick and Nan ventured to a wild trout stream in western North Carolina and found many hungry wild rainbows gobbling #16 BWOs in the afternoon sun. The fish were stationed in the slower water adjacent to fast riffles and also near structure like fallen trees.
RSquared: “This past week has been very busy but I managed to break away one afternoon and fish a local NW Georgia stream. I had hoped for a mixed bag of trout and Coosa Redeyes. However, only the Rainbows were willing to come out and play in the chilly water. The clear shallow water was perfect for tan, size 14, never-sink caddis dry flies.”
Delayed Harvest:
Smith DH fish have smartened up after several weeks of heavy angling pressure. It’s taking smaller nymphs and eggs and better drifts to connect. Pull out the 6X tippet and try several fly changes until you dial in the hot bug of the day, likely something they haven’t seen yet.
Rabunites Flipper and Dredger hit the Chattooga DH last Monday. They were hoping that the bright afternoon sun would warm the waters and turn on the fish. Alas, the last couple of freezing nights had really dropped water temperatures. It was a cold 42 F to start and only inched up two degrees through a cloudy afternoon. The fishing was slow with the duo ending up with 10 trout between them. Rubberleg stones and eggs dredged right along pool bottoms brought most fish to hand. Catch rates should pick up significantly with warmer days in our forecast.
The Rabunite trio of Nan, Rick, and Dredger hit Nan DH yesterday (22nd). The water was a clear, cold 44 F at their 11 AM start. Fish were cold and sluggish to start, but the action picked up as the sun warmed the water. Hot nymphs were a sexy Walt’s worm, France fly, soft hackle hares ear, and pheasant tail.
A few more adult bugs flew in the afternoon, so Dredger tried a double-dry combo. The action was a bit slow as expected as water temp crept up slowly to 48F, but he managed a good number of looks and a few fish to hand. His parachute Adams brought more strikes/refusals than the tiny black caddis dropper. An eagle siting ended a great day among good friends.
North Georgia Private Waters:
CDB: “I had friends in from Idaho, and fished DH, Dukes Creek, and private water again this week. The recipe for success was largely unchanged. Bronze or light brown leech patterns and woolly buggers worked great in the mornings, and lighter-colored egg patterns lit them up in the afternoon. Lighter yellow or peach color eggs worked best and smaller sizes were also better received.
As with last week, being on the bottom paid dividends. If you are in a fishy-looking hole, and you aren’t catching anything, stop and either adjust your depth, or add a little extra weight to keep that tippet a little bit straighter underwater., and your rod tip and indicator should be leading your flies.
While the size of the fish might not match the South Fork, they were pretty. And hard to deny the scenery here in North Georgia is gorgeous. Should be good weather, get out there and enjoy it!”
Small Lakes:
Superchub: “It’s a good time to introduce the kids to panfish! The water temps are coming up nicely albeit a bit slower than last year. The temperatures are hovering around 50° in my neighborhood pond and the bluegill and red-eared sunfish are just starting to be active. This means that with another 5 or 10 degrees it’s time to introduce the little ones to a fishing adventure! The pan fish are very cooperative when you have a youngster who will lose interest in fishing quickly. These fish usually keep the action going! For the little ones a small spinning rod is perfect and for the slightly older it’s a great time to teach them basic fly fishing. One of the great things about bream fishing is that you can fish off the dock or bank. No boat needed!
As for bait, worms, crickets or bream power bait works great but if you don’t want to mess with that stuff then, for the little ones, tie on a small jig or fly like a bream buster, girdle bug, or big prince nymph under a small bobber. For your new young fly fisher use those same flies. A guaranteed fun outing either way! “
Reservoirs:
Spangler: “I walked about a mile of shoreline on the south end of Lanier this week. I had an hour to kill and fishing the tailwater was not an option due to generation, so I grabbed my 6 wt and sink tip and a handful of streamers and went at it. I focused on points near drop-offs with timber and/or big rocks. I thought I was going to end with a skunk, but hit one last location I noticed on my way back to the car. This hungry fellow chased my Clouser up to the bank and grabbed it as I was about to recast! It’s a hard lake to hit from the banks but I was glad to know I was hitting the right spots even if bites were scarce.”
From GAWRD: “The state fish record for yellow perch is tied. Angler Emerson Mulhall of Cumming, GA reeled in a whopping 2 lb, 9 oz (16 inch) fish on Feb. 18 on Lake Burton, tying the current state record established in 2013, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD).
“I was confused when I hooked the fish because it didn’t fight like a bass, which is what I typically pursue, and then surprised when I saw the yellow coloring – but got really excited when we realized it was a huge perch,” said angler Emerson Mulhall. “I called my dad, who is the one who taught me to fish, and he encouraged me to get off the lake and go get it weighed on a certified scale. I like to say that there are no ‘bad’ days on the lake, but some days are better than others. This was definitely one of those days.”
Afar:
Atticus: “Our trio had a pretty good excursion Musky fishing. We had a bunch of follows and a couple of boatside eats doing a figure 8 on the fly. I landed my first Musky!”
That’s the latest intel from our neck of the woods. Watch those air temperatures, both the overnight lows and daily highs and pick the warmest day possible before your excursions. You should have some very good trout action as water temps rise toward 50 degrees. Be on the lookout for some early-season risers, too! You just might ring in your spring dry fly action earlier than normal. Wouldn’t that be a sweet deal?
Hopefully our intel will have you fired up for the weekend. Be sure to renew your fishing license, too (we were checked on both the Chattooga and Nan this week). Good luck!
PS: don’t forget to grab a few Dream Trip tix for your shot at a Yellowstone fishing vacation next July!
https://go.tulocalevents.org/georgia-tu-dream-trip-2024/Campaign/Details
