Gone Fishin'

On Saturday, I went trout fishing in the mountains north of Helen with my dad and brother. We decided to fish on Chattahoochee River. I have two things I want to say before I continue with my fish tale. First, trout fishing is the only kind of fishing I enjoy. I think it’s partly because I have an excuse to wade through beautiful mountain streams. Any other fishing is just plain boring to me! Second, I want to point out that we fished on the ‘Hooch (as we like to call our most famous and loved river) north of the dam. I would never eat anything that came out of that river after it has flowed through Lake Lanier. Ewwww. I know too much about that lake and what happens to our river as it flows south to the gulf.

So anyway, I got up at 4:00 a.m. to be at the river by sunrise. That’s peak biting time, ya know! I was so sleepy on the hour drive there, but as soon as I stepped out of my brother’s SUV and had the fresh, cool mountain air hit me in the face and took in the sound of the rushing water, I was ready to go.

It was so much fun! We walked a while down the river, carefully balancing ourselves over the river stones and scrambling along the banks over downed trees and other obstacles when the rapids were too much. We found many good fishing holes and (as an added bonus) we didn’t meet any other people along the way.

We have nicknamed my brother the “Babe Ruth of fishing” as he likes to brag that he is able to call his shots. Dad was upriver from us and Brother and I traveled ahead searching for a nice hole. Brother stops and points. “Here,” he says. “You want to watch me reel one in?” I sighed, “Yeah, yeah, yeah…Let’s see what you’ve got.” I was planning on continuing downriver to find my own hole, but stopped to watch him instead. He threw his line and immediately got a bite and reeled one in. With the smug look of an “expert” on his face, he turns to me and encourages me to fish here (and critiques my technique as I try). I cast a few times, noticing a couple of trout following my spinner as I reeled in. Brother tells me that I am going to get one. I cast out a couple more times and lo and behold, a Rainbow Trout took the bait and clamped down on my hook. I pulled my rod and reeled it in. I caught him and he didn’t get away! Yay! I was so proud! I guess I should clarify that this my first trout catch of the day. Earlier, I had caught a nice assortment of sticks.

It’s still fun to play in the water…errr, I meant to say…it’s still fun to fish even when you don’t catch one, but it makes it much more fun when you have a little luck and are reeling in more than just twigs and leaves. (Though I swear one of those sticks was as long as I am tall. It was a keeper!) Maybe I’ll try my luck with fly fishing on the Tallulah River next time.


I'm too sexy for my waders...
too sexy for my vest...
too sexy for my hat...

hahaha!







Having fun in the 'Hooch








By looks of it, Dad's line is hung up again while "Babe Ruth" is calling his shots.







The one I caught that didn't get away!