A Day of Fly Fishing and Canoeing

Yesterday, three friends from work and myself took the day off to go on a guided fly fishing trip on a managed stretch of the Noontootla Creek. My past experience with fly fishing consisted of a single fishing trip during high school with a friend of mine to Colorado. Neither of us had any idea what we were doing, and if I can recall back that far, neither of us caught anything on our fly rods for the entire week of on and off fishing. Deciding that fly fishing was more the stuff myth than reality, I never seriously tried again until yesterday. The creek was beautiful, the weather comfortable, and one of guys hooked into two beautiful trout within the first half hour. Granted, he was the most experienced in our group, but it still raised my hopes that people do actually catch fish on flies. In fact, over the next several hours, everyone proceeded to hook and catch just beautiful fish there. Everyone except myself. Like Pat McManus, my legendary fishing repulsion powers were in full effect and couldn't be dampened by private waters or great conditions. Lack of caught fish aside, it was a great time out on in the stream and learning something new.

By lunch, we called it a day on the creek and headed to the nearby Toccoa River for a short canoe trip. The waters there are uncomplicated, but are fast enough that you could float the river without having to paddle except to steer. We floated maybe a 4 miles section and both canoes capsized once. Too bad, because my favorite hat floated away. And as my friend Jeff put it, "Don't worry, when the river goes down, someone will probably find a cool hat. Oh, and then somebody might find yours too." What a guy!