Learning From the Best of 'Em

As Rick Clunn cast a topwater plug toward a Table Rock bluff and spoke of the things he likes best about fall fishing, I couldn't help but consider how fortunate I am to be able to make my living writing fish stories. I began this morning watching Brian Snowden pull a 5 1/2-pounder off an offshore hump as I learned about his favorite summer strategies. Yesterday started with an hour in Kevin VanDam's boat doing photo and video work, followed soon after with time on the water with Jimmy Houston, Edwin Evers and Ott DeFoe.

Tournament wins and TV time aside, each of these pros has spent thousands of hours on the water, so the opportunity to ride along, take photos and ask questions allows me to learn so much in such a short period of time. Beyond that, relationships with many of the pros and other writers have grown into friendships, and I'm thankful to get spend time with my friends at a beautiful lodge as a big part of my job.

I'm writing from the Branson airport, and I'm also thankful that I'll be back home tonight. Not for long, though. Nathaniel and I leave Sunday morning for Branson, Round 2.

To Branson & Back & Branson & Back

Tomorrow I hop on a plane out of Atlanta to fly to Branson, Missouri for a writers' event at Big Cedar Lodge on Table Rock Lake. This is a fun and productive event that I've attended before, where I get the opportunity to do interviews and photo work with top pros like Kevin VanDam, Rick Clunn and Edwin Evers, using the beautiful backdrop of an Ozarks lake and enjoying the comforts of an outstanding resort. The weather forecast looks good, so I expect to get a lot done in only a few days.
I get home from Branson on Wednesday night, and then on Sunday morning, Nathaniel and I hop in the truck and begin driving back toward Branson! Actually, we'll drive first to the Buffalo River in northern Arkansas, where we're looking forward to a couple days of float-fishing with friends. The main objective of the trip, though, is to attend the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association's annual conference in Branson.

While we're in Branson, Nathaniel and I are looking forward to trout fishing on Lake Taneycomo. I've long heard about the fine trout fishing on these waters, but I've never fished there.

Nathaniel's Take on Dry Run

I posted a quick report from the hotel last week after Nathaniel spent a morning fishing Arkansas' Dry Run Creek. I wanted to pass along Nathaniel's perspective on this special stream.

After all, he was the one doing the fish-catching. All I could do was watch and take pictures!

Dry Run Creek a Gem

Nathaniel and I just left Dry Run Creek - an amazing special regs stream in Arkansas that is managed for youngsters and fully handicapped anglers. It's all catch-and-release with barbless single hook artificial lures, and Nathaniel caught and released 31 trout (by my best count) in a few hours of fishing. Lots of quality fish in the mix, including the big, hook-jawed rainbow in the photo above. He also lost a GIANT brown, which rolled on the surface and threw his lure -- and an even bigger brown tried to eat one rainbow he was fighting. What a wonderful opportunity for young anglers! He caught most of his fish on Rebel Tracdown Minnows and Teeny Wee Craws.

Fishing Weather

In a recent e-mail to a friend and fellow writer, I mentioned that this week's refreshingly fallish weather has made me want to go trout fishing. The most recent front that pushed through, the one that collided with Lee remnants and created flooding rains just west of us, brought a refreshing rain to North Georgia and a nice temperature break that so far hasn't fled.

However, even while I was writing to my friend about the fall-like weather made me want to go fishing, I had to acknowledge that winter, spring and summer conditions have the exactly same effect (but only when it's hot, cold or in-between and only if it's sunny, overcast, partly cloudy, raining or snowing).