October

A good thing happened while I was sleeping last night.

October arrived.

I guess there's nothing really that different about Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, but somehow it just feels different because I know it's now October, which is my single favorite month of the year. I'm an all-season angler, and there are things I like a lot about every month of the year. October tops my list, though.

Maybe it's the normal delightful October weather. Maybe it's the changing of colors (although in Georgia, our prettiest color really comes in early November). Maybe it's autumn fishing. Maybe it's the fact that my wife and I (and two of our six children) have October birthdays, so I get to eat a lot of cake this month. Maybe it's the opening of North Carolina's delayed harvest season, the abundance of fall festivals, pumpkin flavored hot drinks...

In trout, I suppose some combination of all those factors, and more, makes October my favorite month.

I'm looking forward to enjoying a few of those things -- the beginning of the DH season, the wonderful weather, and the first decent hints of changing colors -- next week when I fish the Nantahala River and then spend a few days at a conference at Fontana Village, which looks is right across Fontana Lake from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I'll likely also do some fishing in the park, in the DH section of Big Snowbird Creek and/or in the little lakes just downstream of Fontana while I'm up there. Those plans aren't settled quite yet.

I might actually have to sneak out to the pond today. I have some photos I'd like to shoot. More importantly, I just want to do a little October fishing!

Fall in the North Georgia Air?

Fall showing its splendors along the West Fork
 of the Chattooga River late last October.

Seven of 10 days with highs in the 70s in our local long-range forecast seen to suggest that fall is trying to creep into North Georgia. Of course, that's sort of hard to gauge because the forecast has looked strangely similar to that all summer. We rarely got above the mid 80s even during July and August afternoons. Not quite normal, but I'm sure not complaining.

We're not seeing significant fall color here yet, and in truth our brightest fall colors normally come pretty close to the end of October and even extending into November. We are getting quite a few leaves on roofs and driveways, and late-summer wildflowers like Joe Pye Weed and Goldenrod, which tend to suggest fall is coming soon, are mostly past the peak of their brilliance.

If the air feels like fall and the fish are biting well, which they sure were on my most recent outing, I guess it doesn't really matter if the leaves have changed colors or the calendar says it should be fall. Of course, that recent day on the water was in West Virginia, not Georgia. I probably need to visit a local pond or creek soon so I can decide for myself whether fall fishing has started.

Actually, my next casts are likely to be made in Oklahoma and maybe Arkansas, because I leave town early Tuesday morning, and I don't think I'll get the chance to fish locally between now and then. That gives autumn a little more time to make it's presence extra obvious in North Georgia. Whenever fall fishing arrives, I know I'll enjoy it.

Fall Fishing Excursions

Autumn on the beautiful Tennessee River in North Alabama.

Not long ago, my fall calendar looked oddly barren, with only a couple of things set in stone and plenty of days between plans. As seems to happen late in the summer, though, that has changed in a hurry. In fact, as things stand now, it looks like I'll need fishing licenses from about eight different states to cover September and October adventures. Destinations are spread from Oklahoma to Louisiana to West Virginia, and fishing trips range from a float in a raft for a river smallmouths to a day in flats boat trip for seatrout. One trip in early October will last the better part of two weeks and will include fishing in three different states.

In truth destinations could have been even more widespread. I gave hard thought to continuing west after fishing in Oklahoma to do a little trout fishing in Colorado and Wyoming. Trout streams in the Wild West remain only places of dreams for me at this point, and one day I'll make it out there. I decided, though, that this fall was not the right time.

Considering the variety in the fishing I'll be doing, I should have the opportunity to add to my 2013 list of species caught. It's currently at 15 species and somewhat sadly hasn't grown since June. Last year, I had caught 25 different species of fish by the end of August. Of course most of my fishing this summer has been with my children in local ponds, where we mostly catch the same few species.

The number of miles logged and the days away from home will get wearisome, and I'll have to be efficient to get all my writing done between fishing days; Still, if I'm going to get extra busy with fishing trips for a while, fall is a mighty good time to do so. The fish tend to feed well (often on top!), the weather typically is nice, and many rivers and lakes put on their fall attire and become as pretty as they will be all year.

The run of travel begins in a little more than a week. I guess I'd better get some fish stories written!