September

A day on the pond from last September. Looks pretty
warm and fully green.

September in Georgia feels a lot like August in Georgia. Weather and fish behavior alike remain distinctively summerish. Still, in my mind at least, September brings some sense of fall. Labor Day (today) in many ways marks an end of summer, schools are back in session, college football started last weekend, the month name ends in "ber"...  Lots of things about September hint at fall, and we even tend to get a few spells with cooler nights before the month is ends.

I suppose September also seems extra fallish to me because legitimate fall trip dates are near enough that I'm beginning to settle more plans: October trout in the Smokies; November crappie in Illinois and bass in Alabama...

 Some year, September travels give me a head start on fall because I travel north to places where September legitimately is a fall month. That's not the case with this year's plans, as of now. Looks like I may be staying in the South this month. However, when mid-September travels send me to Minnesota, that's a legitimate fall trip.

We've hit 80s already this morning, and the high for the day is supposed to find the 90s. No. Fall hasn't arrived. September lets me start pretending, though.

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!

Pretending it is Fall

September isn't a fall month in Georgia, and in my head I know that to be true. I like to fool myself, though, so please don't spoil it.

It doesn't feel fallish today. In fact, I think it's a little warmer than what we experienced through most of August (which was refreshingly mild). Most of my fall plans have been solidly made, though, and they really are just around the corner. Meanwhile, some fall activities, such as college football and in places dove and deer hunting, have already begun. Fish remain in summer mode, but it's not too soon to be thinking about fall forays up trout streams. Of course, we do what we can to nudge along the seasonal change at home by making apple butter, using fall table cloths and such.

I did notice a leaf that had changed colors on a dogwood in front of my house. Hey, maybe it really is fall!