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!