Ep 3: Perfect Fishing Buddies...adventure!

As a kid it was always ghost stories, pretend adventures and fishing with my next "Perfect Fishing Buddy"...

He was 10 and attempted to shoot an ORANGE off of his brother's head with a bow and arrow. Confidence oozed as he drew the bow, anchored and released...almost on target. The metal tipped target arrow struck his little brother just outside his eyesocket creating a scary but superficial wound. I got to watch an epic asswhooping of mass proportions seconds after his mother heard of her archer son's attempt....he is my most adventurous fishing buddy, he's a bit more prepared for the task at hand than he was that day in my back yard 39 years ago. But, he'll still sling a proverbial arrow from time to time just to see where it lands.
On our first kayak fishing trip we paddled 19 miles on lake Blue Ridge setting the bar for our version of adventure. We didn't catch a single fish and were both worn out but we enjoyed every single minute of the 14 hours on the water.

Since that day I have fished, paddled and camped in 4 states with him. Nothing has been easy, its required extensive planning, creative logistics and a lot of luck. I've seen him catch his first walleye, biggest smallmouth and biggest trout. He was there with me when I landed my first Suwannee bass that was also my 31st freshwater fish species from a kayak in a year. He has a great eye with a camera and when it comes to computers, he is a master at online scouting and recon of potential areas to visit.

 We've camped in some of the most remote and beautiful places I've ever seen. We hiked into Ellico'ts Rock Wilderness area with the Polar Vortex of 2014 bearing down on us with the main intent of testing our camping gear. -3 degrees were met with confidence and anticipation the second night of our trip and we emerged unscathed and actually had fun.

We paddled over a mile across Tybee inlet to one of Georgia's uninhabited barrier islands, Little Tybee, bushwhacked to it's heart, set camp and claimed her ours for 3 days.

We repelled a well planned attack from a gangly band of racoons on our camp at Little Tybee island without a single drop of blood being shed.

We've had tornadic storms pass over while camping in one of the most remote areas of the Cohutta Wilderness and he's never said anything but that he's ready for the next trip.

We floated Florida's Santa Fe river for 3 days stopping to camp in the jungle like setting each evening all while witnessing some of the most beautiful flora and fauna along with bizarre river features (sinks and rises)we'd ever seen.

With the amount of time we've spent on the water and in the woods we were bound to see some extremely rare sites...a fish eating snake on the Chattahoochee, a hitchhiking squirell on Carter's Lake and a mysterious large footprint along the banks of the Conasauga river in the middle of the Cohutta Wilderness.

There has been some minor casualties...my count is 3 lost fishing rod and reels and 2 broken ones, several on the run gear repairs and a hellacious case of giardia (probably caused by the combination of a faulty water purifier and a heaping pile of fresh bear mess located next to the spring 100 yards up the hill from our camp). My poor car is a 2014 model and has almost 30,000 miles on it (at least half of that has been fishing/camping trips), I currently have 4 fishing reels in the shop being rebuilt and another two that needs it yet none of these things have deterred us from the next adventure. Like the postman...come hell or high water we're gonna hit the woods.

He loves and respects nature as much as I do and I will admit that I probably wouldn't have visited half of the places I did if not for him. We witnessed God's creation on a level that many only dream of...not from a car window but actually feeling it, tasting it and down right wallowing in it for days on end....thank God for little plastic boats.

What lies ahead? Who knows, we've talked about several trips including the Flint River and the Collins in Tennessee for the immediate future and paddling the Grand Loop(Google it) after retirement or if we stay alive long enough. But whatever it may be, my buddy will be willing, prepared and ready to go. While shooting an apple off of someone's head with a bow is a daring feat he's gonna find an orange to nail. Peace

The richest man has a bag full of worthless gold...

 The sound of that first paddle stroke at sunrise thunders deep in my core. I know with that sound where I am headed and that adventure lies ahead. The sound of the highway disappears as the shoal takes its place. I am where I need to be...on the river.
 

They say heaven has streets of gold but gravel bars and bluffs that rise from the flow and grand mountains are what I expect. You see, gold does not impress me unless it's meshed in to the skin of a trout, a smallmouth or even a red horse sucker...that is the gold that God placed for the true fisherman to admire. Not worth a penny to most but priceless in the wet hands of the right man as he banks memories to share with those with a like mind.

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 At the end of the day, when the sound of the city takes over the river's music with the eagerness of a frightened herd of buffalos the kayak fisherman has his bag full of gold that will pay his fare until the next time he can float.

...thank God for little plastic boats.

Nature's Tiny Details...

Spirituality and fishing go hand in hand to many folks. I get it, some may not and that's OK. Its not catching the fish that brings out the angels blaring on their trumpets, as a matter of fact the fish is simply "the bait". They lure me into traveling from one beautiful place to another in search of adventure and big fish.The adventure part usually pays off but the big fish deal is iffy at best. One thing that is guaranteed...if you're really quiet, pay attention and immerse yourself into nature, god will speak. I'm not the only person that feels this and if you think this is crazy then there are a plethora of crazies paddling around our local rivers, creeks and lakes. God doesn't say, " Hey Jim, how's it going...Catching anything?, Try the bubblegum trick worm." It is spiritual...no voice but at the end of the day you've received a message. Here's the deal...You witness perfection, on a grand scale! I have a theory about a tiny fish I observed not too long ago. The fish was a coosa darter and there was a community hanging around some rocks in a local creek. It was spawning season and the males were doing their courting ritual. The females are a drab subdued color but the males look like they'd fit in on a Fijian coral reef with their beautiful colors. The female would swim onto a flat rock then one male would show up, then two...flaring their fins and doing their best mating dance. I assume these were young males because eventually a bigger male would pop out of a hole in the rocks, stroll towards the little female and "break it down", I mean a dance that'd swoon any girl all while the others males would either run for cover or at least give him plenty of space. I thought about what I'd witnessed on and off for the next several days. Lots of different animals do similar routines during mating season on land and in water but "why?" Here is my theory and it most certainly is debatable... Only the bigger stronger males get to mate so the species is guaranteed healthy offspring and the species can continue to survive. You say, "no duh, Jim, we watch Nat Geo too." There's more...these old males are smart and they're schooled in survival. They didn't swim around in the open like the smaller young males, they were hiding in the rocks, swam maybe 3 inches did their jig and disappeared. The young males were swimming to where ever a female was and dancing 10 times more than the old men. The young males were learning valuable survival skills, they were getting stronger and more agile in this fish version of teenage hormones that would surely help out in non mating times and in the next mating season "IF" they didn't get eaten by the red eye bass that was lurking around this little rock pile. So, I just explained in a lot (for me its a lot) of words a pretty common mating ritual. One thing, who has ever seen or even knows what a coosa darter looks like...show of hands please?...OK, not many, only the people that immerse themselves in nature or someone with the Fisheries Dept. So my theory is although these beautiful little 3 inch fish go through all of this,(by the way it is a perfect system), for their own survival, the main reason is so I could watch in amazement at God's handiwork and draw from it that there is no other way tsurvival was not a carefully thought out plan by a creator. When you witness things like this while in nature it puts you on high alert every time you are in nature, you're eager to see more of the same and it constantly solidifies my belief that nothing in untouched nature is an accident. God spent a lot of time laying this stuff out for us to marvel at and it's a real shame that only a small fraction of people even want to see these types of things. I don't know what your gods name is and I don't care...if you can find the beauty and amazement by staring for hours into a creek watching some fish then you are my friend.

Beautiful creatures like beautiful places...

There is a river in North Florida named Santa Fe...warm and the color of a strong tea it makes its way towards the gulf. At it's headwaters it rises from the ground in magnificent fashion. Not as a trickle but full flowing and ready to support the diverse ecosystem that surrounds it. Along its path there are beautiful blue springs that are nestled in pockets along the shoreline feeding the river as it grows. The banks are lined with cypress and live oaks draped in spanish moss. The river is home to manatees, alligators, numerous birds of every color and in my opinion...the jewel of this flow, the Suwannee bass. Although small...the world record is 3lb 14oz...the Suwannee bass is full of fight and a real badass but wears the most beautiful colors of any black bass species. His favorite food are crayfish which thrive along the limestone bottom this ancient river has carved. This fish is not hard to catch since they are voracious feeders, all you need is a small jig or crankbait that mimicks a crawfish and the ability to not be completly hypnotized by the river's beauty. To float and paddle the Santa Fe is an experience to behold because it is one of God's great outdoor cathedrals. If you kayak fish I urge you to do a quick Google search, after you explore via the web give "Santa Fe Canoe Outpost" a call...they can set up a shuttle and give you all of the information you'll need about camping and fishing on this river. The folks at the "outpost" love the Santa Fe and are eager to help anyone wanting to explore it. Make time for a trip to experience this jewel of old Florida and if you're lucky you may hit the motherlode of the Santa Fe's hidden gems, the Suwannee bass.

Nature... More than meets the eye.

I've been on vacation for the past two weeks and and had a great time with my wife and daughter but hoped for something epic to write about in regards to fishing. I spent three days at Disney World with my family and a few days on the beach. Back at home I fished the past four days straight and I'm still trying to figure out what the bass are doing in my area. I did see a couple of manatees in Florida, several eagles on the some local lakes and caught a personal best stringer of bass on lake Blue Ridge but the actual fishing wasn't very noteworthy...I don't have any monster fish to pose with or a hot lure to talk about but what this past week or so has given me is some insight into what lies under the covers of a fishing trip. To many, going fishing is as much of a spiritual or religious event as a church revival. With the launch of your kayak and that first paddle stroke you enter into a world not much unlike that of primitive man...except the boat is plastic, the paddles are carbon, maybe an electronic depth finder etc. but that's not important. I'm talking about the overall experience we attain by floating deep into nature, places you can't see from a road, where an ecosystem is as perfect as it can be in this day and age. What makes such an enormous impact on myself is when I pay very close attention to these surroundings, there is little to doubt about it's creation. You don't paddle along thinking, "damn, this crap shoot in the universe turned out perfect"...my thoughts are about the precise planning that went into nature, the obvious love and passion it took to create such mesmerizing beauty and to gift you and I with eyes and a brain capable of seeing and appreciating it. That in itself is mind blowing. Whether your god has a name or not ,these trips we take into his creation definitely bring us closer to him and allows us to worship in a way that is free of today's current events, opinions and agendas. We worship by simply being human and in awe of nature. Negative thoughts are left at the gate and few words are needed to get his message across. I started out kayak fishing as an economical way to fish a diverse range of waters and soon realized that it was the way for me to attain a higher relationship with my god, Jesus Christ. My religious beliefs aren't up for debate nor am I trying to convert anyone but if more people had an interest in nature, visited regularly and truly appreciated it the world would definitely be a better place.