Even if you are a pro fly fisherman like myself (obvious humor and I hope you did note that), always be prepared, even if you are only a lunchtime angler. An old pair of shoes and possibly clothing will certainly make your return trip to work a little more desirable, and possibly save you from being beat unconscious by the lady who mopped your room just that morning. Now, if you work in construction, landscaping, or a similar atmosphere, you are probably safe from any bodily harm. However, an office job where you interact with customers everyday adds more complexity to your preparedness. Having a tendency to live life on the edge, I disregarded this idea just a few days ago when I went fishing after it had rained nonstop the night before.

I admit it was disgustingly muddy, nobody else was down there, and I was fishing water that looks like chocolate pudding. But, if there is one thing my previous fishing experiences have taught me, rising muddy creek water can increase your chance of landing a nice fish, especially catfish. Ever notice how insects and worms seem to ooze out of the soil during a good hard rain. Picture the banks of a creek as a gigantic slip and slide, pouring uncountable numbers of these creatures into the water. Fish aren’t stupid, and they tend to know that a good rain means a smorgasbord of food.

After targeting several key spots with my homemade bream popper, I went with my second most successful warm water fly, the olive wooly bugger. This particular bugger had a medium size bead head. Just the right weight for fishing this type of water. The first few casts weren’t very successful, so I tried a deeper pool about 30 yards downstream. Sometimes you have to find the depth at which these fish are feeding, which can be quite time consuming…trust me! Upon the third cast into this pool, I let the bugger sink all the way to the bottom. A few gently tugs and the line wouldn’t budge. This particular creek is full of submerged trees, bushes, and probably things you wouldn’t even want to know, so I figured my bugger got hung up. Doing what any optimistic angler would do, I set the hook. Holy @#%!!! My line began racing off my reel as I ran up and down the bank, weaving my rod in between the many saplings along the bank. Having no clue what was on the end, my only option was to fight until it submitted, or until the line broke. Several times I got it to the surface, catching a brief glimpse of a fish, and it immediately countered by removing 15 more feet of line. (more…)

“Hey, look at all these ponds… I bet there are a lot of fish in them!” As if we were planning a siege of sorts, Hawgdaddy and I huddled in front of Google maps, looking at the potential fishing areas near our workplace. Either we got tired of hearing “We never get to fish anymore”, or the warmer weather has us in some kind of trance. Regardless, our latest idea is to take a few days out of our work week and go fishing during lunch. Hence, we have come up with an idea for our site called “The Lunchtime Angler.” In this series we will be telling of the many adventures, probably mostly mishaps, during our short lunchtime fishing excursions.

What is a Lunchtime Angler? Don’t bother looking in the dictionary because you won’t find it. I’d like to say that I coined the term, but I’m sure that would be a lie. You probably won’t even find the idea on many of the popular fly fishing blogs as many of them fish for a living. Those who actually work for a living -and I won’t even pretend I work hard -may be more understanding of the term if they continually find themselves pressed for fishing time. I’ve found the best medicine for my fishing itch involves spending my lunch at the river. Now, for many of you that may be an impossibility due to your location, but it’s worked out pretty good for Hawgdaddy and I.

We noticed that there was a recreation center nearby, and it is suggested that you go there and talk to “the fishing guru” about the rules and regulations of all these little ponds. As giddy as a young child opening presents on Christmas morning, we went to harass this poor unfortunate soul one day at lunch. Of course we’d already scouted out a few places on the map, but we weren’t quite sure of the regulations and definitely didn’t want to break any rules. Upon asking the guy where the best fishing was – already thinking we knew – we weren’t quite ready for the answer he gave us. “There really isn’t much fishing around here”, he said. Then he proceeded to explain that the ponds we had been checking out were hardly ever open. Of course, there was one pond not too far away, but there was a catch. I’m sure there was a release form you would have to sign as it had an uncontrollable cottonmouth population, mostly likely a few gators, and required a jon boat to be able to fish it. For our luck and past experiences, we thought this might be a little too adventurous for a lunchtime escapade. The only real option seemed to be the Tennessee River which was only about a 4 mile drive. (more…)