I've been waiting for about a week to tell about my trip to the Smoky Mountains. My friend Royce was gracious enough to let me tag along with him on a fantastic fishing weekend. Unfortunately, I was not so gracious in return as I caught all the fish for him ;). We had been talking about this trip for a long time, ever since I got Royce into fly fishing. I explained to him that he was not a true fly fishermen until his waders had been wetted in a mountain stream. So we packed our bags, got all our equipment together and jumped in his Honda for a trip to Townsend, TN.
As with all good fishing trips, there were several snags. Sometimes those snags take the form of real snags, trees that interfere with one's ability to keep possesion of their lures or to catch fish (right Kyle?). This weekend we feared the snag would come in the other form that fishermen hate, the weather. We worried it would be freezing cold, because that's exactly what it had been in the mountains for the past week or two. We worried it would be rainy, and camping would be less than enjoyable. But it turned out beautifully. Except for trying to light a fire with only five logs, no kindling, and sopping wet ground to burn it on, but we prevailed!! The food was excellent, and in the form all outdoorsmen understand, meat! The coffee was nearly fatal, and the entertainment was excellent.
There is one story that must be told about Royce. On Friday, we rushed down to Tennessee and we got all our needed supplies in Townsend (ie- flies, food, yeah that's about it). We got to the camp and threw up a tent so we could get to the River. It had been raining, though, and so the river wasn't really worth fishing that night. We came to where we would try, and I told Royce to fish in one spot while I went to another. I stood in the stream for all of three minutes and realized we would catch nothing in the brown, muddy, leafy mess that swirled around me. So I got out of the river and went to break this news to Royce. I found him in a clearing near to where we had split up. He had this funny look on his face, but I didn't notice anything at first. However, he kept looking at me funny so I began to think something might be wrong with me. Then I noticed. His gray sweatshirt was several shades darker than it had been moments ago when I left him, and there were a few little individuals rivers running off him. Oh yes, Royce had been thoroughly introduced to the Smoky Mountains. Needless to say, my weekend was made right there! It hadn't taken him five minutes to do what I had been secretly hoping he would do at some point that weekend, fall in!
So we went back to camp, nearly killed ourself starting our fire and then we enjoyed some great hamburgers my wife made, and had some nice hot apple cider. We turned in after that, and as soon as we did it begin to rain. It rained until we got out of the tent (literally) in the morning, and that was all it rained that weekend.
Saturday was great. I caught several fish. Royce saw a bear. It was a great trip over all. If you want to read about my thoughts on fishing and worship go here. We had a great time, and anytime you catch a fish on your second cast (!!) you know it's great. That's right, we came to the bridge where we would start fishing and on the second cast, bam! I had a beautiful little rainbow trout to fight. I love fishing!
