Dream Fishing Destination - How to decide?

Note: This blog entry is my submission for the Red Tuna Shirt Club and Outdoor Blogger Network Writing Contest.

I was presented with the question “what would be your dream fishing destination?” and it took me back a little.  I mostly hunt, so I have my dream hunts on paper.  But my dream fishing destination, that had me search my thought database.

The nice thing about fishing is it can be what you want it to be.  If my mood strikes, there is nothing like popping the water with a fly in a cold mountain stream.  Then again, a beetle spin or mister twister worm in a farm pond or small lake pulling in largemouth, crappie, and bream, the action is all but guaranteed.  Pier fishing on the coast bringing in croaker and spot with the occasional flounder and blue; well that is a summer ritual at least once each year.

Read More Fishing Memories

But the one destination may not be the one destination.  I like the peaceful rap of the running water over the rocks in the mountains.  However, if I was there all the time, then that farm pond may be what ignites the memories that bring the solitude to an aging soul.

As far as my dream hunts go, there are two that may not be hunts at all, or they may epitomize what a hunt actually is.  I would love to hit the Trinity River in Texas with a bowfishing rig.  A huge alligator gar wading in the shallow turn of a muddy river, while I stalk the creature on the front end of a boat, bow, arrow, and line in hand.  What a rush it would be to have a 6 or 7 foot prehistoric monster on the barb of a bone and scale splitting tip.

Read about North Carolina's River Monster



(AP Photo/Illinois River Biological Station)



Then again, a weekend excursion up the Illinois to witness the flying curtains of carp, desperately trying to fling a shaft through a shiny alien fish all the while dodging the ones setting their flights toward you would be an adventure to behold.  All I can see there are laughter, misses, and an occasional exuberation when the arrow actually does impale a fish out of water.

So you see, fishing can take different forms and therefore can mean so many different things, that one destination may not be able to fulfill your actual dreams.

Bill Howard writes a weekly outdoors column for the Wilson Times and Yancey County News and the bowhunting blog site GiveEmTheShaft.com. He is a Hunter Education and International Bowhunter Education instructor, lifetime member of the North Carolina Bowhunters Association, Bowhunter Certification Referral Service Chairman, member and official measurer of Pope and Young, and a regular contributor to North Carolina Bowhunter Magazine.

Watch Who You Fish With

The fish are starting to spawn, and the weather is cooperating.  It is a great time to be beside the pond or stream with hook and line.

I remember many a day visiting the South Toe River near Mount Mitchell and watching the fly fishermen bringing in their creel.  There is a poetic form in the casting of the line as the fly is placed in the pools where the eager trout awaits.  Peaceful just does not do the scene justice, it is something beyond.  The first time I attempted such, I ended up in a huge ball of yellow line, resembling someone who had just been sprayed with several bottles of silly string.  Yet, I did not give up, and soon could at least hold my own.

My father-in-law told me of a time when he and a long-time friend who had moved down south, donned the chest waders in pursuit of the trout.  They made their way downstream, casting with every step, and were having a wonderful time.  They brought in several fish, and each catch was a story in itself.  Well, it happened the friend had lived out of state for the previous couple of years (he landed a job as a game warden in Florida) and had forgotten to purchase his fishing license for North Carolina.  My father-in-law had worked himself down the river a bit, separating from his friend by several minutes.

As Murphy’s Law would have it, the friend noticed a familiar uniform checking other anglers back up stream from them, so in a quiet panic was thinking of what he could tell the wildlife officer.  When the officer approached, he asked “Any luck today?”

The friend answered, “Oh no, I’m not fishing.  I’m just holding the rod and fish for my buddy down the stream there.  I don’t have a North Carolina fishing license. “

The officer told him about some holes a little further back, and they could try there.  About that time, the radio went off and the officer waved and turned back.  A sigh came over the friend as the officer was called away before he could approach my father-in-law.

They continued to fish for a short while, and then headed back in before dark.  When they arrived at the truck, my father-in-law said “Hey, isn’t that the officer you were talking to earlier downstream?”

Before an answer and explanation could unfold, the officer made his way up to the two companions.  “I understand you had a good day out there today,” talking to my father-in-law.

“Who me?  My friend here is just trying to share the credit.  He’s a much better fisherman than I am.  I think he was pulling in three to my one.”

My father-in-law and his friend have not fished together since.


Bill Howard is a Hunter Education and Bowhunter Education Instructor , a Wildlife Representative and BCRS Program Chairman for the North Carolina Bowhunters Association, and an avid outdoorsman.  Please forward any pictures or stories you would like shared to billhowardoutdoors@gmail.com.