10/21/2024
Oh my gosh everyone! I'm getting an opportunity tomorrow to get a chance to do something that I have been wanting desperately to do for like two years now! Let me tell you the story...
Well it began with a friendship with a great guy and his wife, Alvin McGhee and Genia Durden! Dear friends, who my wife and I were really developing a bond with. These two were close when all this pain and illness started a few years back. Anyway, Alvin McGhee is a passionate fisherman, a fantastic cook, a good soul and a kindred spirit. Of course I had to move from Oak Ridge to Johnson City and so I still have yet to go fishing with the man, which sucks! But that's beside the point. Anyway, my brother Alvin managed to rekindle this burning passion in me to go do some fishing and I just haven't really been able to, except for one time. I did go out on the dock at Rat Branch at Watauga Lake, but I was only successful jigging bluegill on tiny hooks and ultralight tackle, using pieces of earthworm...
So my point is that now that I am in Johnson City, I am 45 minutes away from the gorgeous Appalachian Lake, Watauga Lake. So I start going to YouTube and Google to educate myself a bit on the Watauga Lake fisheries and more specifically, can I, a local (recently transplanted from elsewhere in Tennessee), fish this lake with any chance of success? Yeah, yeah, I know how to fish! I'm a man from GenX! Hear me roar! LoL So does it mean that I really, truly know how to fish?!
Oh dear me, the truth is, I understand alot about certain theories and techniques for a number of different species, but I have only really been fishing maybe three times since 2009! Wow, I honestly know that I know nothing about fishing my current, local water-ways. Fortunately, I came to these realizations when my buddy, Alvin, actually took the time to fix me up some kit and get me ready for the next season. I learned then that this guy knew what he was talking about and I had a whole lot still to learn...
After moving to Johnson City, I started getting as involved with the community up around our church, Butler Baptist Church, Butler, TN. I started looking into fishing this beautiful mountain lake and getting plugged into the community. I am Santa Claus after all! So I started looking at social media anything I could about Watauga Lake and fishing. Sadly, I found only a few, but I found this one fishing guide on Watauga Lake with this boat that just blew my mind.
Anyway, I joined this company's page and YouTube stuff and just really started getting more and more excited about maybe some day getting a chance to fish with folks like that on a boat like that. Haha! Well over a period of about two years now, I was seeing this guide and his stuff a small bit on social media and such and I started following his posts about water conditions on the lake, and some of their customers' experiences, though far to many don't leave feedback...
So here it is, I will admit that I have been kinda fan-boying watching along and following Watauga Lake Fishing Adventures for a couple of years now. I missed an opportunity earlier this year to have possibly gone out as an assistant scout leader for Butler's Scout Troop 6. The folks at Watauga Lake Fishing Adventures took the boys out on the boat, free of charge to the scouts! What an amazing time to give those teens a memory they'll carry with them all their lives!
Now recently we had all of that disastrous flooding from Hurricane Helene that tore up these mountain waterways, lakes, streams, everything in the path of those waters got wet or swept away. Guess where the folks of Watauga Lake Fishing Adventures where? Anyone? Well a whole lot of my local friends were seeing them working all over the lake, not only toting supplies to folks in need, but using his boat, burning his fuel, helping folks find and recover everything from lost kayaks and boats, to entire docks that floated away from their mooring as the lake climbed to record levels!
Yeah, good people! So y'all can see why I like this guy! So here's the deal, he is actually going to take me out on Watauga Lake tomorrow, even though the lake is so messed up, just to see what we can find, if anything to put on the boat! OMG, I am so incredibly excited! See, I want to see this boat! Do you folks know what type of fishing machines these Sea Ark boats are! Man, for me to be able to get a peak under the hood of this man's ultra high-end Sea Arc boat is honestly enough to keep me geeking for days! LoL, I am serious!
Truth is, I am such a gear-head when it comes to the "hardware" of fishing that there are certain makes and models of boats and fishing tackle that I adore! Sometimes it is the engineering of something amazing, thus my old hobby of watch collecting. To having gone through both my gunsmithing days and my leather working days. Fine tools, fine artistry, all of which I inherently appreciate in all types of machines and such. I suppose I am alot like my dad. His became trains and model railroading. For me, I'll be honest, I was drawn to the boat first. LoL I'm getting to go out tomorrow on a really cool boat and get a chance to see this absolutely gorgeous Lake from on the water this time! Woo hoo!
What's cool, is that they understand that I completely grokk the lake's conditions right now and he knows I don't really care if we put a single fish in the boat! He's also allowing me to bring my video cameras along, so if we just want to catch some video between checking out those fish, he's willing to even let me do that! Honestly, what a privilege to be given this chance and at a huge discounted rate to boot! I almost feel like all I'm being asked to cover is gas for the day! Heck seriously for the cost of gas and insurance, I'm getting a wonderful day on the lake!
I hope I get a chance to look under the hood of this local small business and see the passion of his fishing journey and what it has taken him to get started fishing and guiding on this lake. I hope he doesn't mind if I come into this with curious eyes and a recognition of boundaries so I'm not videoing things that honestly I may be more inclined to avoid than even he is.
LOL, you see, as I have discovered this burning passion to go fishing, I have also found that precisely where to go and what techniques to use specific to that location, etc etc is actually a fairly guarded secret and out of respect for the professional guides out there and the local fisherman who also have spent so much time honing their skills, I simply will not video that part and I can't share that part with the world.
Watauga Lake is a difficult lake to fish. I've been told that there are trophy-worthy lake trout in that lake. I hear tales of catfish in this lake "that'll swallow ya whole"! Oh yeah, can anyone prove it to me?! Heck, I'm going to try hiring this guide to see if he'd be willing to take me way outside of his wheelhouse and let's take a day and see if we can get catfishzilla in the boat or see any sign of such a lake monster even existing!
I bet you anything, I get something funny on the video I'm gonna make on my first ever Watauga Lake Fishing Adventure!
