Life is Good....

I was sitting here this weekend reflecting on how great a summer it has been and working on building a website with my dear friend Anthony Hipps, and later tying some flies that Anthony had shared with me. I also thought of in two weeks how I'd be hopping on a plane and heading out to Wyoming for two weeks. All in all right now life is good. Not to say there aren't some challenges here and there, but all in all things are better than I deserve for sure. I praise God for that, its all his grace.

Then I thought that is really the way it is here in our country. I mean when it comes down to it we have it pretty good. Most of us live in a nice home. We have a vehicle, maybe several. We don't worry about where the next meal is coming from. We can sleep at night without fear that an intruder is going to break in and invade our home. Simply put, if we have the above things that effectively puts us in the upper 5% of the world's population. And, things aren't as bad in our country as the media would have us believe.

And then there's fishing. In North Carolina, we have access within hours of everything from brook trout to blue marlin - - -everything from the expanse of the gulfstream to wild trout streams you could straddle. All in all we have it pretty good. 4000 miles of designated trout water and probably as much more that is not designated. We have some of the best saltwater and estuary fishing anywhere, our Outer Banks are world renowned for the surf fishing you can enjoy there. In the Piedmont we are 1.5 to 2hrs from what many consider (and I agree) is the best smallmouth fishery in the county - - -the New River. The Piedmont is laced with everything from slow, meandering sand bottomed creeks and streams to ponds to large reservoirs-- - some of which have been host to some well known bass fishing tournament circuits- - even the Bassmaster Classic. And, as if that's not enough, we are bordered by Tennessee to the west, home to the South Holston and Watauga River tailwaters -- - two streams that rival any in the country on a good day - - -and the SoHo which many believe is the best trout stream in the South and maybe top 2 or 3 in the East- - to which I also agree. And then there's the Jocassee Gorges area in South Carolina (very rugged), the mountains of north Georgia, the commonwealth of Virginia - - - with its hundreds of fishing opportunities. Simply put we are in a fisherman's paradise. With all of that said I'd say life is pretty good......pretty good indeed.