Ours

Through the years I've been had many opportunities to introduce many young men to the great outdoors. There's nothing like watching a young soul experience their first mountain top sunrise/sunset. Seeing that excited grin when they catch and release their first fish. Observing the realization that they too will have the chance to pass these experiences on down to other young men for generations to come. This world is not ours to take advantage of and then toss away. It is ours to share, manage and protect. 'Mine' is a word that should never come up in conversation about our natural resources. I prefer 'Ours'.

Through the years there have been a few times where I have come across a young man who has shown me new insights about the great outdoors. As an old fart, I take comfort knowing that there are other men who have taken the time to introduce young men to this remarkable world. I never thought I'd do this, but this post is sort of a shoutout, a thanks of sorts to a couple of people. Nathaniel Samsel and his father Jeff Samsel. I have never met a young man so dedicated to the sport of fishing and taking care of what has been passed down to him. He's taken all that he's been taught and is putting it to great use. And in the process learning even more. For this, I'm thankful to Jeff for being such a great father.

Sunrise on Tallulah Falls Lake.

I'm honestly excited to see what the future holds for Nathaniel and to see the fruits of what he passes on. I can admit that my hookset, when bass fishing, is remarkably better than it was a couple of years ago because of him. One can only take so much ribbing from someone who is considerably younger and not try and improve.




Check out Nathaniel's page @ http://nathanielsamseloutdoors.blogspot.com/

Check out Jeff's page @ http://jeffsamsel.blogspot.com/

Exploring

When I was a young boy growing up in Eastanollee, Georgia, I was most likely to be found in the woods. Anywhere in the woods. If there was any sort of water to be found, there was a good chance I was either right next to it or right in it. Exploring. As a grown man the same scenario still applies. During most free moments in my life I can be found in the woods. Exploring. A few days ago was my maternal grandmother's birthday. Thoughts of her raising me on that small farm crosses my mind just about every time I'm in the woods, by a river, even on a mountain. I'm truly grateful that she instilled* in me such values. Values which help me to appreciate what I have and where I come from. And to never stop exploring.

*Instilled is code for she sometimes had to beat it into me. I was pretty stubborn child at times.

Two Hours Later

Yes, yes that was a line from a Sponge Bob episode.

So this Sunday started out with grandiose plans to go fishing with a real good fishing buddy of mine. Naturally, choosing a prime spot is the most important part of any fishing excursion. And naturally having a backup spot or two never hurts. We all know how Big Snowbird and the Nantahala turned out last week.

Well spot number one turned into a bust due to low water levels. By that I mean that we couldn't reach the water to launch the johnboat. It was that low!

So on to hole number two! Seed Lake! Nathaniel and I were both pretty excited to fish water that neither one of us has ever fished before. After about one of hour of trolling up the lake with no success and then another hour of trolling back down the lake against the chilly wind with no success we decided to try backup hole number three. This is the point where the post title makes sense.

After an hour, this was extremely exciting to us.

Upon spotting Nathaniel's truck at the dock I looked over at this creek that I didn't notice on the way out. I had a hunch and so I told Nathaniel that it was time for one quick detour.

The fish gods must have heard my plea and the silent offering of my firstborn child and rewarded us with four nice sized trout between the two of us! They even gave us a nice show of jumping out of the lake before being caught and released.

Rainbow Trout on Seed Lake (cred. Nathaniel Samsel)

Our goal this year to is catch quality sized fish of various species this year, but after spending two and then some hours in a johnboat on a cold Georgia day, I'm all good with just spending quality time with good friends and making quality memories in the process.

We still hit hole number three later on. Though no quality fish were caught and released, we still made quality memories.