Travel being the dismal exercise that it is, it’s hard to label today anything but a success.

I wasn’t cavity searched, waited in line no longer than usual (which is still a lot), didn’t avail myself of any airsickness bags, met up with Rich Margiotta — a classy guy and one of my favorite people — at the airport, lost no luggage, and even got an upgrade to a Toyota SUV at the rental counter.

I am pure gold, baby. Gold.

Still, travel bores me out of my skull. To get a sense of my day, just stare at the picture below for 5.25 hours:

air travel isn't fun, but I get to fly fish in Tennessee

Had enough? I know I have.

Tomorrow Rich Margiotta and I will get to spend at least as many hours staring at a small Brookie tributary; the fish aren’t big, but the views are stunning.

Because the temperatures could run into the upper 80s, we’ll be gaining altitude in the hot part of the day (I’m not naming names, but we’ll be somewhere around Chimneys).

Later — when it cools off — we’ll drop down to a prime stretch of the Little River, looking for rising fish.

Early, I’ll be rounding up a fishing license and buying a few goodies for Thursday’s backpacking trip. Then there are the inevitable (and agonizing) fly rod decisions.

I brought Chris Raine’s 7.5 ‘ 4wt hollowbuilt cane rod, but Rich just put the finishing touches on a 7′ 3wt Diamondglass rod that I should try.

Clearly, fly fishing’s a difficult sport, but not always for the reasons you might suspect.

Expect an honest to god fishing report soon — with pictures you actually want to look at. See you in the Smokies, Tom Chandler.

[tags]fly fishing, fishing, tennessee, smoky mountains, gsmnp[/tags]

Posted in Tennessee, Travel.