My wife and I made the 10 hour drive to Atlanta last Thursday to have an early Christmas with my mom, step-dad, and brother. I spent Friday with my friend Ralph on the Chattahoochee being guided by John Scalley of A River Through Atlanta. I’m glad my family understands my addiction.
I’ve waded the Chattahoochee a few times. I’ve always wanted to experience it from a boat and getting to do so with a guide that was super knowledgeable made it completely worth it. John knew every single hole on that section we floated. He probably knows the fish by name. I was impressed. Hiring a guide can be a crapshoot and I will say without a doubt that John is an exceptional guide and I would not hesitate to hire him again the next time I float the Chattahoochee. If you get the chance to fish it and need a guide, look John up, you definitely will have an awesome day.
I did go down to the Hooch with one goal and that was to land a nice brown. I’ve seen pictures of monsters and wanted to see if a fatty streamer would entice one up from it’s dark hole. While the browns didn’t cooperate at all, the rainbows did. We caught a handful of decent little rainbows. Ralph was on fire with fish after fish at a few points. Mine all came on an articulated streamer and I believe Ralph’s came on nymphs and I want to say a hopper. I know he had a bunch of strikes on a hopper which was supposed to just be holding up the big old stonefly. It was weird to see a hopper getting popped in mid December. I’m still replaying my trip down the Hooch in my head. I feel like I understand that river a lot more after my day with Ralph and John. I certainly came away with a ton of knowledge and that’s priceless.
I spent the rest of the weekend with my family and got to see and drive the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle kit car my grandfather spent years building. My mom owns it now and I’m so glad she does. My grandfather passed around Thanksgiving 2011. I have him to thank for my love of photography. He and his brother were photographers. I have a bunch of their old cameras; these are things that I am most proud of.
So back to the car. It’s pure and simply the dopest thing you will ever see. Hyperbole? Maybe. Maybe not. My gramps spent years building this car. I remember seeing it once as a kid when I went to visit him in California. I was in awe of it. It may be a kit car with a 1974 Pinto powering it, but it screams class. I had some dude in a really expensive Audi damn near break his neck trying to look at the car as I drove past him. My grandfather had to have had some fun getting looks around Lake Elsinore in that car.
I also got to fish my new RIO Grand line and spent some more time in my new Redington Sonic-Pro zip front waders. I’ll have a review on the line on Tuesday as well as some thoughts on the waders. I’ll have a full review on the waders after I spend more time in them.
That’s an awesome car. Your pictures are always really great.
(But, do any of the dogs in your family have normal eyes?)
Thanks dude. They don’t. Lucy lost both eyes in like a month to glaucoma damn near a decade ago. She’s done fine but recently was diagnosed with canine vestibular syndrome. She basically puts one ear closer to the ground and walks in circles. It’s sad, but she’s getting a bit better. Abbey and her glowing eyes reminded me of Nicodemus from the Secret of Nymh.