Father's Day

As a new father I have not yet experience the joy of having a total day devoted to me as a dad, role model and unwavering supporter of my son. My father has been my greatest supporter, fan and mentor. So for this year's Father's Day I couldn't think of a better way to spend my morning than with the guy who made me the man that I am today.

Now my old man is golfer, but he took me fishing my entire life and was actually the guy who introduced me to fly-fishing. In college, during one of my more memorable screw-ups, I made some bad choices and was ultimately hit by a car and received a double compound facture and shattered my shin in 10 places. I had a 75% chance of amputation at surgery and 80% while recovering. My entire family and close group of friends supported me on the road to recovery. About a year after the accident I was just beginning to walk for the first time, my mom and dad took me to Vail for a summer trip. It was there he recommended I try fly fishing because after consulting my Dr they decided that standing in a cold river would be good me. He ignited a passion that has lasted over 7 years.

Since we both wanted to have a quick trip to the river and not drive an hour or so to the North Georgia Mountains, we employed the services of River Through Atlanta. I have fished with many of the guide services and private waters in the state but this was the first time that I had used the guys out of Roswell. Our guide was Kyle, a great guy who is about to head off to Wyoming for the rest of the summer, and he really got us on fish. We launched from Abbott’s Bridge and headed south down the river towards Jones Bridge.

This trip was my first time out on the Hooch since 2009 and the Upper Section of the Hooch since last August. I was excited because Atlanta has received a ton of year in the past 365 days. Now the Lower Chattahoochee has basically been unfishable all year, but the Upper Section is a totally different story. It’s because of the rain that the trout have had near perfect conditions all year, which has resulted in many of the fish holding over. The morning started off slow but by about 10am the fishing picked up. We started getting hits and missing strikes almost every time we casted the line. I ended up landing somewhere between 30-40 fish with largest being about 15in. My dad had about as many takers as I did, but due to a love for golf not fishing he missed many of them. But he had a blast not realizing fish had taken the prince nymph or losing it after not keeping the line tight. At the end of the day he caught about 10 fish, which was personal best for him. We really had a great time together and relishing the memories of father son fishing days in the past and building excitement on the ability to take my son out in the future, I want to thank Kyle and the rest of the River Through Atlanta guys for facilitating a Dad Day. I have included some of my favorite photos of past fishing trips with my old man.

My Dad the Fish Lover

Father & Son Fly Rods

The Holman Men