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I am working on my second book, Fly Fishing Guide to Alabama, and traveling to fish and interview people has kept me busy. I went back home to south Alabama to catch the Choctaw Bass, a newly discovered species of bass that lives in the coastal rivers of south Alabama and North Florida. They live near flow, typically limestone shoals in this region.







Fly fishing and kayaks are made to illicit anger. I usually dog cuss the paddle maker, the kayak company, the water, the fish, and anyone or anything that gets close enough. Keeping a boat situated in moving current while also needing both hands to fly fish creates quite the conundrum. I've almost been so mad I "Bo Jacksoned" my fly rod over my knee. Just when you finally get to that good water with the pool near the bank, the first backcast lands in the lone cypress limb overhanging the water. This process repeats until you eventually by blind luck happen to accidentally catch a fish.





After that it was time for some salty air and some new fish to chase. While the trip was very productive from a writing standpoint, the weather conspired against me (as it usually does) to make the conditions impossible for what I needed and wanted to do. Since sight fishing was out, wading the flats and casting to likely fish-holding spots was the back up plan.