Wow! Absolutely incredible fly fishing trip yesterday! My family and I have NEVER Fly fished before...not even touched a fly fishing rod...and after yesterdays adventure, wait for it.........we're hooked! Yes I know........groan, grunt, that was too easy right?........stay with me here. Called in a couple days before the last minute trip and spoke to Meredith on the phone. She recommended the 1/2 day float trip. We had 4 total family members and that equated to two boats and two guides (3 people in each boat). Meredith said, "meet at the shop at 7 am, we like to be the first ones on the water". So, 7am it is. Woke up, grabbed a cup of Jet Fuel, loaded up the kids and jumped in the car. We met Max at the Due South Outfitters location and started our day there. (They are located in a strip mall, you my blow right by it as we did....so.......pull in where your GPS tells you and you'll see their location in the strip shopping center) Max was one of our guides and was very welcoming and accommodating from the start. He had a calm and ease about him that made us realize we were in a good spot. At the boat launch site and were pleased to met Max' buddy Austin, who was our second guide. Patrick, the owner, also made the trip up to see us off. Heres the really incredible part....Patricks wife was expecting......THE SAME DAY HE SAW US OFF! Thank you Patrick for you effort and Congratulations on your new Rainbow trout...trust me, the begin to look human after day one or 2. They can be a bit colorful and squirmy on days 1 and 2, but by day 3, they truly start to resemble what you were expecting! We began in the boat launch parking lot as Max spent time showing us how to cast, set and "strip" the line to land our upcoming fish. Instructions were CRAZY easy and we felt just fine inside of 10 minutes for all 4 of us. Austin was quietly rigging up rods while we (we=my boys) were acting like Indana Jones in the parking lot with their new found rods (aka / whips) ....with a lot less wrist break, per Max' instructions. (you'll get that when you get there). Max and Austin are very kind, quiet and easy going. They've been guiding for several years now and are a great duo if you need 2 guides. Ask for them by name. We loaded up the boats and we launched. Team Austin and Team Max eased the boats in the water and started the day. I was on Team Max. This is important because Max said.....literally 50' off the launch area, "lets practice some right here to get used to this while were in the water". So, first cast hits the water.....3 seconds later..BOOM! First fish of the day. Caught a brown trout immediately! We spent the next 20 minutes right at the boat launch and killed it! We caught 10 or so fish right there. Biggest one of the day was caught here as well. Team Austin had already began their trek down the Watauga to try to match our already stellar performance. Team Max, 10 fish....Team Austin (no clue but clearly behind Team Max at this point...Raise your hand if your on Team Max! ) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watauga_River. So much to see.....you'll see literally hundreds of fish in the river as the water is as clear as your bathtub and colder than you probably care to "enjoy". We saw a fawn with full spots making its way down to the water to drink along with another deer earlier in the trip right behind us, walking across the creek to get to the other side. (Que the deer.....). Movie like stuff right there. Well, as the day went on, the fishing remained quite consistent , fun and exciting. We had great conversation while we fished. Eventually, we caught up to Team Austin. Oh team Austin......they were complaining about how "tired" they were from ALL the big fish they had been catching. Muscle aches, tired biceps from hauling in all the bounty....enough already Team Austin..enough. Austin is quietly sitting in the back of the boat, all smiles......and I'm thinking, "whatevs".....then, as the old saying goes, "it aint braggin' if its true"....Team Austin started killing it....right in front of us! How rude! AND....they would cheer each time they caught something. It was "cute" the first 10 times....but sheesh, give it a rest already. So my wife and son on the Team Austin boat weren't exactly stretching the truth when they spoke of their tales of adventure and numerous fish victories. Again "whatevs"......sigh. Austin and Max let my boys (14 and 12) Captain the boat several times. They loved it.....LOVED it! I'll close with this, several years ago, my oldest son had been asking me to go fishing quite a bit. It was Christmas week back home, and we bundled up and jumped in a boat near our home and ventured out. I asked him, after we were in the boat, "What is it about fishing that you enjoy so much?". His answer, "Dad, when I'm fishing, theres no pressure. No school pressure, no pressure at sports to perform, its just nice to come out here and see what happens, with no pressure". read more