Dan Sharley and the "Art" of fishing: Good times

Ok, it's not exactly a trophy shot

On the fishing front ... well, it's a little slow and more than a little frustrating. Area lakes are full due to the recent (and frequent) rains and the tailraces are flowing fast and deep. The fall is normally my favorite time to be on the water, but 2009 isn't turning out to be what I had hoped for or expected.

I've tried to flee to other, more promising waters, but Mother Nature has nixed those plans as well. Two Gulf of Mexico tuna-fishing trips in the past two weeks have been canceled due to high winds and even higher waves. Later this week, a few buddies and I are supposed to head to Heber Springs, Ark., for a few days of fishing on the Little Red River. As luck would have it, the monsoon season in the Natural State has been worse than in Tennessee, and Heber received an additional eight inches of rain on Thursday and Friday, swelling the river to a chocolate mess and probably necessitating a full season of heavy generation from the Greers Ferry dam.

It's at times like these that I need to reflect back on better fishing times -- some of which occurred as recently as a couple of months ago. For your enjoyment (and for my sanity), here's a photo essay of some of my good days on the water in the past year.