Outdoor Adventures with Tim Tipton

  © Tim Tipton 2021          I previously told the story about not recalling the first fish I caught as a child. I really wish that I could remember that moment, if for no other reason than to look back at my misspent youth. Fortunately, I can recollect many fish that I have taken on the fly rod.      I bought my first fly rod on a whim. I was in the old Fischer’s Sporting Goods store in Shepherdsville, talking to one of the two brothers that owned the place, while idly surveying products. My thirty-first birthday had recently come and gone, and I was in town killing time before heading to the newspaper office where I worked.      I had taken an interest in fly fishing, even took a try at casting my uncle’s fly rod in his yard. I still hadn’t bought my first fly rod, but I was ready to pull the trigger. While browsing the store inventory, searching for anything that might strike my fancy, I came upon a cheap fly rod a...

A Great Smoky Mountains National Park Black Bear.  Photo By National Park Service      © Tim Tipton 2021   A Beary Surprising Moment           It was an unseasonably hot May morning in the foothills of the great Smoky Mountains National Park. According to the radio, it was already 77 degrees, with an expected high in the mid-80’s. This was the beginning of a hot, dry summer that would lead to drought and forest fires in the area. Eventually one would spread from the national park into the town of Gatlinburg, causing the loss of life, destroying homes and businesses, and triggering a mandatory evacuation of the area.      While driving into the park that morning, checking out the scenery through the windshield, I recall thinking that there was still plenty of water in the streams and the fishing was in full swing. Looking out at the ancient, round-shouldered mountains and their diverse species of plants and wildlife ...