Ever made fishing plans with buddies only to have those plans derailed? It happens too often. The German military commander Helmuth von Moltke summed it up: “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”
Consequently, four flyfishing friends—Ben Pickett, Jamieson Craske, Andrew Gilbert, and myself—made a pact last spring that 2023 was going to be a year of travel and exploration. Less talking, more doing. By mid-March we’d already squeezed in a few outings, targeting new species in nearby Florida rivers, and fishing the hills of Tennessee for smallmouth and trout.
The next trip had a different feel from the beginning. We’d be exploring the upper Suwannee River in hopes of catching the first Suwannee bass or shoal bass for any of us.
