Somehow, in the past week, the beginning of trout season in Georgia passed by without my noticing.
Fishing hasn’t been a big part of my life in the last few years, but I don’t know many people who were born in this area and don’t have a store of memories of fishing trips with their friends, parents, and grandparents during their younger years.
Most of my fishing memories take me back to trout fishing in the North Georgia mountains as a child.
With my Nan and Pop, my brother, Ben, and I would ride for what seemed like an eternity toward North Georgia, waiting to see what could only be described by us as a “mountain.”
After the first glimpse of the mountains, our excitement was renewed, and we temporarily forgot that there was still a long way to go.
Typically, we camped at Wildcat Creek State Park, either in the first or second campgrounds, and spent most of our time either near or in the creek that ran along the single-lane dirt road that snaked deeper and deeper up into the mountain.
When it came time to fish, we were handed our Zebco 33s – the only reels they trusted us with, even though we wanted to try the open face models – and our cans of corn.
And, no, the corn wasn’t our snack.
I don’t know how normal it is (because I didn’t have anyone else’s upbringing), but we were always handed raggedly cut tin cans, with which we always accidentally cut our hands, filled with sweet, whole kernel corn for bait.
That’s what we used, and it always worked.
After eight fish, sometimes fewer if they hadn’t stocked the river recently, we’d head back to the campsite and my Nan would fry the fish fresh on a small propane cooking range. 
When it was warm, my brother and I would swim in the deeper areas of the river and try to find the flattest rocks to skip down the stream.

The Morgan County High School basketball team celebrated their season with a banquet at the high school’s cafeteria on April 2. Seniors (left to right) Mike Williams, Anfernee Waller, Joshua Sallette, K’Darius Dennis, Trae Guinn and Ashley Elder are pictured (top). photo by jesse walker

Printed in the April 11, 2013 edition.