For the better part of three hours, standing in the middle of the gin-clear Noontootla Creek in Blue Ridge, I was laser-focused on a 2-inch piece of green yarn. I’d glance up occasionally for a new cast, looking for foam or those treasure troves of cold, dark water. My guide David Hulsey was patient, then pushy when that green yarn indicator dipped ever so slightly. Six times over that morning, I won the battle with strong and willful trout, learning when to let the fish run and when to reel like hell. Hulsey leads trips along the two miles of water over 1,200 acres owned by Noontootla Creek Farms. Other members of his team teach and guide upland wing shooting and sporting clays.
This is not your mama’s Blue Ridge, the cute little town where you have lunch on rainy North Georgia Mountain days.
Head up, unplug and make plans to paddle, raft, hike, golf, fish, shoot, bike or really go deep and join a class at Oyster Bamboo Rods to craft your own fly rod.
Waitlisted for months, the six-day workshops attract kings of industry and beginning sportsmen alike who are put through the paces of planning, shaping and finishing a bamboo rod using age-old techniques. Bill and Shannen Oyster have grown the business from their basement to the beautiful new brick building at the end of Main Street in downtown Blue Ridge.
Each Oyster Bamboo Fly Rod is intensely hand-crafted. Bill is the only professional bamboo fly rod maker in the world who personally hand engraves his own rods. The performance and aesthetics of each rod are truly remarkable. Oyster has been commissioned to make rods for many of the world's finest anglers including President Jimmy Carter. As the most prolific teacher of this rod-making art alive today, Oyster draws students from as far away as England, Scotland, Australia and New Zealand as well as every corner of the US to his southern mountain town studio in beautiful Blue Ridge
Bill oozes authenticity, originality and raw artistic talent. Shannen shares soulful stories of their students who all experience a shift, grown men hugging their finished rod, eyes welling.
Blue Ridge can do that.
This spirit of entrepreneurism, community and fierce custodial love for the land is pure Blue Ridge.