Before dawn on the river, the fog is so thick you can’t see the other side of the creek. Somewhere in the trees, a squirrel rustles. Birds trade early morning calls, and the Cahaba hums its slow, familiar song. “You just let the woods wake up around you,” says Will Hargery. “The birds start chirping, the squirrels start messing around, and then the water wakes up too.”
That’s how it started for Will—wading the chilly streams of East Tennessee with his grandfather, a self-described “nerd” for all things fly fishing. “He knew everything: how to tie flies, the biology of the stream. I got really lucky having a grandpa who wanted to pass that down.”
Now Will lives in Birmingham and runs Fetch Fly and Guide, teaching others how to read the water and try something new. He says fly fishing resonates with kids in a surprising way, even if they’re not quite as young as he was—just four or five—when he first picked up a rod.
Sometimes people shy away from fly fishing because it’s difficult. You’re taking something as simple as casting a line and turning it into a constant challenge. But for Will, that’s the draw. “It’s kind of like golf,” he says. “You hate it at first because it’s hard. But then you start to figure it out, and you want to keep going.”
Will has fished with his grandfather more than a hundred times. Once, they stayed out all night in a thunderstorm on Watauga Lake, catching smallmouth bass in head-to-toe Gore-Tex. Another time, Will landed a 45-pound striper in the South Holston River—“unheard of,” he says. “I have chill bumps talking about it.”
For Will, fishing is a way to unplug from digital noise and lean into stillness. “It’s a reset,” he says. “A time to be present. There’s nothing to do, no score, nowhere to be,” he adds. “If you don’t catch a fish, you just hike along the river and explore. When I’m out there, that’s when I feel closest to God.”
Because at some point, you realize it’s not all about the fish.
“To quote Henry David Thoreau—‘Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing it’s not fish they’re after’—that’s exactly it. You learn something and see something new every single time. A flower, a plant, a freaking snail.”
Will still visits his grandfather weekly. “He can’t get out on the water as much as he used to, but I take him out when I can.” And in the meantime, Will keeps casting forward—teaching, guiding, and keeping the legacy alive.
To learn more or book a lesson, visit @fetchflyandguide on Instagram or call 205.790.1792.
"Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing it’s not fish they’re after." —Henry David Thoreau