Hooked
A fly-fishing son of Pinehurst reels in mountain adventures
C
ape Lookout, that southern tip of North Carolina’s barrier islands, reachable only by boat — remote, rugged, and most appealing of all, unspoiled. A couple of hours past midnight. The beach deserted. The only sounds that of surf breaking on sand. The only light the faint glow the stars provide. Kneeling in the surf, a man and a boy, father and son. The boy, beaming, unhooking a 46-inch red fish, spreading his arms, lifting it triumphantly. The man beaming just as broadly. A trophy catch taken on rod and reel in the surf of the Outer Banks early on a morning when less determined men are home in bed. The man laughs, shakes his head appreciatively. “You’re good at this. If all else fails, you’ve got this to fall back on.” Patrick Sessoms laughs, too. Though he loves it, has loved it since he first threaded bait on a hook as a grade-schooler and went trying for panfish in the little ponds around Pinehurst, fishing isn’t what he has in mind for a career. He’s 17, just finishing his senior year at Pinecrest High School. There is a universe of dreams to pick from.
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PineStraw
That boy who had a talent to fall back on if all else failed hasn’t fallen back on it. He’s grabbed it. And is in the process of creating one of the most successful fly-fishing guide services in the southern Appalachians. Fly-fishing? The mountains of the southern Appalachians? A guide service — one of the most professionally challenging, physically demanding, hands-down competitive enterprises on the list of ways a man might make a living? Alone? Inexperienced? That’s what a bright, well-educated, ambitious young man at the start of a career that could take him anywhere might choose to do? Go fishing? Aw, come on. It’s about an hour before daylight. Patrick’s driving. We’re on a twisting two-lane road winding through the northern edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains on our way from Boone, where Patrick lives now, to the South Holston. I’ve been told the South Holston is one of the finest tailwater trout fisheries east of the Mississippi. Big browns, enormous browns, lots of rainbow. I’m a recent transplant from California. I’m familiar with The Art & Soul of the Sandhills
PHOTOGRAPH BY SAM DEAN
By Ron R hody
