LORAN SMITH: Two hours of heaven on the Chattahoochee

HELEN – It was an invitation that could not be refused. Not long ago, Jimmy Harris had said with a smile you could sense over the phone: “You should come on up. The fish are biting, we still have some autumn color, we have finished the house and the guest room needs christening. Kathy will cook dinner, and even though I am a mite prejudiced, that’s a treat you don’t want to miss.”

Anticipating a disclaimer — just too busy — he applied the clinching pitch. “You are only an hour away. If you get here by 4:30 p.m., you will still have two hours left to spend on the river.” Saying no to an invitation like that was just too much. I weakened, but with without worry. After arriving at the office at 4:30 a.m. the next morning, my conscience was compatible with spending two hours on the Chattahoochee. We fished Nacooche Bend, just south of Helen, a stretch of the river which Jimmy named in his blog, “The Liar’s Club.” It has caught on.

Within 10 minutes of that first cast, a 17-inch rainbow made my day. Here’s a play-by-play account from Jimmy. “Cast in the direction of that broken log in the river. Just inside the bubbles of the stream. Okay, mend the line upstream. Rod tip up and let it drift. Right there!” he said with an exclamation point. Instantly, the strike indicator sank like a depth charge from a destroyer. The sudden explosion underneath the water was silent but forceful and unrelenting. Getting this rainbow to the net was a challenge, but taking coaching from an expert, I brought the quarry home.

We had started downriver from Jimmy’s hobby-business, Unicoi Outfitters. After that initial catch, the river soon became inactive. We could see trout swimming about, but with only a passing interest in our nymphs. You always wonder how trout can have such remarkable eyesight, spotting an object underwater which is no bigger than the head of a matchstick.

Jimmy then had a suggestion that was music to my ears. “Let’s move up to the dam,” he said. The dam at the Nora Mills Granary offers an inspirational atmosphere and a view, especially with the sun setting, that can bring about distraction when it is time to set a hook. I have never fished that spot without catching a rainbow or two. As the day was ending, Jimmy asked, “One more cast?”

You wouldn’t expect a guy to fail to comply, would you? You are standing knee deep in Georgia’s most romantic river, the sun is setting over the hardwoods, which had not lost all their color, the water rushing over the dam is soothing to your emotions. Suddenly, a rainbow invades your consciousness. It wasn’t the biggest catch of the day, but it was the last cast. It is like making a birdie on the last hole of a round of golf. You can’t wait to return to the golf course. Every trip to the Chattahoochee is enhanced by time with Jimmy Harris, a gentleman fly fisher. Actually, he is a gentle man who takes as much pleasure in seeing his friends catch fish as they do in netting a few rainbows themselves.

As Jimmy had promised, Kathy’s cooking would be as good as the fishing. New potatoes, salad, green and reeking with freshness, saut