Eleven years, three generations of cane poles, and one stubborn idea: that the best fishing wisdom is the kind nobody ever wrote down.
Hanifan Hollow began in 2014 the way most useful things begin in Georgia — slowly, with iced tea, and an argument that wouldn't quit. Clyde Bruni had just retired from twenty-eight years of plant maintenance work in Gwinnett County and was looking for something to do besides yell at the weather channel. His grandson had just lost a four-pound bass at the boat ramp because nobody had taught him to keep his line tight.
The lesson stuck. Clyde started writing down the things his own grandfather had told him on the banks of the Etowah in the 1960s — how to rig a cricket so it'd swim instead of drown, why a creek bend with a fallen pine is always worth two casts more than you think, what a bluegill bed looks like from the bank when the sun's behind you. Pretty soon the neighbors were stopping by the porch to read what he'd taped to the screen door. A year later it was a club.
We are a small, voluntary anglers' club run out of a private home in Duluth. We are not a guide service, an outfitter, an online retailer, or an affiliate marketing operation. We don't sell tackle, we don't run paid trips, and we don't take commissions on the gear we mention. Everything you read here is written by club members who'd rather be fishing.
Membership is free and informal. We don't have dues, an app, or a board of directors. If you want to come to a meetup, write us at privacy@fishinandspittin.com and we'll send you the next date and directions. If you can't make it down to Duluth but want to follow along, subscribe to the Hollow Letter on the home page.
Clyde Bruni — born in Rome, Georgia in 1957. Caught his first bream on a willow switch with kite string when he was six. Retired plant maintenance supervisor. Lives in Duluth with his wife Marcie, two grandkids who visit too rarely, and a beagle named Sergeant who is not allowed in the boat.
If you'd like to write to Clyde directly, the easiest way is the contact form or the address on the contact page. He reads everything; he doesn't always reply quickly, but he reads it.