Deadwood Finale

Wes Remmer and I our finished our week of fishing out of Deadwood right where we began it, within the high walls of Whitewood Canyon, just outside Historic Deadwood. The day, which began right in Deadwood on the same creek, was quite a grand finale. The brown trout were aggressive and served up fast action. Nothing bigger than 13 or 14 inches, but all feisty and pretty colored. The first fish I hooked this morning was actually a good one. I'd guess 16 inches -- and thick. It came off, though.

The browns seemed to like a bit of flash. Our most productive lures by far were spoons, especially Johnson Sprites. The best presentation was swinging the spoon downstream in slow runs and letting them wobble in the current and casting into defined eddies just out of the current.

The fishing in the Deadwood area amazes me. In four days, I fished three different streams and two lakes, each different in character, and caught fish in each situation. Our small group caught 13 fish species that I can think of and several pretty noteworthy individual fish. Amazingly, with so much good fishing and such variety, I never even got to a couple of the places that really intrigued me: Spearfish Canyon and some of the pretty little mountain lakes that are best accessed by float tube.

Good reason to return!