Hopping Rocks, Finding Bugs, Dodging Storms & Catching Trout

Catching fish is a primary objective on any fishing trip, but when it's a trout trip, for me at least, the day can be as much about where the trout live as the fish themselves. Trout fishing provides a handy excuse to explore a creek or river gorge and enjoy all those little things like climbing giant rocks and turning over little ones to see what is living beneath them.

Asher and I just returned from a couple of days of North Carolina stream play that I suspect offer a fair foreshadowing of the Rebel Trout Trek, the big trip that we will take together that summer.  In two days, Asher and I fished in five different streams, each quite different from the rest in character. We probably spent more time driving or walking than fishing, and we made a couple of detours to explore waterfalls and other stops along the way. Some of the fishing was highly productive. Some was fruitless, in large part because of a giant and untimely thunderstorm/hailstorm that turned normally clear streams into chocolate milk.

Between casts, we gazed up bluffs and searched out bugs on banks and logs, and unfortunately noticed far too many worm cups, flip flops and drink cans that had been abandoned streamside or discarded in a creek. Between streams, we rode through rural valleys and small Appalachian towns and got a better feel for the area. We also rode through that previously mentioned storm and saw hail pile up on the sides of the road like accumulating snow. Having made it through the storm without incident, I can be glad for it because it added to the adventure and to our memories from those couple of days.

This week's trout trip also resembled my expectations for the big trip that's ahead in the sense that we basically went dark to dark and while we certainly were having a big time exploring the creek, we also were highly intentional about learning and about taking a lot of photos. Our top priorities throughout the #RebelTroutTrek will be to learn about the waters we are exploring and to document our findings thought photo, videos and blog posts.

I'll keep up with the trip on this page, but the main places to track the fishing and the coolest stuff we find will be on the Rebel Lures Facebook page and on Rebellures.com.