They're Not All Big

They can't all be big, right? That's OK. Sometimes I'm delighted to just get something to cooperate.

Such was the case a week or so ago in Arkansas. Storms were rolling through the area, and rivers were swelling and turning chocolatey. A little lake with public access beside the highway I was traveling caught my eye, and the rain had paused for the moment. I decided to stop and walk the bank a bit, toting nothing to the water but a single rod and the lure that was already tied to the line.

Nothing happened for the first 10 minutes, and I wasn't far from turning back toward the car when I saw a flash behind my lure at the end of a presentation. I repeated the cast, and sure enough the fish swiped again and this time connected. I only caught that one bass, and it wasn't very large, but in my mind one is far better than none, and it certainly justified a quick stop to make a few casts from an unfamiliar stretch of bank!

A Bigger Ghost Minnow

Rebel's 2 1/2-inch TD47 Tracdown Ghost Minnow has long been one of my absolute favorite lures, especially for trout streams, but also smallmouth streams, ponds and assorted other settings. It casts crazily far, offers super versatility in terms of how it can be worked and has a narrow profile that matches a minnow and looks like an easy meal. It's pretty small, though, so it's limited to settings where I'm content with a fairly small offering.

Last year, Rebel delivered a bigger version of the Tracdown Ghost Minnow. Everything about the TD57 matches its little brother, including the six colors it comes in, but this Ghost Minnow is 4 1/2 inches long. I snatched some up as soon as I could get my hands on them, and have been using them ever since. So far, I've been delighted and have used the bigger Ghost Minnows to catch a lot of fish in wade range of situations. They cast great, even on baitcasting gear, and the weighting allows them to manage current extremely well.

I'm actually the most excited about throwing one of these dudes during high flows in a big cold-water tailwater that's home to big brown trout. I haven't gotten to do that yet, but I have caught a couple of bass on them from the tailwaters of Wilson and Kentucky dams, so I've seen how nicely they perform in the big water.

Either size of Tracdown has a tight wiggle with a straight retrieve but gets very erratic when you jerk it, so the possibilities for presentations are virtually limitless.

I leave today for a trip that will include several days of fishing, and you can bet that I'll have plenty of TD47s and TD57 in the car!

Taneycomo Troutfest

Guide Bill Babler with a pretty Taneycomo brown trout, one of
many browns and rainbows that couldn't resists a Rebel Tracdown
Ghost Minnow today.

Yesterday I talked about my excitement about the return of the Rebel Tracdown Ghost Minnow and mentioned that I had one tied on for today's fishing. Well, when I got off the water this afternoon, the same bait was tied to the same rod (as was a larger Tracdown Minnow I had tied on another rod). I fished those two rods and two baits exclusively today and caught rainbows and browns all day. No giants, but plenty of stout pretty fish like the brown in the photo, which is being held by guide Bill Babler.

Babler, who has been guiding in this area for more than three decades, definitely knew where to take Lawrence Taylor of Rebel Lures and where we needed to aim our casts. We covered a lot of water today, but he took us to very specific stretches of bank that Babler considered right for our jerkbait approach or where he felt like we had a better-than-average big fish opportunity. I fished the Tracdown Ghost Minnow exclusively after lunch and was thrilled with the way it darts and with the way the small barbless trebles hook and hold trout. Ironically, the one best fish I lost today was on the larger Tracdown Minnow, which has regular barbed trebles. A 17- or 18-inch brown did two big jumps and on the second jump we had a parting of ways.

I've really enjoyed a couple of days of fishing at Lake Taneycomo and my stay at Lilleys' Landing Resort & Marina. Taneycomo is a special trout fishery, with tremendous numbers of fish, good overall quality, and the ever-present possibility of a genuine giant. It's somewhere I hope to get to know far better over time.

Ghost Minnow Return

I have to tell you that I'm pretty excited about the return of the Rebel Tracdown Ghost Minnow. There may not be another single lure that I've caught more trout on than a Ghost Minnow in its original form, and it has been out of production for several years. The returned version is slightly modified and has enhanced new colors.

Most notably, though, it comes with barbless hooks, like some of the other lures Rebel has come out with lately. That means I can use it in barbless hook/artificial lure streams, which is important because my 10-year-old and I are making a huge western swing, the #RebelTroutTrek, this summer, and many of the best streams in much of the West allow only barbless hooks.

I admittedly got caught up in the Taneycomo jig craze today and was enjoying learning the proper technique, so I waited too long to tie on my new Ghost Minnow. I did get to see it in the water, though, and it looks great, and you can bet it's in tomorrow's starting line-up. The Ghost Minnow is a slow sinker with a tight wiggle that darts erratically when you twitch it, and it's an absolute gem for catching trout!