Rebel Trout Trek Update

For starters, I should remind all that the BEST place to follow the Rebel Trout Trek is at rebellures.com. I'm filing a blog post there every evening that tells what I believe to have been the day's main story line. I'll do my best to share posts here, and I've put some photos on facebook and Instagram. However, between driving and fishing, we've been going dark to dark, and the Rebel posts and pictures get first priority at night. I have had more I have wanted to share, so maybe I'll slip in some backtrack posts at some point!

That said, I did want to share a few things. Most significantly, with 2,000 miles logged, I finally got to go fishing today. Actually Asher and I fished most of the day, hitting three different areas (and catching fish from all three), and the brown trout were quite cooperative, despite high flows. The water was too push for the Crickhopper bite that I'd hoped to enjoy, but I still expect to find that on down the road.

The only diversion we took from fishing today was at mid-day, when we had lunch at the No. 10 Saloon in Historic Deadwood and watched Wild Bill Hickok get shot. The hardest thing for Asher and me so far has been wishing we had more time to do everything. I'm a big fan of Deadwood and fishing in the Black Hills, but tomorrow, we'll it'll already be time to leave the Black Hills behind and continuing along our loop.

The Basic Route

If you check out this blog from time to time, you've likely learned by now that a little later this summer (beginning July 20), my 10-year-old son Asher and I will be making a 3 1/2-week, cross-country trip to explore western trout waters and will be blogging our journey for Rebel Lure Company. The above mapquest route planner provides a look at where we'll be traveling.

The route depicted is far from exact. I typed in several places where we will stay in sequence, but it doesn't include things like the three-day loop around the Olympic Peninsula in Washington or various fishing side trips. For similar reasons, it may not be that actual route I'll end up choosing in some cases. That said, it does depict the basic flow of travel fairly well.

The western loop portion begins and ends at Cabela's worldwide headquarters in Sidney, Nebraska (Point P), where we'll pick up some gear we will be using on our trip. Fishing, excepting Asher's stop at Dry Run Creek in Arkansas, begins in Deadwood, South Dakota (Point D) and ends in Laramie, Wyoming (Point O). By my best estimate, with side trips included, we'll travel between 7,500 and 8,000 miles.

Best places to follow the Rebel Trout Trek will be at rebellures.com and on the Rebel Lures Facebook Page, but I'll also be posting thing's here, on the Jeff Samsel Fishing Facebook page, on my Twitter and Instagram feeds and on the North American Fisherman website. Asher will also be blogging our travels, so if you want to keep up with things from a 10-year-old's perspective, bookmark Asher's Blog.

Anticipating Deadwood Return

Most fishing stops along the Rebel Trout Trek, which begins in four and a half weeks, will be new destinations to Asher and me. Actually, all will be new to Asher. I've watched Asher's older brother Nathaniel fish Dry Run Creek in Arkansas several times. I've also visited Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks and California's Eastern Sierra region, but have not fished in of those places. Most destinations on our fishing loop will be places where I've never traveled at all.

Deadwood, SD, where  we'll begin our western fishing, is the exception. I've actually visited Deadwood and fished Black Hills waters twice previously, once through the ice during mid-winter and again last summer. Both have been among my favorite fishing trips, so I couldn't resist including a Deadwoood stop when I was planning the trip. The Black Hills are ruggedly beautiful, and I've only found excellent fishing in my admittedly limited exposure.

Even though I've fished out of Deadwood twice, most of the actual waters we'll fish will be new to me. Plan is to begin with Whitewood Creek (pictured above), where I fished on last year's visit, as soon as we get to town. However, the next day we'll plan to explore the tailwater of Lake Pactola, a special-regulations area that has intrigued me since I first leaned about it but that I have not fished, and do some other "discovery" together. The next day, before we continue west toward Yellowstone, we'll explore the dramatic landscapes of Spearfish Canyon and the creek that tumbles though it. That was actually supposed to be part of last year's plan, but with so much good stuff to see, we ran out of time.

I'm extra intrigued by the canyon portion of Whitewood Creek because apparently it can produces a good 'hopper bite for brown trout through mid-summer. One of the patterns I'm most excited about for the whole trip is fishing Rebel Bighoppers, Crickhoppers and Micro Crickhoppers in some of the waters where Western flyfishermen do best with 'hopper flies.

Fishing aside, I'm simply looking forward to returning to Deadwood and introducing Asher to the Wild West. If I think the town of Deadwood is cool and fun, which I do, I'm pretty confident a 10-year-old boy will too!

Remember, I'll be blogging daily and sharing photos and videos on Rebellures.com and the Rebel Lures Facebook page throughout our trip, which begins July 21. #RebelTroutTrek

A Dozen Delightful Days

Yesterday, I recapped half a dozen specific favorite fish from 2014, so today I thought I'd highlight a few of my favorite days on the water. When I looked back, though, I had a hard time narrowing it to a few. In fact, I picked a dozen, and I'd have a hard time ranking those, which only serves to remind me what a blessing it is to get to travel and fish and write fish stories for a living. And even with a dozen stellar days listed, I could have included several others. Listing is roughly in calendar order. Where a fuller post from the day exists, I've included "Blog Post" link.

Alabama Baitcaster Crappie - TJ Stallings and I spent a crazy fun day catching giant black crappie on Road Runner Rollin' Runners matched with 4-inch swimbaits, all on baitcasting gear with 14-pound test. Most weighed 2 pounds or more. Two broke the 3-pound mark. Blog Post

Bass Crazy Hobie Day - Nathaniel and I got to spend a couple of days with the Hobie Kayaks crew, trying out boats and taking photos, and enjoyed some seriously fast action bass fishing on private waters in South Alabama. In case you've ever wondered, fishing with your son, each in your own little Hobie Pro Angler, and catching more bass than you count, is seriously fun.

Wading the White - During last year's Gaston's trip, Nathaniel and I spent half a day fishing on our own, and as much as I always enjoy going out with the guides, there was something extra fun about wading shoals straight out from the resort, picking our own spots and catching a bunch of trout on Rebel Crawfish and Minnows and Ugly Bugs. Blog Post

Dry Run Farewell - No fishing for me on this outing. It was Nathaniel's final two-hour visit to his
favorite youth-only stream in Arkansas before he turned 16, and he managed to catch a huge and beautiful brown trout.

Niagara Slam - I mentioned this day with Capt. Frank Campbell yesterday because it included a brown trout that was one of my favorite individual fish from 2014. We mostly fished for smallmouths, and I'd guess we caught 50-plus fish that range from about 3 pounds to a weighed 5-15. Then, we put a cap on the day by running up the river and adding a steelhead and a lake trout.

Deadwood Finale' - Simple and fun. Wading right through Deadwood, South Dakota with friends from Cabela's and then exploring the canyon just downstream of town and catching more than our share of beautiful brown trout. Blog Post

Smallmouths in Sight - Clear, shallow water in the Sturgeon Bay areas and loads of big smallmouths absolutely locked in. Let's just say that we put the new Ugly Stik Elite outfits to a really good test that day!

El Salto, El Grande - This is another one I mentioned yesterday because it included my biggest largemouth in several years. Often you have to choose to go after numbers or target big fish. Paul Davis of Abu Garcia and I didn't have to pick on day one of my trip to Angler's Inn, which yielded 70 fish, including my 9-2, before lunch! Blog Post

Splendid Sequatchie - One of my favorite kinds of fishing is wet wading a cool-water stream for multiple species with spinning tackle, and the day I spent with Pat Roberson was that style of fishing at it's very best. We both fished with a single lure all day, and we caught countless fish and nine different species. Blog Post

Big Snowbird Plan Change - Nathaniel and I thought our day was done before it started when a muddy dirt road prevented us from getting to the delayed harvest section of Big Snowbird Creek. We instead waded a downstream section that probably hadn't been stocked for a couple of months, but the fish were surprisingly plentiful and quite cooperative, and we had the stream to ourselves. Blog Post

Asher's Birthday Outing - Asher and I only caught 10 trout in a pretty full day, but it was his first North Carolina trout outing, and it was just plain fun spending the day together knee deep in a stream. We also were celebrating his 10th birthday, so catching 10 fish was kind of cool. Blog Post

Ice Season Start - Going back only a couple of weeks, I quickly forgot about my nine bonus hours in MSP airport after I got on the ice with Jeff Sundin and Jon Thelen of Lindy. The first crappie came moments after I dropped a line in a hole, and the crappie/sunfish action never let up. The weather was also mighty nice, for ice fishing, and it was just plain fun being back out there. Blog Post

6 Favorite Fish from 2014

Toward the end of the year I always like looking back at favorite fishing trips, days on the water and specific fish. For the moment, I'm going focus on specific fish and what made each a favorite. And I'll just go ahead and apologize now to any extra cool fish from this year that I'm not thinking about at the moment.

Northern Minnesota Tulibee - It was neither a trophy nor a kind of fish that most anglers even target. So why was it one of my favorites? Mostly, I suppose, because I'd never caught a tulibee, and being sort of a wannabe northern woodsman during the winter, I'm intrigued by all things ice. It also was a fun catch because I marked just inches beneath the ice when I was fishing near the bottom for bluegills, so I reeled up quickly and started jigging with a very short line. It hammered the bait and just about pulled the rod out of my hand.


Green Bay Smallmouth - We didn't have scales, so I can't assign an actual weight. I'm guessing high 5s, at least, though, and it may even have outweighed a 5-11 (my biggest weighed smallmouth) that I caught from Erie about a month later. This particular fish, which came from a small Green Bay tributary, was an extra prize and very satisfying because enduring winter weather made fishing unusual tough that week. I caught it on a Get Bit Baits Crawling Tube.

Lake Pactola Lake Trout - The cool thing abut the laker was how similar it was to another lake I caught a few years ago while ice fishing on the same lake. Both days I was fishing with Tyler French on days based out of Deadwood and we were jigging over deep points, and I caught both fish on minnow-tipped Lindy Watsit Grubs!

Niagara River Brown Trout - My biggest brown ever - right around 10 pounds - and I caught in the midst of catching a gazillion jumbo smallmouths on tubes at the mouth of the Niagara River with Capt. Frank Campbell. Again, it was a Get Bit Baits Crawling Tube that did the job. That day was actually one of my favorites from last year, but I suppose that's another story for another time.

El Salto Largemouth - It was my first trip to Angler's Inn at Mexico's Lake El Salto in about15 years, and the 9-2 largemouth I caught on the first full day of the trip might have been my biggest bass since last time I was there. I've caught a few big pond bass that I haven't weighed, so I'm not sure about that, but it was sure one of the biggest in quite a few years. It was a classic El Salto fish that hit a big Power Worm fished through flooded trees. My first trip to El Salto, by the way, yielded a 10 1/2, which remains the biggest bass I've ever weighed.

Red Lake Walleye -The best walleye from my most recent trip wasn't a genuine trophy by Minnesota walleye standards -- just a good quality fish. However, I caught it from the first sleeper ice house I've ever spent a night in, and I caught just moments after arriving. I probably hadn't been fishing two minutes when the fish hit, and I was surprised to bring up a thick-bodied walleye that landed right in the middle of the Red Lake slot and therefore went right back down into the hole almost as quickly as it came out.

I've Fished Everywhere, Man. I've Fished Everywhere

Deadwood, South Dakota; Buffalo, New York; El Salto, Mexico, Bartow, Florida...

OK. I haven't fished everywhere. It sort of feels like it, though. I've been running a lot since the first of the year, especially for the past few months, and have gotten to fish in a huge variety of settings for  many different kinds of fish. Best I can recall, I've caught fish in 13 U.S. states, plus Mexico, so far this year. The current species tally stands at 23.

Excepting a trip to South Carolina to cover the Forrest Wood Cup in a couple of weeks, I have no travel plans through the end of August. That could change, but it's OK with me as it doesn't. As much as I enjoy fishing other places, I sure miss being home when the trips come one after another. Plus, I don't get to spend much time fishing around here. If plans stay as they are, I'll likely slip out several days to fish trout waters in Georgia or the Carolinas, local ponds and maybe a big lake or two with a local fisherman.

Plans change quickly when opportunities arise, though, so I won't make any bold statements about where I will or won't be fishing over the next few weeks.

Cabela's Guidewear BOA Wading Boots

A big part of the plan in Deadwood was an opportunity to try out cool Cabela's gear that ranged from waders to rods and reels in a big variety of settings. Everything performed extremely well and was nicely suited for the fishing we did, but the thing that got my attention the most was the BOA system on my wading boots.

If you wade-fish much, you'll understand. Laces and Velcro get muddy and tattered, and it doesn't take long before they don't function as well as they should. You get halfway across a chest deep run and realize your boot has come untied and is looser than you'd like for it to be -- and there's no possible way to retie it for a while.

Cabela's Guidewear BOA Wading Boots use a really cool ratchet and wire system for snugging the boots. To tighten, you just turn the little dial like a jar lid. To release, pull out the dial. It's really that simple, and while I admittedly only have couple of days of use in these boots so far, I was definitely impressed by how well the system worked and how comfortable the boots felt.

The BOA boots don't come with felt soles, which admittedly makes me a little apprehensive about use in Southern Appalachian waters. They come with lugged vibram rubber soles and cleats that can be added. I need to install the cleats and give the cleated sole a fair chance in local streams. With more and more states banning felt, I'm going to have to learn to learn to walk on slick rocks without it. At least I know I won't trip over my shoelaces or step out of a loose shoe!

The 'Eyes Have It

When we arrived at Orman Reservoir, it was almost hard to believe we'd traveled less than an hour from Deadwood, which sits deep in the Black Hills. Orman is flat, nearly pancake flat, with very few trees along the shore (although you do see the mountains in the distance if you look to the southwest). What seemingly doesn't change no matter which direction you travel from Deadwood is that the fishing is outstanding.

I spent a fun day at Orman with walleye pro Jim Sherman, with Lee Harstad, executive director of the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce, joining us for the afternoon. We spent most of the day casting jigs to weedy bars and caught big numbers of walleyes and smallmouths. We began the day fishing minnow-tipped curly-tailed grubs, but ended up catching most of our fish on hair jigs. My jigs of choice, of course, were Ugly Bugs. Specifically, I did best with brown and orange marabou jigs, each with a pair of brown rooster feathers flared out to suggest crawfish claws.

The walleye was a new species for my 2014 fish species list. Both walleyes and smallmouths were different from any of the nine species I'd caught the day before with Tyler French on Lake Pactola. Yet another reason why Deadwood has become one of my absolute favorite fishing destinations!

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!

Tying Bug Bitten

I knew the tying bug had bitten me, but I'm not sure I knew how bad the bite was. Beyond the draw of the vice at home, the attraction of fur, feathers and glitzy stuff in any setting and the pattern ideas that bounce around in my head, the tying bug bite has really translated to the water. If I'm fishing, and there's any possible Ugly Bug application, that's the box I'm reaching for, and it's a huge added thrill any time I can catch my fish on jigs I've tied.

Fortunately, the fish seem pretty willing to eat my bugs. In fact, in some recent situations I've felt like they were the best thing going.

Ugly Bugs have been good to me in Deadwood. So far, I've used one of my own creations to catch brown and rainbow trout, crappie, bluegills, rock bass, northern pike, largemouths, smallmouths and walleyes. The one I picked out for lakers didn't do the job, but every other time I've tied on an Ugly Bug in three days of fishing, I've caught fish.

Of course, I've also fed more than a few bugs to rocks or trees. I guess I'll have to spend some more time tying when I get home! But first one more day of fishing.

Major Pactola Slam

Tyler French had told me on the drive to Lake Pactola that we could do a lot of different things, and I'd say he backed that on the water. By day's end we'd landed nine different kind of fish, including everything from lake trout to bluegills. We also caught fish a host of ways, vertical jigging for the lakers (and one brown), casting ultralights and fly gear for panfish in the backs of cover and working banks with bigger casting gear for northern pike.

The rainbow pictured above was actually our toughest customer. Rainbows abound in Pactola and are normally a sure thing if you have any interest in catching them. Some sort of tiny bugs were hatching yesterday, though, and the 'bows were locked onto them. We spent an hour after lunch casting everything in our boxes in a cove by the dam where rainbows were rising all around us before I finally managed to catch one. We had just enough follows to keep us after them, but they were very difficult.

Pactola, which is a beautiful lake in the Black Hills, just south of Deadwood, is great for the multi-species approach because it holds such a variety and it is small enough that you can easily hop from one spot to another to catch different fish.

Of the portion I landed, one species, a northern pike, was new to my 2014 list.

The actual list form yesterday, in rough order of when we got them, was: lake trout, brown trout, bluegill, crappie, northern pike, rock bass, yellow perch, rainbow trout, largemouth bass. As for the total number of fish caught, I have no idea. The 'gills, rock bass and crappie were pretty stupidly easy in a few places so they would have kicked the count mighty high.

I'm glad I got to spend the day in Tyler's boat. Big, big fun.

Deadwood: Thawed

Because I get the opportunity to travel to a lot of cool places, folks often ask me about favorite trips and destinations. As an all-species fisherman and a fan of rivers and lakes alike, I find a unique draw in many different places, and I honestly don't think I could pick a favorite. Still, a trip I find myself telling folks about quite frequently is one I took to Deadwood, South Dakota a few winters ago. We fished through the ice on several small lakes, all mountain shrouded, and caught about 10 kinds of fish. Between days on the water, we hung out in the Old West town of Deadwood.

I've been dreaming about  a Deadwood return ever since, and in a week and a half those dreams become reality. Except this time, instead of walking out on the lakes with ice rods in hand, we'll be venturing out in float tubes with fly rods. We'll also spend some time wading Black Hills streams for trout. Apparently, Cabela's has some cool new gear that we'll get to put to the test!

I'm eager to see the landscapes thawed and the town of Deadwood hopping and to cast to trout and other kinds of fish instead of fishing vertically. I wonder what kind of flies the fish will favor and what species I might get to add to this year's tally!

Fishy Days Ahead

Eli Moscul hoists a beautiful Niagara River brown trout caught
with Capt. Frank Campbell a couple of days ago. Photo courtesy
of Niagara Region Charter Service.

 

I caught myself daydreaming about fishy days ahead, so I figured I might as well blog about upcoming fishing travel and make the daydreaming at least sort of productive.

Capt. Frank Campbell is largely to blame for my straying thoughts. He sent a note about an upcoming trip to the Niagara River and included the photo at the top of this page. One of his clients caught that brown trout only a couple of days ago. I'll be up there in early May, fishing Lake Erie out of Buffalo for giant smallmouth bass and the Lower Niagara River for brown trout, steelhead, lake trout and whatever else wants to bite. It is one of my absolute favorite places to visit.

I'd better not get too far ahead of myself with a New York state of mind, though, because before I get to the Niagara, I'll be fishing on Norfork Lake in Arkansas for stripers, largemouths, crappie and whatever else wants to bite, floating Arkansas' Spring River for smallmouths, rainbows, browns, rock bass and more and then flying to Green Bay to fish the legendary waters of Door County (Sturgeon Bay area) for jumbo smallmouth bass, jumbo smallmouth bass and jumbo smallmouth bass.

As if that weren't enough to distract me sufficiently, spring and early summer travels will also take me to Deadwood, South Dakota to fish Black Hills rivers and lakes, mostly for trout; back to Green Bay for a big-water mix of smallmouths, walleyes and salmon; and finally South of the Border to Anglers Inn on Lake El Salto, where I hope to lock horns with some seriously big largemouths.

What all that tells me -- beyond the notion that I should enjoy some wonderful days fishing over the next few months -- is that I'd better quit daydreaming and get back to the business of writing fish stories so I'm ahead of the game when I point the truck toward Arkansas next week!

Ready for the South Dakota Ice

The Deadwood forecast calls for a bit of snow Tuesday, the first fishing day of my upcoming trip. That would be nice for photos, but one day of falling snow would be enough. The outlook actually looks pretty comfortable, with a lowest low of 17, but as Nathaniel and I were reminded last year in Colorado, that can change quickly.

Our first morning of fishing is scheduled for Deerfield Lake, where brook trout, splake and yellow perch are the main attractions. I'm looking forward to introducing the fish to Lindy Whatsit Grubs. Bernie Keefe in Colorado has been making good use of these for lakers this winter, and I have a feeling they might work well for Deerfield's fish. Of course, I'm also bringing stuff that was designed for ice-fishing.

The duffel is packed with lots of warm clothes. Camera, netbook and a bag of cords and chargers are likewise waiting by the door. I'm driving to an airport-area hotel this afternoon and will stay there tonight to avoid beginning tomorrow's travel in the teeth of Atlanta's Monday rush hour. Instead, I'll start with a short shuttle ride. By tomorrow night, I'll be settled at the Branch House in Deadwood, resting up for three days of ice fishing!

Destination Deadwood

The snowy slopes of the Black Hills form the backdrop to the Wild West town of Deadwood, the base camp for my next ice-fishing adventure. From Deadwood, we'll wind up into the mountains, where ice-covered high country lakes hold bounties of brook trout, lake trout, splake, pike and more.

I've never caught brook trout through the ice, and I've never even seen a splake, so I suppose I'm probably the most excited about the fishing itself. However, I'm also really forward to visiting the American frontier in Historic Deadwood, the entire town of which is a Registered National Historic Landmark, and to exploring the Black Hills.

Warm clothes and ice gear are packed and ready. Black Hills trout, here I come.