Thank You for Following

Well, Asher and returned to a wonderful welcome at home last night, having logged 8,008 miles,  fished in nine states and traveled hrough 22. Quite the adventure.

I'm very thankful for all who followed, commented and encouraged us along the way. I admittedly had a tough time keeping reports as fresh as I would have preferred on this page, but I do hope you found my daily blog on the Rebel Lures Journal page and Asher's blog, which included photos and his descriptions from every day of the trip. If not. maybe you'd like to peek back! Several also followed and responded to posts on my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and Asher and I very much appreciate every comment and "like."

I still have photos and stories to share, so I'll likely have several more posts about #RebelTroutTrek discoveries and lessons on this page.

Driving in the Rain

Seems I'll be driving in the rain tomorrow morning. Forecast calls for a 70 percent chance of rain here and a 70 percent chance of rain where I'm headed, five hours away. Hard to imagine I won't hit some good rain showers along the way.

The good news is that I'll be traveling opposite the direction the rain normally moves, and that it's supposed to be pushed through by Monday morning, when fishing plans officially start. Whether we'll end up sneaking out for a while tomorrow afternoon upon arrival, I'm not sure. If not, I'll be good and ready, come Monday.

Plan is to fish a day on Lake Wheeler or Wilson and two on Guntersville, where the 2014 Bassmaster Classic will be held in February. I'm looking forward to a few days of good winter bass fishing on the Tennessee River.

I have my camera batteries charged and plenty of memory cleared, so watch for reports here, on my facebook fishing page and on Twitter (@jeffsamsel).

More Reports from Jeff Samsel Fishing

If you're reading this, I'm guessing you have at least some interest fishing how-to, destination stories, tournament news or other maybe my family fishing adventures. With that in mind, I wanted to remind you of a couple of other places where I regularly share photos and fishing information.

While I try to get a fresh blog posted pretty much every day, that's about as much as I can manage, except on rare occasions when I'm making quick blog posts from the field. Usually, if I want to share more timely updates on the water, from tournaments I'm following myself or of other stuff like that, I post short notes or photos on the jeffsamselfishing facebook community page.  I also share a modest number of impressive fish photos, fishing news stories and other things that strike my interest from the fishing pages I follow. I try not to post so much that I flood anyone's feed, but I hope I add enough to keep things interesting. I'd invite you to give that page a look and like it if you indeed like what you find.

I also put some short notes on Twitter, @jeffsamsel, that you might not find on the blog or facebook page, and I retweet stuff from tournament organizations, fishing pros and more. I'm admittedly more sporadic with Tweets and my notes also include a blend of my fondness for Braves baseball and a few other personal interests.  But you can always follow to see if you like what you get and then unfollow. I won't take it personally!

Finally, I'll soon be contributing regularly to FINS'nTALES, mostly with bass how-to from a pro perspective, but also with other species. I haven't started writing those yet, but I'd invite you to watch the site.

My apologies to friends who already follow these other pages and to anyone who was looking for more about fish. However, with my fall fishing travels now underway, it seemed like a good time to let you know where to find more from Jeff Samsel Fishing and to explain how those places differ.

Oh, I almost forgot: If you prefer looking and listening over reading, don't miss the YouTube channel that my son Nathaniel operates for me. We'll be adding some great new how-to content in the next couple of weeks.

Tackle Show Only a Week Away

Wow. This time next week, I'll be traveling toward Las Vegas for the ICAST Show. I'm admittedly not a fan of Las Vegas, but I really enjoy the show, where a massive convention center floor is completely covered by fishing tackle manufacturers' booths. It's where the companies that make the rods and reels, the lures, the waders, the hooks, the sonar units... you name it -- gather each summer to show all their new stuff to wholesalers and to retailers from all over the world and to the fishing media. For most companies, it's the first showing of the following year's product introductions.

To a dedicated fisherman, it's like the world's largest candy store, and for a fishing writer, ICAST represents a tremendous opportunity to gather with the whole industry in a single place and to learn about all the cool, new stuff that companies are producing and to see industry trends. Things kick off Tuesday evening with a special preview of the New Product Showcase, which is a dedicated space where companies display the best of the best of their newest stuff. Of course, there also will be all sorts of pros and guide roaming the show floor and working sponsors' booths.

This year's show will be even better than normal, from my perspective, because the International Fly Tackle Dealer show will run concurrent with ICAST and use the same convention center. I don't do quite enough fly stuff to ever justify the traveling to just the IFTD show, which is the fly world's equivalent to ICAST, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the fly tackle too and meeting more folks on that side of the business.

Watch this blog, my Twitter feed, my facebook fishing page and my YouTube Channel for a steady flow of photos, videos and notes about stuff I see and things I learn from the pros.

Have Blog, Will Travel

Recent week have been nice for me because I have been at home since mid-December. As much as I enjoy the places I visit and fishing I do and as critical as travels are to my work of gathering fish stories, it's been nice staying home with my family. Plus, it has given me the opportunity to catch up on fish stories and to work on some other projects, like getting the Jeff Samsel Fishing facebook page up and running. If you haven't liked that page, I'd sure appreciate you doing so, and if you're interested in fishing reports, big fish photos, industry news and such, I'm hopeful that you'll find plenty to like.

I hit the road again in about two weeks and will be traveling to Tulsa for the Bassmaster Classic. I also plan to do a little fishing (crappie and bass, I think) before and after the event. I'll be chronicling travels and covering the Classic and the its associated outdoors show on my blog, on the facebook page, and with Tweets (@jeffsamsel) so I hope you'll watch my pages!