One of the toughest parts of our trip occurred today while Asher and I drove from Dry Run Creek to the Rebel Lure Company headquarters. We went right past the White River, Crooked Creek, the Kings River and various other outstanding Ozark streams. Our main focus for the Rebel Trout Trek is on the Western United States, though,
and if we were to stop everywhere I would want to fish along the way, we would never make it to where we are trying to go.
That said, Dry Run Creek was a necessary first stop because the trout fishing is so good and because Asher had heard so much about it, and given the option to return for two hours today, he jumped on that chance. It was fun for me to see how much he had learned in one afternoon on the creek. Asher took note of the lures and the holes that produced yesterday, and he arrived today with a plan in his head. He mainly hit three specific spots, and he caught as many fish in a couple of hours that morning as he did all of the previous afternoon.
http://www.rebellures.com/
This morning’s fish also include two big rainbow trout, one of which was the biggest fish of any kind that Asher has ever caught!
The visit to Rebel provided a great launch for the rest of the trip. We talked about plans, did television interviews and saw first-hand how fishing lures are made. Asher even got to make casts into the test tank to make certain a lure was running true. Friends at Rebel also sent us away with some extra gear that we will put to the test.
Next part of the trip is the long part – a drive from Fort Smith, Ark. to Deadwood, S.D., with a visit to Cabela’s in Sidney, Neb. along the way. We’ll split the drive into two days and hopefully arrive soon enough to start fishing when we roll into Deadwood!
By Jeff Samsel