Fishing 50 states in 50 days
Father and son: Jeff and Taylor Turner's fishing trip across the United States
On June 13, Jeff Turner and his son Taylor, 17, started on a nationwide quest — a quest to Fish 50 trophy waters, in 50 states, in 50 days. Their journey will span 15,000 miles by land, 6,000 miles by air (Alaska and Hawaii), and 500 miles by water — with no shortcuts.
You can follow the entire journey on the pages of ESPNOutdoors.com and on www.fish5050.com. Here are days 1-15.
Links: 50 in 50 home page | Route map | Follow them live via GPS
Day 15: Nebraska
By Jeff Turner
So you thought you had to go to Canada to catch monster Northern Pike? I thought so, until today that is. Tucked away in southwestern Nebraska is a gem of a lake known to the locals as Red Willow because of the red willow trees that line the shoreline but it is officially named Hugh Butler Reservoir. The lake, and our guide, hold the State Record for Wipers at a little over 20 pounds. However, there is another fish in this lake that get as much attention or more — and that is the Northern Pike.
In all my years of Canadian pike fishing I never wandered far from the shoreline and I always stayed in shallow water. But our guide, Steve Lytle, knows far better that if you want a trophy — then go looking for them on your fish finder in deep water where there is some structure. I'm used to scoping a bass on the fish finder where the blips leave you wandering if there really is a fish down there. When Steve Lytle locates a northern pike 20 feet below you almost need a wider screen.
We hooked into 7 monsters in our 2 hours of fishing for big Northerns and we landed three of them between 10 and 12 pounds. The other two hours were spent fishing for light tackle fish where we caught walleye and white bass. We didn't have the good fortune this day of netting a huge Red Willow Wiper but I'm sure if we had the time for a few more hours Steve would have found them.
So, the next time you're complaining about that long drive across Kansas or Nebraska — take a break — give Steve Lytle a call — and spend a day in Canada — "Nebraska Style".
Although we did not want to leave the water today we knew we were facing a 480 mile drive to Gunnison, Colorado where we would begin our West Coast Swing tomorrow morning.
Day 14: Kansas
By Jeff Turner
After a reunion with our family in Lawrence, Kansas the previous evening — we moved deep into America's heartland to fish Milford Lake near Junction City, Kansas on the day of June 26. Although the competition is steep, Milford is currently at the top when it comes to Kansas fishing. Having been born and raised in the heartland of America, I was hoping for a great day on the water with our fishing guide, wildlife biologist, and fellow Kansas State University alumni Chad Richardson. Chad met us at the boat ramp at 7 a.m. and we were quickly off to try our hand at catching some Kansas walleye.
By 8 a.m. we had netted several nice ghost eyes — not huge but they were our first walleyes of our journey thus far. That's about the time it started to get interesting. A half mile away we got a glimpse of some breaking fish. WIPERS! A cross between striped bass and white bass the wipers or "hybrids" to some were feeding on the surface. If you've ever experienced a feeding frenzy you know this is not something you want to miss out on. We quickly re-rigged our rods for casting surface plugs and moved in as stealthy as possible. Three casts later and then "W a.m." — FISH ON! — the first Wiper of our 50 day journey was on the line. These fish are fighters — pound for pound as strong as any fish for their size. We had the pleasure of breaking fish on every side of us for 45 minutes and then they were gone. All was quiet again — back to the troll.
Diversity is always exciting as the day brought us Drum, White Bass, Walleye, Brim, and Wipers — a pretty good morning on the water.
Finally, Chad launched Kansas to the top of the hospitality scale. As we were saying our goodbyes Chad brought out a Styrofo a.m. cooler from his truck and said "I heard how North Carolina treated you guys so well and we didn't want to be out done so this is for you!" Inside the cooler there were four huge Omaha Steaks and some homemade baked beans — It would be Surf & Turf tonight! There's No Place Like Home!
Day 13: Missouri
By Jeff Turner
Today was a day of good fortune so to speak. We got a jump start on Day #13 the night before when we rolled into Warsaw, Missouri. After checking the weather forecast we concluded that we needed to try to get on the water that night and beat the early morning thunderstorms that were heading our way. Fortunately our guide, Anthony Ford, intercepted our phone call and was available to go out that evening. We met Anthony around 8 p.m. and by 9 p.m. we were on Lake of the Ozarks trying to catch shad, our bait fish.
If fished for catfish hundreds of times, but never blue cats which act entirely different. These fish do some sort of bizarre line slimming exercise with their bodies and tail long before they ever decide to eat your bait. As a result your poles are bouncing and twitching all night. At times every one of our 6 rods was bouncing up and down as if there was some sort of underwater disco going on. But when they hit the bait you knew it. They would hammer the shad, some pushing a half pound themselves, and hook themselves in the process. Your job was to hold on from that point on.
We caught a half dozen night cats, but Taylor got the best of the night with a beautiful 14 pounder. After some photos we released him for another fisherman to enjoy his fight another day.
After about 5 hours on the water we called it a night and headed back in. The lights went off in our RV around 2:30 a.m.. We awoke at 8:30 a.m. and set our course for Lawrence, KS where we would be meeting my father, mother, uncle, aunt, brother and family, and friends for a small mid-journey BBQ before departing around 9 p.m. for Milford Reservoir in Kansas where we would fish on Day #14. Tomorrow we will tackle the emphasis hybrid White-Striped Bass which are known to be incredible fighters.
Day 12: Arkansas
By Jeff Turner
For decades the trout in the tail waters below Bull Shoals D a.m. in Arkansas's White River have been known to threaten many a world record — especially in the brown trout realm. But today it was all about Rainbows — and pretty big ones too.
First let me say that fishing the White River is old school fishing. You won't see many fly rods. I would estimate the ratio of spin to fly gear to be 100:1. Most people are looking for dinner and little else. In this river the trout don't have many natural predators. Man and maybe an occasional blue heron are really their only threats and as such they tend to spread out over the entire river like a big playground. On this day our guide, Dwayne Beard, had us using spinning tackle with simple hook and sinker rigs with gulp minnows which are about as close to feeling and looking like the real thing as I've ever seen.
How did we do? Well, we topped our previous record of 21 fish for a State with 24 total (23 rainbows and 1 brown). Dad caught the big rainbow of the day which weighed in at a little over 3 pounds but Taylor had two that came in a close 2nd and 3rd. We did leave 30 minutes at the end of the morning to head out of the catch & release section to see if we might catch two small trout for dinner. Guess what our guide suggested we use? Good old fashioned Green Giant Niblet Corn. 20 minutes later we had two small 10" trout for tonight's supper. For those who are curious, here's the total fish count so far.
Total Fish Caught: 151 (Dad: 83; Taylor: 68)
Catch & Release: 149
Fish for Dinner: 2
Day 11: Oklahoma
By Jeff Turner
I grew up in Kansas and never thought much about trout fishing — especially trout fishing in Oklahoma. But, in the 1970's the Broken Bow Reservoir was constructed in eastern Oklahoma and the birth of a great trout fishery in the tail waters known as Mountain Fork River was born. Fortunately for us there are still only a few people that no about this fishery — and they would like to keep it that way.
Our guide, Rob Woodruff, met us at 9 a.m. for our day (Yes - we slept in a bit today) on the Mountain Fork. Rob took us to school on entomology, the history of the waters, and how to catch the rainbows and browns that call this river home. I would highly recommend Rob to anyone fishing the Mountain Fork for the first time. I had a rough start and lost three times more than I netted, but the action was hot and continuous the whole day. Taylor and I both netted 8 rainbows. The fish were rolling everywhere. I'm confident that an experienced angler could easily net 30-40 trout in a day here. The trout holding pools were everywhere and you only needed to move 50 feet at a time to find your next target.
You guessed it — this is a trophy water too — we saw numerous 20-25" rainbows lurking and we had a few near misses. Big browns are also hiding there but we didn't get a visit from any of them. Taylor caught one small 6" wild rainbow as well.
We spent the preceding night at Beaver's Bend State Park which was a beautiful setting, well maintained, and great for RVs — not being too crowded. Unfortunately we didn't arrive until midnight so we didn't have much time to appreciate it. We left the park at 3 p.m. and headed north to Arkansas for Bull Shoals and the famous world-record trout fishery of the White River.
Day 10: Texas and Louisiana
By Jeff Turner
Texas
I've fished in the Salmon Capital of the World — and it took me 5 days to catch a salmon. So when I heard that many believe Lake Fork to be the #1 largemouth bass lake in America I was naturally a little hesitant to jump on the bandwagon. It was 4 p.m. when we met our guide John Tanner. It was clear blue skies, 100 degrees, with 90% humidity. The last thing I was looking forward to was 4 hours in the hot sun, sweating, trying to catch a fish. However, John said his clients caught 25 that morning and that we would do fine. I had read so much about John Tanner that I half believed him.
The first thing I loved about Lake Fork fishing is that we went looking for the fish — meaning we were moving which caused the sweat pouring off our bodies to evaporate — the best air conditioning mother nature can provide. 20 minutes into the hunt we were on top of a school of largemouth bass on a hump in the middle of the lake. For the next four hours we hopped from structure to structure — every time putting ourselves on top of big fish — and big fish we caught.
A great day of bass fishing for me might involve two or three 1-2 pounders and maybe a 3 pounder if I'm really lucky. Get a load of this. Taylor boated 10 bass which weighed a total of 35 pounds. I boated 4 bass that weighed in at 16 pounds. Do the math. 5 pounder, 4 pounder, 4 pounder, 3 pounder. We both lost as many as well. Our guide probably caught 20 and his average was 4 pounds a piece too — with several in the 6+ range. Are you kidding me? This was the most unbelievable bass fishing experience of my life. Trust me, if you are serious about bass fishing you don't need to go to Mexico.
Texas — YOU WIN! You definitely grow-'em big here and you proved it.
At 9:30 p.m. we were back in the RV headed for Oklahoma's Mountain Fork River to fish for smallmouth with guide Rob Woodruff the next morning. We arrived around midnight and to my surprise realized that our day on the water wouldn't begin until 9 a.m. — SLEEP. Yes, we would get some good rest tonight.
Louisiana
Louisiana bayou country is where we found ourselves at 6 a.m. today. In far western Louisiana on the border with Texas is a unique body of water known as Caddo Lake. Although it is only four feet deep it is haled as one of the premier bass lakes in the country. The attraction for many is that it is also a pristine cypress swamp hosting some of the most unique fauna imaginable. On this day we were to try our hands at landing one of the monster largemouth bass lurking below in the sunken cypress stumps or lounging in the shade of a giant lily pad. What we in turn experienced was an inspiring tour through the swamp this day as the fish had taken a holiday. We just couldn't get them moving. Our guide and Taylor both caught a small bass early in the morning but that was about it.
So, if you ever want to mix a little back country bayou swamp sight seeing with fishing then Caddo Lake is the place to go. It was a beautiful morning, although a bit hot, but the towering cypress trees provided plenty of shade.
Day#10 is our 3rd of four doubleheader days for the 50-50 journey. In fact, we won't see our final doubleheader day for another 5 weeks. From here we will travel a little over 100 miles to Texas's Lake Fork Reservoir to fish the second half of this day's doubleheader.
Louisiana marks the 12th state of our journey and for pure scenic beauty it delivered. For fishing — well, it was just a tough day on the water.
At 11 a.m. we were on the road again. We were running low on food, fuel, and propane so our first stop was Marshall, Texas where we restocked our supplies. After numerous stops on the Interstate to find a decent internet connection we finally found our way to Lake Fork around 3 p.m. where we would soon meet our guide, John Tanner, to have a go at monster Texas bass.
Day 10: Mississippi
By Jeff Turner
If you ever watch a fishing show on Saturday morning then sooner or later you'll see Pickwick Lake highlighted as a must visit bass haven. I've never seen so many bass on a fish finder in my life. The lake is crawling with them. In four hours the three of us boated nearly 40 with Taylor and I landing our best catch of the trip (21 total bass) ranging in size from 1 to 4 lbs. For a couple of casual weekend fishermen to catch 21 bass in four hours is unheard of — especially in light that we didn't even get on the water until 7:30 a.m. and the temperatures were in the high 90's. I don't think I've ever been more impressed with a bass guide than I was with Roger Stegall. He navigated us to a couple of the most unlikely of places to catch a fish — and we simply hammered them. The best largemouth fishing day of my life. If your group can boat 40 largemouth bass in the hottest part of the summer at mid day, then I can only imagine what this place must be like in the spring and fall. I'm coming back here.
On a fatigue note — we are dragging today. Yesterday was a doubleheader day that included Kentucky and Tennessee so we didn't hit the pillow until midnight.
We got off the Pickwick waters at 11:45 a.m. and were on the road again at noon — heading for Caddo Lake in far western Louisiana — a 425 mile drive. Tomorrow is a much awaited day as we will enter the Louisiana cypress swamps in the morning and conclude our day on Texas's Lake Fork — which by most is America's #1 largemouth bass lake.
Today we passed the 3000 mile mark and the two of us are doing well — we just need a bit more sleep and a laundry mat.
Happy Father's Day!
Day Eight: Tennessee and Kentucky
By Jeff Turner
Tennessee
If Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia is the Lake Tahoe of the East then Dale Hollow Lake in Tennessee is the Lake Tahoe of the Midwest. Without a doubt this lake is one of the most scenic you'll find anywhere. The Corps of Engineers control the lake and because of this there are no homes or personal docks anywhere to be found. I don't think many people know about this gem and I'm sure the locals don't want their little secret exposed. Beyond the 11 marinas the lake is as close to the look of a remote Canadian lake you'll find anywhere.
The smallmouth bass on this lake are known to be huge. In fact, the world record hales from this lake at an incredible 11 pounds, 15 ounces. Our guide, Bobby Gentry met us at the Dale Hollow 1 Stop at 6 a.m., and we were on the water before 6:30. We were quick to learn that had we fished the night before we could have expected a big bite with numerous 5-pound smallmouth very likely. An hour into our early morning outing saw a beautiful 4-pound smallmouth hit our soft crawfish lure only to escape our nets. We had numerous strikes but only managed to bring one in the boat. Nighttime is the time to target smallmouth on Dale Hollow Lake when water temperatures get into the 80s. Unfortunately with our tight schedule we didn't believe we could afford the added stress of a night trip.
As guides go, I don't think you'll find a nicer, more engaging, or experienced smallmouth bass guide in the world. Bobby Gentry is a well known, accomplish angler, with many published articles to his credit on his many smallmouth fishing techniques. Although we didn't net many fish we did meet a legend and hope to return to Dale Hollow again one day to try our hand at these beautiful bronze backs.
Kentucky
Before I say anything — let me first say, Wow!! This lake has it all. It was a total homerun of a fishing outing. Our guide, Craig Hipsher, met us in Fairdealing, Kentucky at 4 p.m., where the temperature was 97 degrees. Can you catch fish in the afternoon when it is this hot? Craig didn't think there would be any problem. In fact, he asked what we would like to fish for like he was a short order cook at a truck stop. Two hours later we were in the middle of Kentucky Lake having boated White Bass, Striped Bass, Largemouth Bass, and a 30-pound Blue Catfish. Are you kidding me? In fact, the White Bass, Striped Bass, and Blue Catfish were all personal firsts for Taylor. To top it off, we also found out that Craig and I were born on the same day in 1961, so you knew we had to have a good day with karma like that.
In four hours, we landed 19 fish, our best fish count for any state to date. This was just plain fun. Craig caught another dozen himself as he took us to college on White and Striped Bass fishing.
We were on the road again at 8 p.m. for Mississippi's Pickwick Lake the next morning. In total the day involved fishing two of America's premiere trophy lakes, driving nearly 400 miles, and meeting two of the nicest and knowledgeable guides you'll ever find.
Day Seven: Alabama
By Jeff Turner
20 years ago my daughter Lauren was born in Huntsville, Ala. Because of this, returning to fish nearby Lake Guntersville was an exciting return for me. We arrived at Blue Heron Paradise RV Resort at 7 p.m. the night before after a 300 mile drive from western North Carolina. The owner of the park had already been following our journey and encouraged us to join them for their monthly spaghetti buffet and karaoke night, which proved to be a welcome reprieve from cooking as well as entertaining.
5:30 a.m.came quickly as we met our guide Mike Gerry of Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service at the boat ramp. Thankfully we crossed into Central Daylight Time so we gained an hour of sleep. Today we were going after largemouth bass. Although it seemed early to us, there were 30 empty boat trailers already present in the parking lot. From everything we hear this lake gets as much fishing pressure as any lake in the country. So how good is it? Well at 9 a.m., Taylor caught the biggest bass of his life which weighed in at 5 pounds, 7ounces and is now the standing trophy of the trip. I hooked, fought, and lost a large one myself but he got off. In total we boated 10 bass and lost that many as well in four hours on the water. Ironically, everything out guide told Taylor to do he did the opposite. Keep your rod high, Taylor kept it low. Twitch your rod tip, Taylor just reeled slowly. Wait a full second before you set the hook — Taylor just yanked. I'm not sure but I think Taylor was actually texting a friend when the big one slammed his lure — a technique I'm not sure I can repeat.
When we returned to the dock there was a frenzy of newspaper reporters and a local television crew present to greet us. We felt a bit like a paparazzi crew was upon us. Although a bit awkward, especially for Taylor, it seemed to go well. Everyone was gracious and encouraging which made us feel at ease. Two hours later we were finally on the road again to Tennessee where tomorrow we will tackle our second doubleheader day of the trip. This one might be the hardest day of the journey as we fish 4 hours on Dale Hollow Lake, drive 5 hours to Kentucky, fish Kentucky Lakes in the evening, and then drive 4 hours to Pickwick Lake in Mississippi. We will need to tag team the sleeping effectively tomorrow in order to endure the long day.
Day Six: North Carolina
By Jeff Turner
If you've never heard of the Davidson River in western North Carolina, then put it on your list of must-places to visit one day. In fact if you've never visited western North Carolina — go there — it is absolutely beautiful. Lush green mountains, rivers and streams everywhere and the nicest people you'll meet anywhere. Our first taste of Carolina hospitality started when we drove into Cascade Lake Recreation Area where the camp host greeted us graciously and even provided us with a go cart escort to our RV site.
We experienced our first thunderstorm of the journey just as we were turning in but the most amazing event of the day was our near miss in running out of gas near Albany, Ga. We ran 80 miles on the flashing yellow dashboard light before we found a gas station offering diesel. When we filled up our 25 gallon tank, it took 25.6 gallons. Here's a shout-out to Ann Carpenter of Kansas praying for us today and to the good Lord for answering.
The brooke trout on the Davidson River were the biggest we had ever caught by far. 14-15 inches long and shaped like footballs. I would equate a 15-inch brooke trout to a 20-inch rainbow for shear mass and fighting power. Landon Lipke, our guide from Davidson River Outfitters, was superb. He taught us some new techniques (of course he's working with wet clay when it comes to our expertise at trout fishing, but his patience paid off and the fish cooperated. We are definitely returning to these waters one day. We wouldn't mind playing a round of golf nearby either. Driving out of the Pisgah Forest area we passed alongside the Nantahala River which was a rush hour of rafters today.
We are also coming off of our longest driving leg to date at 420 miles. We're tag teaming the driving well. Taylor is driving his 50 percent for sure, which has been a huge relief. We're very well rested after a full eight hours of sleep last night and on our way to northern Alabama to fish Lake Guntersville at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow for largemouth bass.
Day Five: Georgia
By Jeff Turner
Day No. 5 was a bounce back day as far as fish in the boat were concerned. The day started early, as guide Randy Weaver met us at 5:30 a.m., for our morning on the famous largemouth bass fishery known as Lake Seminole in southwestern Georgia.
We passed the 1,500 mile mark the night before on the odometer as we rode into Georgia. Wingate's campground on the shores of Lake Seminole was a welcome sight — not just because we could put our feet up but because it was a gorgeous campground. We were one of only a handful of campers so we had the pick of the park.
One unfortunate event occurred on our drive up from Florida or possibly very fortunate depending on your point of view. Just when Taylor was getting a bit tired at the wheel a hawk collided with our windshield at 70mph which was pretty disturbing. However, Taylor drove another hundred miles after that with eyes wide open.
The one great perk to hiring a fishing guide is they always seem to have fast boats and don't mind putting the throttle down.
We were in serious gator country now and told to keep a watchful eye out.
Randy showed us some largemouth bass fishing tricks on the Seminole and in doing so landed several four pounders in the process. Our fish were a far cry from that but we were happy to have the smell of fish on our hands once again nonetheless.
Day Four: Florida
By Jeff Turner
Day four of our journey brought us to the famous waters of the Homosassa River with renowned guide and friend Captain Earl Waters. We would try our hands at the elusive giant Tarpon.
Most anglers who are serious about landing a fish of this lore often invest a week of 8 hour days. Our challenge was to accomplish the task in four short hours. Captain Waters knew the odds weren't great but the experience of fishing for Tarpon was why we came in the first place.
To start, Taylor and I experienced the thrill of a lifetime as we navigated at 65mph the slalom-like channel ways that lead to the big open waters five miles away. Yes, a boat can make a 90 degree hairpin turn at this speed — somehow. It was like a scene from a James Bond movie. I thought for a moment that we went through the wrong turnstile at the dock and wound up at Universal Studios.
The water conditions were quite strange. A northwest wind of 5 mph put a light chop on the water. For most watermen this would be considered dead calm. For a Tarpon aficionado this was not good. In fact, Captain Waters commented that in 30-plus years of guiding he has never seen a northwest wind in June and it was fouling up the Tarpon migration patterns.
If you've never Tarpon fished it is as much like Deer Hunting as I've ever experienced. For the most part you sit and wait for the game to come to you. You don't cast, troll, or have a line out — you stand quietly and keep watch. As we sat and kept watch I quickly determined that had a keen eye for turtles and sticks. So, that was my contribution. I'm proud to say that I believe I spotted six turtles and one stick.
Captain Waters had the keen eye though — he also had a slightly better perspective being six feet above us in his deer stand. We were definitely in turtle position. In four hours he spotted a dozen huge Tarpon, some cruising super fast, others lazily rolling just beyond most of our casts. We did however put our lines on top of a half dozen Tarpon. Taylor even had one "blow up." It's not as messy as you might think — it just means the Tarpon took a swipe at Taylor's lure but struck short and didn't set the hook.
We had a wonderful time on the water and experienced the amazing art of tarpon fishing with an incredible man and guide — Earl Waters. If you ever get the chance to go tarpon fishing in these waters I would encourage you to contact Earl — he's a real professional and given a bit more time will get you hooked up with one of these monsters. We are not discouraged — we have another day on the water tomorrow — and so will Earl.
Day Three: South Carolina
By Jeff Turner
Well, we should have sensed something bad was about to happen when on the drive down to South Carolina we couldn't seem to reach anyone. We tried our guide several times by phone, but no answer and the same was the case with the campground.
It turned out the posted Garmin GPS address for the campground simply doesn't exist. But, we were in luck, or so we thought. The campground listed their Lat/Lon coordinates which we plugged in. Unfortunately when we approached Elloree, S.C., the coordinates led us to the dead end of an unimproved dirt road at the edge of a bean field — it reminded us to much of a CSI scene that we didn't want to be a part of.
That's about the time my brother in Kansas called to say, "Are you in trouble? I'm watching you on the LiveViewGPS and you've made three u-turns in the past 5 minutes."
We were as lost as you can get. We were in the middle of nowhere. We've all been there before but unfortunately it never helps the next time.
An hour later, we finally saw a light and to our amazement, a person. They couldn't explain how to get where we were going. I thought, "of course not, no one really knows how to tell someone how to get out of nowhere." They told us to just follow them.
Ten minutes later, we arrived at the campground. Again, no lights, no people, you are on your own. Fortunately we spotted a site and declared victory!
At 6 a.m., we found ourselves still alone. Where was our guide? Multiple phone calls and no answer. At 6:30 a.m., we decided it was time to put Operation FoldCat into action. We quickly unloaded our inflatable Foldcat boat from SeaEagle and began to load it for catfishing.
We thought we would just grab some bait from a local tackle shop and we would be fine. By 7:30 a.m., we had confirmed that everything is closed on Mondays in Elloree, S.C., and we were left to more primitive attempts at bait. Right — the refrigerator. Our options were limited: grilled chicken, mozzarella cheese sticks, and Nestle Tollhouse Cookie Dough.
I've caught a lot of catfish on hot dogs in the past so I figured why not.
Several hours later we were burned out. We did have one hit on the grilled chicken but no fish. The sight of the day was a 4-foot long alligator gar that surfaced next to our boat — something Taylor had never seen before, so it wasn't a total loss.
We were anxious to get back on the road and head south to Florida for our try at a tarpon with world renowned guide Earl Waters of Crystal River, Fla.
Day Two: Virginia and West Virginia
By Jeff Turner
Virginia
Our first double header day greeted us at 5:25 a.m. on the shores of the New River in southwestern Virginia. The night was spent at Glen Lyn's city campground, which to be honest added its own flavor of adventure for us. We were told no reservations were taken nor required.
However, the combination of the local tractor pull competition along with a fiddler's convention packed the riverside with countless tents and RVs, many of which appearing to be permanent residences. We determined that when you see your campsite neighbor mowing his lawn that it's likely you are definitely the stranger in town.
We headed for the "overflow" area which could best be described as … well, I think I'll leave that to your imagination.
Our guide Sammy Pugh, of New River Trophy Outfitters, met us at 6:30 a.m., and we were quickly afloat on his three-man drift boat.
Although the water was approximately 4 feet above normal and milky brown, Sammy was optimistic that we would still catch some fish. He had heard of our rough start on the Susquehanna the day before so he was especially sympathetic. Sammy was right, 5 minutes down river — FISH ON!
Yes, Fish 50-50 was going to involve catching fish too — does it get any better than this?
Day #2 Fish Tally: Jeff (16); Taylor (8). Not spectacular numbers, but hey it's a start. Sammy mentioned that a 100- fish day is very common on the New River when it isn't flooded out. Given we couldn't see any of the structures below us, we did pretty good.
As we drifted into West Virginia we were told to get ready…
West Virginia
The second half of our double header day greeted us with an uncommon site on the river shore. A phenomenal lunch, prepared the night before by — you guessed it — our guide's mother, complete with table and tablecloth.
Fried chicken, wraps, baked beans, cheesecake, Strawberry rhubarb toppings, and more. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Get this guy on the phone and book a day with him on the New River. Sammy was a blast to spend the day with — not just the great conversation but world class treatment on and off the water.
We decorated the shores with his shiny lures like a Christmas tree all day and he kept on smiling … well maybe he was crying a bit, I'm not sure. Taylor reminds me that he only lost one. Hmmm.
Let's talk about the two that got away — they're always the bigger ones right? Taylor hooked into a 4-pound smallmouth, fought him long enough for each of us to see him jump a few times — then for some reason, Taylor released him early. Taylor is a true sportsman.
Besides the numerous smallies that Jeff landed throughout the day, the end of the trip got the heart pumping when his first muskie slammed his spinnerbait and quickly severed the line. A few minutes later, we could see the muskie up stream jumping as he tried to throw my lure back to me.
At 3 p.m. we were back in the RV and headed 320 miles south to South Carolina's Santee-Cooper where Day #3 will see us taking a stab at tangling with some big S.C. catfish.
Day One: Pennsylvania
By Jeff Turner
Today was the prime reason why they don't call it catching. A year ago we were asked if we would make it a priority to catch a fish in every state. We quickly replied that we may be crazy but we aren't stupid. I know many of you still aren't convinced. Anyway, we began our journey with a quick dose of reality and humility.
Fish Tally: Jeff (0); Taylor (0).
Raising money for charity is sure hard work, especially if it depends on catching fish. Fortunately Brian Shumaker, our guide, helped by making a nice donation to the cause.
He was a bit concerned as the smallmouth bass were just coming off of their spring spawn and in a bit of a lull. That combined with the heavy early June rains made the Susquehanna water pretty murky. It was a beautiful day on the water nonetheless as we fished hard from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Brian was a great guide and even better company on the water. He brought his jet boat to help navigate the strong currents. He also provided us with two great eight weight fly rods and a variety of poppers and Clouser minnow flies. We threw everything we had at them including our backs and shoulders.
We even tried a few Mister Twisters from our spinning rigs before the morning was over. I mean really — if you can't catch a smallmouth on a Mister Twister — then I say they just aren't biting. The scenery near Duncannon was gorgeous with lush green mountains all around us. The weather sure cooperated — 65 degrees, party cloudy skies, and calm winds.
We broke camp at 11:47 a.m. Our next stop is 380 miles to the New River in southwestern Virginia.
Stay tuned … the fishing show will have to wait until tomorrow.
Check out the video here.
