5 essential tips for planning the perfect fishing road trip

#3  KNOWLEDGE  

When fishing strange water, first-hand local intel is the gold standard. In my experience, fishing information from strangers is worth what you pay: very little. Trusted outdoor media (such as Outdoor Canada) can help with regional tips, but anything on internet forums is dubious at best. Tackle shops where you spend a few bucks will usually offer solid advice, but only direct you to well-known spots. Local guides aren’t cheap, but they’ll work their tails off to put you on fish. If success is your main goal, a day of guided fishing is well worth it.

More importantly, trust your own instincts and knowledge. I enjoy learning about local baits and tactics, but don’t tend to use them. I’ve travelled a lot, and I can’t count how many times I’ve heard variations of “the walleye in Lake X only bite orange crankbaits.” Sure, there can be regional quirks because of unusual topography or forage, but for the most part, walleye are walleye, and lake trout are lake trout. If you understand your target fish, and can catch them at home, you can usually work out at least a few places to find and hook them on strange water.

#4  ORGANIZATION

Anyone who’s been on a long drive will recognize a familiar phenomenon I call “road-trip car.” Mere hours into the journey, even a previously tidy vehicle somehow transforms into a repository of crumbs, food wrappers and accumulated clutter. That flows naturally from the lived-in chaos of the open road, but it shouldn’t get in the way of fishing. If you pull over at a promising spot, the last thing you want to do is untangle rods or dig for lures.

The single best thing I’ve ever done to elevate all of my vehicle-based fishing is to install an interior rod rack that holds rigged rods above the general clutter. This protects the rods from breaking (and the passengers from hooks), prevents tangles and saves space. For a budget solution, you can even keep rigged rods in pool noodles with a lengthwise slit. I also have an easily accessible skeleton box of lures or flies for those times when I absolutely have to hop out and make a few casts.

#5  ATTITUDE

Finally, try to embrace the unexpected. When you veer off course, respond to sudden weather changes or make unplanned stops, you open the door for unique experiences and discoveries that no itinerary could predict. It always seems like some of the most memorable fish come from unplanned stops.

I once took a construction detour off a county highway, for example, and was shunted onto ever-smaller and rougher roads, finally crossing an old Bailey bridge over a picturesque little river. Needing to stretch my legs, I grabbed a fly rod rigged with a popper and found a creek full of ravenous smallmouth that hammered the fly on almost every cast.

Welcoming new adventures and trusting in serendipity allows you to discover such hidden gems. And in classic road-trip fashion, you can return to fishing those same hidden gems the next season—leading to even more discoveries, on down the road.