WHAT I LEARNED FROM
A CROSS-COUNTRY BASS
FISHING ROAD TRIP
By Matt Allen
Matt and CC Allen,
with their daughter,
Sierra, spent eight
weeks traveling the
country and break-
ing down unfamiliar
bodies of water to
test their own
angling skills.
WINTER 2020 I FLWFISHING.COM
ost bass anglers have probably wondered the same
thing: What if you were like these pros that get to travel
from lake to lake? What would happen? Could you catch
fish all over the country?
You aren’t alone in wondering. We wondered, too.
In 2017, my wife, CC, and I decided it was time to find out.
We spent a year planning the route, gathering equipment and
preparing for a two-month bass fishing road trip that would
take us from our home on Clear Lake in California to destina-
tions around the country.
The next June, just two days into the trip, disaster struck. A
head-on collision in eastern Wyoming shattered our dreams of
life on the road. We lost the truck, boat, camper and gear, but
we survived. As we limped 1,200 miles home in a rental car, we
knew this wouldn’t be the end of the story.
Within weeks, we began to rebuild and plan: two months, 21
states, 28 lakes and a whole lot of driving. The plan was to com-
pare bass behavior on a national level, all the while testing our
own angling abilities.
Would a bass in Alabama behave the same as one in
California? What about a smallmouth when muskies are close
by? We had so many theories and only one way to test them: by
hitting the road.
Editor’s note: Matt Allen and his business partner, Tim Little, own Tactical Bassin, a website
and YouTube channel dedicated to teaching people how to be better bass anglers.
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