14 Jun
In 2016 we visited Bull Shoals, connected up with a great trout fishing guide named Paul Bobby, and had an absolute blast fishing for trout. Paul runs a guide service called G.I. on the Fly. He is a retired Air Force First Sergeant and we have been looking forward to the day we could return here and fish with him again, and so here we are!
We made arrangements to meet Paul at the boat launch area at 0630 hrs so as to get on the water before the heat of the day moves in. So rise and shine at 0530 with a quick breakfast, coffee made, mini-cooler packed and away we go. Paul was waiting for us so we boarded the boat and we headed out on the White River.
The humidity, cool water temps and warm air temps cause a thick haze over the river. Tomorrow I will bring a sweat shirt as the trip up the river was a bit chilly. Soon we were at the base of the dam. You can only approach the dam so far out and we did not breach that. Also, this close to the dam is a catch and release area, and of course we respected those rules.
Paul had pre-configured two poles so that if one malfunctioned I would be fishing with no delays on the second one. So, first cast and here we go. The current rushing out of the power-generating dam is significant, so our boat was pushed downstream and so was our rigging. So this is like a natural troll. The rigging includes a weight which takes the lure/bait to the bottom and how it is rigged the weight basically drags the bottom and the bait/lure rides above, hopefully where the fish are. The trick is to differentiate the feel of the weight riding the bottom, the rigging snagging a weed, or a fish biting on your lure/bait. First cast, tap, tap, tap BANG! First fish on, and the retrieval begins!
Paul continued to work the river, up, drift back, fish, up, drift back, fish. We fished nearer the shores, in the shadows of the trees, in the rock shoals and we just kept getting fish on. What a blast! 16 fish in the boat with all of those caught in the catch and release area gently returned to the water. A few pictures:
For the sake of brevity I wont post the other videos, but needless to say we had a great time and look forward to doing it again tomorrow, only we plan to head out at 0600 hrs rather than 0630 hrs.
We came ashore about 1130 hrs and had lunch before resting a bit and then later in the afternoon driving to Mountain Home to meet up with Chief Master Sergeant (retired) Chuck Leonard and his bride Sherri. I served with Chuck in the Iowa Air National Guard for many years. We met at La Torcia Brick Oven Pizza house and spent the next couple hours getting caught up on what everyone has been doing! The pizza was very good but seeing Chuck and Sherri was great! We cherish opportunities to reconnect with our friends, relatives and military comrades as we travel around the Country.
That's it for tonight. 0530 hrs will roll around quickly in the morning!
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