Fish Catching Travel
It has been almost exactly 39 years since yours truly (Shoedog) and your fishcatchingtravel host, redfishlaw, took a trip from the frozen north of Freeport, Illinois to north Arkansas and Bull Shoals Lake. Along with our ultimate outdoorsman pal “Max” Stoner, we were going to conquer the big bass we kept reading about in the magazines.
Well- long story short- we spent 3 days on the lake, caught ZERO fish and went back to the north shaking our heads. Humbled by the incredibly clear waters of Bull Shoals Lake!
We had camped below the immense dam at Bull Shoals White River State Park and had seen a few folks trout fishing in the river- little did we know it was a renowned trout fishing spot. Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda…..
Anyway- redfishlaw ends up moving to Mt. Home, buying a quick shop/tackle store/gas station and our real fishing adventures take off! Years of him guiding for bass, stripers and trout on the rivers. We could post for weeks on end of stories with pictures to detail the great times.
But- in all the years I traveled from Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas to fish with him and others, I only got on the White River once. It was always bass, crappies, stripers, and of later years great walleye fishing!
So, fast forward to present times- I am recently retired and can fish anytime, anyplace, anywhere! I had my last company affair- even got a plaque and a retirement watch! So on my way back from Kansas City- our man still in Arkansas- Clyde, says come on bro- let’s hit that White River and catch you some trout! I say- OK!
The plan was to use his boat- an aluminum V bass boat- to float if they were running enough generators to keep the flow up to where we could get down river without grounding too often. Well- didn’t happen, so we rented a canoe from the very friendly and helpful folks at the state park ramp. Only $55 and they came to pick us up down river later that day.
Shoedog and his beard. Peace Brother.
Their were a lot of boats and waders on the river, but, there always is. We got comfortable in our canoe and started casting. I started with a chrome head white hair jig and Clyde with a rooster tail. It was a little slow, but I managed a couple little rainbows in the first stretches of river.
We were starting to pick up a few more trout as we got downstream, but no big numbers. Clyde switched to a countdown minnow bait and I tried a small jerk bait as well. Still, most bites on the chrome/white jig. By this time I was catching several and it was good fun!
We were about halfway down to our pickup spot at Wildcat Shoals, I believe near the famous White Hole, when up river comes a guide boat and Clyde hollers at the guide. His name is Frank Saska, a veteran of the area and a trout fisherman for sure. Frank says get out the gold spoons- so that’s what we do! Thanks Frank!
A nice White River rainbow.
We began a run for about an hour and a half that was awesome! We caught close to 20 in the next stretch of river. We were in an area called the narrows and one side of an island was too shallow for boats with the amount of flow, but no problem for our canoe. We floated in and waded for a stretch and it was ON! No monsters, but a great bunch of trout in a beautiful place with a friend I have been fishing with since 1970- doesn’t get any better!
Our buddy Clyde releases a little one.
All in all, a great day to be on the water. We hit great weather- 55 degrees- and a mix of sun and clouds. Clyde was a good guide and handled the canoe well. ( I guess those days guiding for Gaston’s trout dock paid off, huh? ).
We finished the day with 4 perfectly baked trout and a couple hours of pickin’ and grinnin’! (Some day one of us will actually be able to play the guitar….I’m just saying…)
So good fresh out of the river.
I do know this- I will not wait 39 more years to get back on the White River- in fact- I think April is just around the corner!
Good Luck and Tight Lines
