Saturday, August 22, 2009

Did We Catch Fish?

The SHORT Answer is YES, we caught fish. We learned to fish for walleye, something we had never tried, so first few days were zilch, until we decided to pay for an half day guide.

August is a hard month to fish for anything on Bull Shoals Lake due to water temperature; surface temperature currently averages 85 degrees. Most fish are 30-40 ft. deep or deeper. To some extent this is true on most bodies of water.

Husband (H) went and I stayed at cabin. Since I side-arm cast, we did not think it wise to kill the messenger/guide! H has learned to duck when I cast. :)

After the guide trip, we bought recommended equipment and our luck changed.

Next trip out with new, strange equipment we begin to catch fish: some keepers, some too short. I caught a 22" and 18.75" walleye, and one blue gill - photos below). H caught several non-keepers.


On a subsequent trips H caught a 18.25 walleye (photo below); we both caught spotted bass (kept 2) and blue gills.

We harvested two quart bags of fillets.

PHOTOS: The one of H and me was taken by a friendly guy from St. Louis who tried to use my new little Canon A102. Guess my instructions were poor because it was terribly out of focus and dark. I really had to work it over in the editor to get this.

The rest of pictures were taken by me. A couple of thunderstorms ran us off the Lake once or kept us off the Lake.













7 comments:

Arkansas Patti said...

Way to go fisherpeople. Did you have to clean them or did your guide do that? Hubby sure looked happy.
Sorry that picture of the two of you turned out so dark. Everytime I hand my camera to someone else for a picture, I am amazed if it comes out at all. At least they try.
Really liked your picture of the dark clouds and the three trees. Liked that scrawny tree especially. It has character.

Amber Star said...

I loved the picture of you and H! He looks so happy and you look so serious. :) You crack me up.

Did you have both a boat and a barge? When we were up in Arkansas I loved the lakes. They were very beautiful. Someday maybe we can get away and rent a cabin and boat. It is a good idea to hire a guide....we don't have a lot of luck when we fish, either. Usually I read while hubby fishes.

The storm clouds are great. I know you didn't want to see them, but I'm wishing for a little more rain for us. We got some good lightning and some rain yesterday.

NitWit1 said...

ArPatt- The guide cleaned the spotted bass he and Shelly caught on the guided trip. We cleaned the rest at the dock and froze them in our refrig/freezer in the cabin.

Husband really enjoyed the trip and wants to go back next week! We may try to make a semi-annual or even 3x a year habit as long as our health holds up. Or some family event demands our attention.

That scrawny tree I think is an ice-damaged tree.

AmberStar - I was holding a lot of heavy fish--if you believe that. HA HA. I did not want to lose 'em as they were still live. No--I am somewhat of a deadpan comic.

We have an Alumnacraft Navigator 16ft. fishing boat in which I feel secure. We've had several bass boats, but as my balance and knees became more unstable I did not feel safe sitting above the decks on high pedestals.

Walleye you mainly troll which can be boring, too.

Be sure to find out all you can about facilities you use. If it is in our neck of the woods, we will do what we can. Even though we have resorts here, it is a town and being remote is sort of nice.

Pat - Arkansas said...

I've really enjoyed your vacation photos. I've been away from north Arkansas for so many years (and no longer have family to visit there) that I had almost... almost... forgotten how beautiful it is.

Renie Burghardt said...

You guys did pretty good, Carol Ann. When you write 18.25 walleye, do you mean the size in inches? You don't mean pounds, do you? I know I am dumb when it comes to fishing.

I don't like to fish. Got lots of catfish in my pond, and I go out in the evening, just before dark, to feed them. I love to watch their splash dancing!

The storm pictures are beautiful.

Take care!

Renie

Anonymous said...

My fatherinlaw used to get his annual vacation in August and he headed for Canada and they always fished for walleye. And deed too. But always caught their limit. I think there was a daily limit on them then and also on bass.

Liz Hinds said...

Impressive fish you caught there!