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.

Cabin, Lake, and SUNSET!

A few photos of our cabin at Black Oak Resort, Bull Shoals Lake shots from the deck of our cabin and a sunset from somewhere in Mountain Creek. The sunset is not the prettiest I have witnessed on BS Lake, but a sunset, nevertheless!

Just put my uv/Haze filter on to see if future shots are better It is very hazy here right now...reminds me of the Smokies!!I was able to photo a young deer very near the cabin and a sailboat out on the lake. Wish I had had a higher range Telephoto for each.

Birthday Duet Vacation!

Life is never a nicely defined, straight line. How I wish it were, but I dream and digress.

When my husband and I were considerably younger, whether in military service, or our busy civilian lives, or retirement, the word VACATION usually meant trips to visit families and friends in Texas or the Carolinas.

Exceptions were two or three trips to Arkansas fishing, which fueled our dreams to semi-retire in Arkansas.

Time has evaporated during 40 years of marriage and we are in our supposed golden years, maybe a little tarnished 70s. During that time trips began to have a medical purpose attached--no vacation, but nevertheless, a journey.

One pipe dream, a driving tour of the Northwest, will probably never occur, unless we schedule some kind of tour, or hire a driver.

Of course, some would argue, since we both are retired, we are on permanent vacation.

Since we have birthdays approximately two months apart, we are planning a modest 50 mile round trip up Bull Shoals Lake to the Black Oaks Resort, Oakland, AR., for a week of fishing or whatever the weather permits. We may hire a fishing guide, hopefully to guarantee we catch fish. If I am unable to get in our boat away from our stall, I can be content with my laptop; the resort has WiFi.

By mutual agreement this is our birthday gift(s) to each other; hence, Birthday Duet, no singing allowed.

We are leaving Aug. 13 and returning home Aug. 20. Luckie will be reclining at her friendly vet, although that is forced vacation in her eyes. [left adjacent photo]

I may be fishing and enjoying a week of Slider Days during our modest Birthday Duet Vacation!!!

Again I may find a lot of photos I just have to share as soon as I return to the cabin where my laptop is!!! I will be prepared to enjoy whatever comes my way, fishing or relaxing, surfing the 'Net, or roaming the countryside, if weather permits, with two cameras.

I will be reading posts, watching TV, a little cooking-mostly MICROWAVE. Those who follow me know I hate cooking. But I'm looking forward to a change of pace and hope the health of both of us holds up for awhile.