4 Days and 3 Friends on the White River (Photo Essay)

Every year I make a fall trip to the White River with my two friends Craig Peterson and David Stinnett.  Craig and I get to fish together fairly frequently, but this is only an annual trip for David as he has to travel north from Dallas to fish the White River.  This trip isn’t as much about the fishing as it is about hanging out with close friends.  But the fishing is always good.

So i got a new camera / lens (Nikon D200 and Tokina 11-16) last week and had to try it out on my last trip to the White River.  Combined with my Olympus Stylus 730sw the below is a little photo essay of the trip.  Hope you don’t get bored, but figured I would share.

Matt Tucker
http://www.OzarkChronicles.com

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The view from the deck of our cabin on the White River, near Bull Shoals, Arkansas.  We stayed at RiverCliff Cabin, and the cabin had its own boat ramp, and boat dock, as well as nice accommodations.

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We fished with Jim Traylor, who is a fly-fishing guide and personal friend on Thursday morning before the heavy rain hit.

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The rain hit hard on Thursday afternoon, so I helped Jim with his web site while David and Craig hit the river again in RiverCliff’s boat and met up with me on the deck for some more brews.

Miller Lite isn’t normally my beer of choice, but my friend from Texas didn’t know any better and well any beer is better than no beer.

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On Friday (10/23/09) we took out my drift boat and this was the view from the top of the dam……wind was on the forecast today according to the flag.

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Craig spent the day in the bow stripping streamers, with no reward other than a good follow from a large rainbow only to get rejected.

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We caught plenty of fish, just nothing to shoot photos of as the dinks weren’t worth the effort of breaking open the Pelican Case.  But the camera case did prove handy come lunch time as a platter for lunch.

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Lunch was good, but dessert was perfect.

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As was dinner….

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We woke a little late on Saturday morning suffering from a Biscuits & Gravy to Alcohol imbalance and had to rectify that at Gaston’s Restaurant (breakfast is about the only thing that Gaston’s does on the cheap).

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After filling our bellies we were ready for a morning back out with Jim Traylor in his boat, but we were sporting monster hangovers that are just starting to show.

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After an afternoon nap, we woke around 4pm to find the river calling us.

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We float fished until we got to the top of Cane Island, where we got out and wade fished.

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We pulled off the river at dark, after nearly missing the Gaston’s boat ramp because it wasn’t lit up and after dinner with friends in Mountain Home, we headed back to the cabin and a campfire.

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We started our drift early on Sunday (10/25/09), so much so that the coffee drinking actually got in the way of the fishing.

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But once the sun broke, we knew that there was no better place to be then where we were at on the river.

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We started the trip with three friends and ended it as three friends, even if the damn Texan forgot the keys to our shuttle vehicle at the put-in, it is always a good trip.

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We didn’t shoot many fish photos, but caught a ton of fish, it is hard to justify shooting photos of “dinks” when you are on a river as great as the White and catching them on SJW’s and Eggs, but it was fun and that is what this trip is about.  But here is the ubiquitous fish photo, hope you enjoyed.

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