Fishing in Arkansas with Nick

So Nick and I thought it would be a good idea to fish in Arkansas on the Little Red River with some fishing equipment my dad gave me. We also took two tents and some other supplies (mainly beer) so that we could stay the night. Of course we didn't both to check the weather.. or to make sure we had everything. We were missing pillows and the tarp among other things including the bigger tent poles. D'oh! So we now had to set up a tent that was able to sleep two nine year olds comfortably. Great! Now Nick and I get to spoon and I can't even stretch out. We got to the camp site maybe at 5:00 PM. We had plenty of time to set it up before it started pouring. It so happens that the campground's power was out therefore we had to eat hamburgers at the camp ground restaurant. They were actually pretty good. That's when the rain came. We took cover under a pavilion that we weren't supposed to be under, but nobody knew or cared so that's where we stayed for hours as the rain came thundering down and filling our tent with water. I admittedly left the tiny window open for air circulation. Luckily there was one sleeping bag that wasn't too wet so we slept on top of it.

We awoke at about 6:15AM to start our day of fishing. On our way to Ramsey's Access, we passed the dam. There was an overlook with a great view. The dam wasn't generating and we took about 3 or 4 pictures from the overlook. This alone was worth the trip. There were many things that made me think the trip was worth it. The cold front that came through there was another reason it was worth going and the cool breeze that blew off of the river when we were near it.

First we went to Ramsey's Access where we of course caught nothing and the water was freezing! It made my feet numb. But we had a good time there. We also saw a Great Blue Heron, I think, in a tree across the river. Can you spot him? After that we decided to go to Mossy Shoals where my dad told me we should fish. He also warned me to keep my eyes open for signs that say that it was a catch and release area and not to use a barb on your hooks. I kept my eyes peeled. We had to walk through 5 minutes of utter hell to get to the river. It was like a bog with lots of high growing grass and tons of sticks. God only knows if there were any snakes in there. Luckily we did get to see a butterfly that landed near us once we got to the river. I took this as a sign of good luck... my mistake. If you look carefully in the picture to the left, you can see the Arkansas Game and Fish Warden in the background and Nick in the foreground fishing with barbed hooks. This is a recipe for disaster. Once again we saw no signs that said this place was catch and release. So the game warden came over and talked with us. We both ended up getting a ticket for $205 for using a barb on a hook. We still hadn't even gotten a bite and this was the nail in the coffin. It was time to go home and fishing is definitely not for me. There's way too much to do and it takes way too much trouble to actually fish for me. We both had bought licences costing $52 for the whole year. My paper that was printed expired two days before and the good ol' boys at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission failed to send me my actual licence and of course this is my fault. So the actual cost of the trip is as follows:
Two Fishing Licences with Trout Added: $104
Cost of campground: $18
Cost of Food the night before: $13
Cost of Gas: $35
Cost of beer etc (of which we have a lot left over because we cut our trip short): $50
Cost of two tickets given to us: $410
This all adds up to about the cost of our dignity. This is probably something I will never do on my own without someone else who provides a boat, the knowledge etc. But at least we saw a dam, Great Blue Heron, butterfly, felt a breeze, and went on a trip.