A Fishin' Trip

This past Sunday, we left for our yearly trout fishing trip to the Little Red River in Heber Springs, Arkansas. My mom has been going yearly (sometimes several times a year) since 2001, and I have been going yearly since 2002 or 2003...I can't remember. Chris went for his first time last year and loved it, so he went back with my mom and I. Chris' mom also went to watch Hayden for us. Thanks, MaMaw for doing that for us!

Anyway, we had a great fishing trip! Usually, if we go about this time, we hit the trout spawn, and there are trout everywhere. However, due to some issues with dissolved oxygen levels and details I won't go into, the spawn is running a little late this year, so the fish weren't quite as willing to bite or willing to come out from their trout hiding places. All in all, after two days of fishing, the three of us (Chris, my mom, and I) caught 5 fish total...usually, that number would be much higher. I will say this, though....we definitely caught the biggest fish that we saw there. Chris caught one that was about 25.5 inches, and my mom caught one that was about 24 inches.

The great thing about going trout fishing is the place where we fish. We always stay at a place called Lindsey's Rainbow Resort and go out with one of their guides, Jared Lindsey. I would definitely recommend Lindsey's to anyone who has ever wanted to go fishing in Arkansas. The people there are great, and they have really quaint little cabins. I would also definitely recommend Jared as a guide if you go....that is, if you can take a little ridicule and joking from your guide. Hahaha.... We always fish at a place called Beech Island, a tiny little island just a little ways down from the resort. As you will be able to tell from the pictures, it is truly beautiful. There are many times I just sit down on the side of the bank (after my fishing arm is tired from catching all those fish), and I just relax and think about how amazing it is that God could create such a beautiful place. I almost said probably, but I will take the word probably out of there....It is my favorite place to be. I can go and not catch any fish and not really care.

Now that being said, I do still love to catch fish, but you will see from the pictures that noone was too worried about taking any pictures of me fishing or catching a fish...I did catch ONE fish. :o) There's one little video of me catching a fish that ended up getting loose from the hook later. Well, I'll tell you why noone took a picture of me catching a fish. That's because they are jealous of all the big fish I've caught in the past years of fishing. I've taken the past two years off from catching big fish, but after all the ridicule I got this year, I'm ready to show them all what I can do next year. Hahaha.... Just kidding, of course.

I'm especially glad Chris caught a nice-sized fish this year, since he didn't catch a big one last year. My mom caught her first really big one last year (a 30-inch brown trout). Anyway, I'll show them next year and catch a big one. My two years of not catching a big fish are over!

I did manage to do something I had never done before. I netted (is that a word?) one of the fish my mom caught while Jared and Chris were on the other side of the island. I can only imagine how funny it must have looked to see me holding the net with two hands chasing that fish around in the water, but I managed to get it in the net. My mom said it was quite hilarious!

Also, while we were down there, I celebrated turning 28-years older (November 18). It was a beautiful place to turn a year older. My mom, Chris' mom, Chris, Hayden, and I went to eat at a place called Michael's with our guide, Jared; his wife, Ashley; and their daughter, Ella Grace. Ella is only 6 weeks older than Hayden, and she is just too cute! I think my mom arranged a marriage between Hayden and Ella Grace. Her big plan is to have Hayden marry Ella so that Hayden can become a trout fishing guide and so that she and I can go fishing every year for free. Sounds like a plan to me! Hayden and Ella really enjoyed meeting each other...Ella is an agressive girl and really took a liking to Hayden...she grabbed on to him quickly. It was too cute!

Oh, the other eventful thing that happened was that my mom ended up in the emergency room. She managed to get a hook in her finger all the way through to the barb, so she had to go get it cut out of her finger. She's fine, though....and even somehow managed to drive herself to the hospital in Heber Springs with a barbed hook through her finger. Owww!!! She said they have a tackle box at the hospital dedicated to cutting off rings and getting fish hooks out of fingers...they must see a lot of hooks through fingers.

Here's a video of Chris' big fish.



Here's the only proof that I actually fished.



A few pictures from a great fishing trip!