Sometimes the day job has a few perks. I was talking to my boss last month about all the fun I was having reeling rainbow trout out of the Guadalupe, one thing led to another, and before you could yell "fish on" we were planning a client appreciation trip to Cotter, Arkansas to pull a few brown trout out of the White River.



We briefly considered Gaston's resort, but ultimately decided that a two day camp and fish trip was more our speed. We arrived at the Cotter Trout Lodge late Thursday night, and after checking in and standing around the fire for a few hours, I turned in around 1am.

There's something about a foggy morning that adds an extra layer of mystery to a new place.




We decided to skip breakfast and get our butts in the boat, so we headed to Cotter Trout Dock and loaded up.




Eric was my guide for the day, and he knew just where the fish were holding. I lost count of the rainbows we pulled out of the river. They were healthy and feisty, and although most were stocked trout, they had that beautiful purple stripe running down their sides that let us know they'd been in the river long enough to benefit from a natural, wild diet. Most of the rainbows we caught that day were between 15 and 18 inches long. Wish I'd taken more photos but honestly, I was too busy landing fish!

The boss caught the first brown trout of the day...



...but it didn't take me long to even the score.



Even though this was a camp trip, we weren't exactly roughing it. Camp cook Lonnie had a shore lunch waiting for us the first day, with the best fried chicken and fixings I've had in a long time. Some of us ate too much.



The afternoons didn't produce as many fish as the mornings, but it was still productive. The other guys had success bait fishing the first day, but I'm too impatient for that and fished stick lures instead. By day two they saw how much fun I was having and converted to lures. I'm not exaggerating when I say that we each caught at least 25 to 30 fish per day. After a while you just lose count.

Two days goes by awful fast, and we are all planning to make this an annual trip. Next year I'll wear a GoPro so I'll have more photos of fish.

When I came back from Viet Nam in 1970 my Dad took me to Bull Shoals for a week. One day we took a float trip down the White. My Dad knew the guide from business trips he had took. He told him early we wanted to catch some nice ones. The guide did not disappoint us. We caught some real nice Rainbows all day long. The guide cooked a fish lunch on the bank. It was great. Beautiful scenery. I remember it like it was yesterday. Dad knew what I needed after my trip out of the USA.

1960texan, yours is the number one post of the year. Excellent story.

Slim, glad you made it home. Your dad sounds like an awesome guy.

several of us do this annually, ended up getting each of us a click counter so we could keep the bragging rights honest. What did you use for lures. Last fall they jumped on Thomas Bouyant (sp) spoons, but also just about anything gold and flashy.

The click counter is a good idea. I used 3 different lures. The one I used the most was a large, rainbow trout colored stick bait, cast slightly downstream, jerk, reel reel reel, jerk, reel reel reel, repeat. I also hauled in quite a few on a large brown rooster tail. After I lost the rooster tail on a submerged log I threw a red and gold vibramax. That cooled off after a while and I finished the trip with the stick bait.

I caught my biggest fish on the stick bait, a 24 inch brownie.

I've been there many times, awesome place with lovely clear water and a lot of trout.

Just can't beat the Arkansas river fishing.

Talked to the boss yesterday, he's got trout fever after the trip and is now thinking about fishing the Little Red next time. It looks promising:
https://youtu.be/0w65E8hNLVI

Cool story! I hope to get that way one year.