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.