Bronze by Day; Stripes by Night

Nathaniel and I had fun bass fishing on Norfork Lake with bass pro Chad Morgenthaler today. We somehow stayed ahead of the rain and got in a good day of fishing, catching quite a few bass, including a handful of nice largemouths and smallmouths.

We're back in our cabin right now, resting a bit and looking forward to some barbecue and another round of fishing, if the weather once again allows us to get out. The plan tonight is to throw Rogues for stripers! I hope the rain stays away because I'm definitely looking forward to casting into the darkness for hard-hitting stripers.

Tomorrow, walleyes are on the agenda.

The diversity of the Norfork Lake fishery is amazing. So far, Nathaniel and I have seen eight species of fish come into the boats we've been in, and we've not yet fished for stripers or walleyes! That also doesn't include the brown trout Nathaniel caught on Tuesday from just down the road from here, right before we checked in at Mockingbird Bay Resort.

Arkansas Welcome

We left home might early this morning (about 3:30) so that we'd have a little play time before gathering for dinner at Mockingbird Bay Resort on the banks of Norfork Lake in Arkansas' Ozark Region. I'm happy we left when we did. Nathaniel got to fish a little while on Dry Run Creek and managed to land a beautiful brown trout. A mighty fine lead in for three days of fishing on the lake, which begin tomorrow morning.

I suspect we'll slip back down to try run at least one more time while we're in the area -- maybe Saturday morning. This trip is almost certainly Nathaniel's last chance to fish Dry Run because he turns 16 in a little more than a month.

Tomorrow morning we'll fish for bass with pro angler John Murray. Before the week is over, we may also fish for walleyes, crappie and stripers. I suppose I'd better rest a while. It doesn't really seem like it was even today when we left Clarkesville!