Cutshad
01-20-2006, 12:36 PM
I have got to tell the story of my fishing adventure to the Mississippi River. You guys know I have been gathering a bunch of information about fishing the rivers around Oklahoma. Mainly the Arkansas Nav. system and some of the larger ones in Oklahoma. Well, I was worried about getting on a river with my boat. Not anymore!
On January 13, 2006, I started to Tunica, Mississippi, with an invitation to fish with Coach, Tin and Mac. I left around 0730 and headed east. Made it to the Navigation Channel and looked out across its great expanse and I got butterflies! I was thinking to myself I would be fishing a big river like that. So, I continued east into the great state of Arkansas. I was cruising along at 78 miles per hour and started going down a hill. There he was! Arkansas State Police sitting in the median. I thought about slowing down, but it was too late, so I continued on. He came out onto the highway and I pulled over. Got me a fine ticket. Not for speeding, but a seatbelt violation! I deserved it. Besides, this was a big trip and a little ol'ticket wasn't going to dampen my thoughts. Trooper was nice about it too, smiled and thanked me for visiting Arkansas! I kinda chuckled when we parted, because I have done the same thing in Oklahoma!
Anyway, I continued east, looking forward to the Mississippi River. A few hours later, I was there! We don't have rivers in Oklahoma ! We have drainage canals! I almost fell over when I saw that river. I've seen it before but I never looked at it. It's huge! Well them butterflies in my stomach were about the size of ostriches now. I continued on to Mhoon Landing.
I drove straight to Mhoon Landing park. Coach and Tin gave great directions. When I arrived, Tin was the only one there. He was sitting in his truck and looking at me with great suspiscion. I introduced myself and we hit it off. The wind was blowing at 800 miles per hour out of the west. I started putting up my tent and Tin held a side for me. The fiberglass poles had a load on them and sure enough, one snapped. I think Tin did it on purpose just to see how I would react. He was chucklin and lookin around like "what was that". I got it up finally and Coach and Mac arrived. What a crew! We started talking about the river and how deep it was and the current and how many fish they catch and how big they are and all kinds of stuff. We had a camp fire and things were going good when Charles arrived. He is one big dude! He walked around and checked me out from the shadows then sat down around the fire. I could tell he was checkin me out to see how I would react. Everything went good. Then it was time for bed. I did not sleep a wink. Partly because I was excited about the fishing trip in the morning and partly because it was 40 degrees below zero after Coach told me it would be in the fifties!
Well I got through the night and woke up first. Started poking around and got a little fire going to warm up with. The rest of them got up a few hours later, old hat to them you know. The first thing everybody had to make fun of my fishing pole. I brought a 12 foot casting rod I use behind dams. All the other guys showed up and had to comment about the Okie rod. It was funny. How was I suppose to know? Somebody (Coach) told me to bring it! Well we went to the boat ramp and got ready to launch. Tin scared me to death with a little incident, he can tell you more about that. Needless to say, I was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rockin chairs when I got into the boat. That river looks like it just slowly moves along....WRONG! That puppy is movin! Swirlin, gurglin, foamin, and pushing trees down the river 100 foot long. Coach pulled up to some rock pile and we started fishing. I even baited my 12 footer and put it out. Wasn't long and the 12 footer was bouncin. There I was, my first Mississippi Blue cat! After a short tussle, It came up, it was huge and long. My first fish was a ........SPOONBILL! Coach laughed, said to get that discusting thing out of his boat and accused me of bringing a snagging rod to Mississippi! He had to call Tin and Mac and tell them about the spoonbill. He even called Matt. I guess he got a good chuckle. I asked him to take a picture for me and he did it with a disgusted look on his face. We caught a couple small bluecats and put them on a stringer. This caused Coach another chuckle. I learned anything under 30 or 40 punds is referred to as a "Turd Hustler". Hell, I was proud of our catch. Then, I put the stringer in the water and it slid into the river. Coach tried to tell me the stringer knot was slipping, but he didn't react too fast. I think he wanted the turd hustlers out of his boat also!
We went in and checked on Tin and Mac after their mishap. Scarry. Read about it under the Mississippi threads. I'm gonna make a break here, and finish up later.
On January 13, 2006, I started to Tunica, Mississippi, with an invitation to fish with Coach, Tin and Mac. I left around 0730 and headed east. Made it to the Navigation Channel and looked out across its great expanse and I got butterflies! I was thinking to myself I would be fishing a big river like that. So, I continued east into the great state of Arkansas. I was cruising along at 78 miles per hour and started going down a hill. There he was! Arkansas State Police sitting in the median. I thought about slowing down, but it was too late, so I continued on. He came out onto the highway and I pulled over. Got me a fine ticket. Not for speeding, but a seatbelt violation! I deserved it. Besides, this was a big trip and a little ol'ticket wasn't going to dampen my thoughts. Trooper was nice about it too, smiled and thanked me for visiting Arkansas! I kinda chuckled when we parted, because I have done the same thing in Oklahoma!
Anyway, I continued east, looking forward to the Mississippi River. A few hours later, I was there! We don't have rivers in Oklahoma ! We have drainage canals! I almost fell over when I saw that river. I've seen it before but I never looked at it. It's huge! Well them butterflies in my stomach were about the size of ostriches now. I continued on to Mhoon Landing.
I drove straight to Mhoon Landing park. Coach and Tin gave great directions. When I arrived, Tin was the only one there. He was sitting in his truck and looking at me with great suspiscion. I introduced myself and we hit it off. The wind was blowing at 800 miles per hour out of the west. I started putting up my tent and Tin held a side for me. The fiberglass poles had a load on them and sure enough, one snapped. I think Tin did it on purpose just to see how I would react. He was chucklin and lookin around like "what was that". I got it up finally and Coach and Mac arrived. What a crew! We started talking about the river and how deep it was and the current and how many fish they catch and how big they are and all kinds of stuff. We had a camp fire and things were going good when Charles arrived. He is one big dude! He walked around and checked me out from the shadows then sat down around the fire. I could tell he was checkin me out to see how I would react. Everything went good. Then it was time for bed. I did not sleep a wink. Partly because I was excited about the fishing trip in the morning and partly because it was 40 degrees below zero after Coach told me it would be in the fifties!
Well I got through the night and woke up first. Started poking around and got a little fire going to warm up with. The rest of them got up a few hours later, old hat to them you know. The first thing everybody had to make fun of my fishing pole. I brought a 12 foot casting rod I use behind dams. All the other guys showed up and had to comment about the Okie rod. It was funny. How was I suppose to know? Somebody (Coach) told me to bring it! Well we went to the boat ramp and got ready to launch. Tin scared me to death with a little incident, he can tell you more about that. Needless to say, I was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rockin chairs when I got into the boat. That river looks like it just slowly moves along....WRONG! That puppy is movin! Swirlin, gurglin, foamin, and pushing trees down the river 100 foot long. Coach pulled up to some rock pile and we started fishing. I even baited my 12 footer and put it out. Wasn't long and the 12 footer was bouncin. There I was, my first Mississippi Blue cat! After a short tussle, It came up, it was huge and long. My first fish was a ........SPOONBILL! Coach laughed, said to get that discusting thing out of his boat and accused me of bringing a snagging rod to Mississippi! He had to call Tin and Mac and tell them about the spoonbill. He even called Matt. I guess he got a good chuckle. I asked him to take a picture for me and he did it with a disgusted look on his face. We caught a couple small bluecats and put them on a stringer. This caused Coach another chuckle. I learned anything under 30 or 40 punds is referred to as a "Turd Hustler". Hell, I was proud of our catch. Then, I put the stringer in the water and it slid into the river. Coach tried to tell me the stringer knot was slipping, but he didn't react too fast. I think he wanted the turd hustlers out of his boat also!
We went in and checked on Tin and Mac after their mishap. Scarry. Read about it under the Mississippi threads. I'm gonna make a break here, and finish up later.