His Place Newsletter - March / April, 2003

Hello! 

Spring is finally coming to the White River.  We've got flowers blooming, lots of spring birds and wildlife coming back into the area, and yes - the fishing's great too!  Pictured below are some of the flowers around the resort.  I'm still trying to identify them all, but the 4th picture is Dutchman's Breeches, and the sixth one is a Yellow Dog Tooth Violet...

If you've never had the opportunity, walk the Nature trail that starts at the end of the resort.  It used to be an old railroad they used to haul material up to Bull Shoals Dam when it was under construction in the 1940's.  The tracks themselves have long since been removed, but it is a nice walk, and has all different kinds of wildflowers. 

The trail goes all the way (almost 3 miles one way) to Cotter's Big Spring Park, where the Ruthven Rainbow Arch Bridge is currently getting a facelift.  The bridge will be re-dedicated in early 2004, I'm told.  There is a natural spring creek in the park that's been used by the locals for untold years as a swimming hole, complete with rope swing.  If you like, you can rent a mountain bike from us and make the 3 miles to the park in no time!

Well, it doesn't look like our resident eagles, Isaac & Rebekah, are going to lay any eggs in the eagle nest (across from the Wildlife Observation Deck) this year...  For a while there, we were really hopeful.  They were spending a lot of time in the nest together, and defending the it from "passers-by", and then - they just kind of stopped.  This last week, they've been hunting down around the bend by Miller Hole. 

The good news however, is that another pair a little further down by Rough Hole ARE sitting on eggs, and there should be chicks soon!  

We'll definitely try to get some pictures of them to show you.

The other night, you would have sworn that we had monkeys in the trees all night...  This, thanks to my husband, Steve and his wonderful new toy - The electronic animal caller...

No, it wasn't enough for Steve to go to Wal Mart and purchase a couple of duck calls, a turkey call and come home to practice like most men.  (Although he did that, too - usually while I'm talking on the phone to customers, answering emails, or trying to update the newsletter.)  

He had to get the entire electronic animal call system.  12" waterproof speaker with optional mounting bracket, connected to the "Black Box" with all the electronics, and the walkie talkie type remote control system, requiring 3 separate battery packs to run the thing.  

It has 160 pre-programmed animal calls.  Some of the calls on this system are not even animals in the northern hemisphere, I don't think...  But, I will give him this - the system IS effective. 

One morning, he called in some Canadian Geese.  Eight of them were so convinced that their brethren were here, that they swam up by the launch ramp and into the spring creek.  They then hung around for awhile before departing.

Then, there are the turkeys.  Steve called several hens down from the side of the bluff behind the resort, and they all came over towards the office.  However, a neighbor's dog decided it would be fun to chase them, and they all flew across the river.  He's called them from the boat as well.

And what about the "monkeys in the trees at night"?  That would be the Barred Owls.  We heard an owl upstream a ways one night, and thought it would be cool to try to call one in.  It took about 15 minutes, but we got more than one - 5 or 6, possibly more.  

They were flying back and forth around our heads, in the trees right by us, and were making the most unbelievable racket - it went on all night!  It's breeding season for them, and they were going crazy - it literally sounded like a bunch of monkeys in the jungle!  We called them in at about 8:30 PM, and at 6:00 AM the next morning - the owls were still at it.  

The next night, we had about 8 kids and some of their parents on the Wildlife Observation Deck, and we called them in again.  This time, we only got about 2 or 3, but the kids got to see them.  You can hit them with a spotlight for a few seconds, and they don't fly away.  They're pretty good sized owls, and were still VERY talkative! :-)

One little boy - his name was Andy - was trying to "talk" to an owl in the tree right above our heads, and that owl actually answered him back.  The little boy said, "I like THAT owl!"  It was really cute.  

Then, the rest of the kids had Steve do a bunch of the other sounds.  We have to be careful, though.  For example, we never do the eagle call.  They say that eagles are very spooky about hearing sounds of other eagles that they cannot see.  Coyotes are apparently the same way.  You can spook them off and they won't come back.

We use this system for the Nature & Wildlife Observation Float trips we've been doing lately, and it does bring the wildlife in that much closer.  It's really a lot of fun!

There are other fun things we've discovered you can do with a system such as this...  For example - we've got a little surprise in store for some friends of ours from Mississippi. (hope they don't see the newsletter before they come back.)  They like to come here and camp...  and I intend to enlist their help in evaluating the "Realism" of Steve's new toy. 

After all, Realism is probably the most important criteria for evaluating an electronic animal caller, don't you think?  And, as far as this girl is concerned, the "Two Big Bears Tearing Each Other to Shreds" soundtrack is pretty realistic, especially at the louder volumes.  But, as I always say, "It doesn't matter what I think, it matters what the GUESTS think".

Therefore - What better way to test the Realism of this soundtrack than to wait until our friends are asleep, and then... well, we'll see if they think it sounds as realistic as we do... :-)

Those finicky fish...  Always changing what it is they want to eat!  Well, springtime is River Minnow time for those Browns.  Why Spring?  I don't know, and the fish aren't telling either!  (You'll see a couple of fine examples what these little guys can do later in the newsletter!)    

There's also about as many ways to rig them up as there are guides on the river, but in general - use a standard river rig setup with a little heavier weight to get them down, and you'll be off to a good start.  

We can't sell them to you, (not legal for us to do so) but you can catch them yourselves. There are rules for catching baitfish, so for your reference - here's what the 2003 rule book says on the subject:

Using Live Bait - Baitfish include bluntnose minnows, bullhead minnows, chubs, crayfish, dace, fatheads, common carp under six inches, small goldfish, shiners, stonerollers, logperch (also called sand pike or zebra minnows), shad, gar (other than alligator gar), drum, bowfin under six inches, skipjack herring, silversides (brook and inland), buffalo (bigmouth, smallmouth, and black), river carpsucker, sculpin (banded and Ozark) and bream under four inches long.  Bream longer than four inches may be used as bait only if first taken by hook and line and are subject to daily limit restrictions.  With the exception of shad, baitfish may not be taken in the area within 100 yard below a dam.

During daylight hours, baitfish may be taken using:

• seines no larger than 50 feet long and four feet wide with 1/4 inch mesh;

• traps or lifts no larger than six feet by six feet by three feet with 1/2 inch mesh with a throat size of two inches or smaller;

• cast nets with a one inch ( or smaller) mesh;

• shad trawl nets with one inch (or smaller mesh;

• glass, plastic or wire mesh minnow traps no larger than one gallon with a 1-1/2 inch (or smaller) throat;

• hand operated dip nets or lifts with one inch (or smaller) square bar mesh for use while sportfishing.  This method may be used day or night.  All other species of fish should be immediately released.

This work is funded through the $3 increase in non-resident trout stamps, which will partially fund this 5.5 year program to the estimated tune of $250,000 for the first fiscal year, and a total of $1,420,000 for the duration of the project.  AGFC hopes to expand the project scope to $5,760,000 with additional future funding from the Corps of Engineers, as they are sharing cost with a 75 / 25 split with AGFC.

The next 9 areas awaiting restoration, spanning a distance of 20.7 miles, are as follows:  

(* indicates a priority area)

1.  *Bull Shoals Dam to 100 yards above Bull Shoals State Park Trout Dock – distance 1.1 miles

2. Dew Springs to Stetson’s – distance 3.4 miles

3. Tucker Shoals to Wildcat Shoals - distance 1.0 miles

4. Hightower Creek to 62B Bridge in Cotter - distance 3.5 miles (2 sections)

   a. Highway 62 bridge to Highway 62B Bridge - distance 1.4 miles

   b. *Hightower Creek to Highway 62 Bridge - distance 2.1 miles

5. *Armstrong Hole to Jenkins Creek - distance 1.8 miles

6. Shipps Ferry to Big Creek - distance 1.1 miles

7. 0.5 miles downstream of Goose Creek to Snead's Creek - distance 5.6 miles

8. 0.25 miles downstream of Hwy 5 Bridge, Calico Rock, to the upper end of Creswell Island - distance 1.0 miles

9. *0.3 miles downstream of Lander's Island to Jack's Resort - distance 2.2 miles.

a.   (I can email you a spreadsheet for the project cost estimates for the duration of the project if you're interested.  It was a little too long to include in the newsletter.)

Below is a chart showing the approximate funds distributions for the $5.75M project:

The AGFC is seeking public comment on their habitat restoration work through April 16th.  (I'm going to try to get a copy of their draft posted on the web.)  

If you happen to be in town, copies of the reports will be available for review between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Mountain Home Project Office at 324 West 7^th Street, Mountain Home, Ark. 72654 or at the Little Rock District Office in Room 7403 of the Federal Building at 700 W. Capitol Ave. in Little Rock. 

Written comments should be mailed to the Planning, Environmental, and Regulatory Division, Little Rock Engineer District, P.O. Box 867, Little Rock, Ark. 72203-0867.  Comments must be postmarked by April 16 to become part of the official record.  For more information, call William Penn of the Little Rock District at (501) 324-5836.

Our take on the whole deal?  They're doing a GREAT job with this project so far, and we're sure that this great work will continue.  Although, I do wish they could re-locate one particularly LARGE boulder in the channel above the railroad bridge! :-)

Fish Story of the Month! 

Well, where do I begin?  

Have you ever met people who almost seem to "walk on water"? 

:-) 

Well, personally, I haven't, BUT - Walt Hipsher and Judd Shaw seem to come pretty close!  

Walt is a nuclear physicist, and Judd is a preacher - and together...  Watch out!  They are one impressive fishing combination!

Walt and Judd came to visit us again last week.  They had a great time fishing last year, too - but really out-did themselves this visit!  

There were 8 Catch & Release Certificates between them in two days of fishing.  

These guys "just can't miss"... :-)  Let me give you some examples...

• The forecast had rain in it for the days they were supposed to fish.  What was the weather like while they were here?  It was perfect, of course - The rain waited until they left...

• Pictured above are two fish Walt got into, one each day out.  I named them Bonnie & Clyde.  Bonnie weighed in at 28", 8# 8 oz., and Clyde was 32", 12#, 0 oz.  So far, Walt is in the lead for Big Fish Released Unharmed at the resort this year.

• Walt also had Catch & Release Certificates for a 20" Brown, a 21" Brown, and a 17-1/2" Brown, in addition to the Catch & Release Certificates for Bonnie & Clyde.

• Judd did well, too!  He had Catch and Release Certificates for a 17-1/2" Brown, and 18" Brown, and a 18-1/2" Brown

• Here one for ya - If it wasn't for the fact that Judd is a preacher, I would never believe this story!  So, here they are, out on the river fishing...  Walt gets a fish on, and he can tell it's a good one.  As he's fighting it, the fish swims under the boat, and Walt is leaning over trying to play it and not lose it.  He even thinks he's lost it for a minute.  But no...  The next thing you know, Walt's leaning over one side of the boat looking for this fish, and guess what happens?  The fish jumped in the other side of the boat!!! It was the 21 inch brown - hook still in it's mouth...

• And a side note...  Last time they were here, I was trying to kill this one particular snake that lived in the spring creek.  Steve and I had been after it for several weeks, but as soon as we got anywhere near it - the snake would slither off.  We just couldn't get to it.  Walt & Judd came back from dinner and ran over it with their car...  :-)

In Closing...

Thanks again to all of you who visit us, and we hope you can come out and enjoy Spring in the Ozarks!  This is be beginning of our second year, and it looks like it's going to be a great one.  We're still learning so much every day, and we appreciate your input and continued support.

We want this to be a place where you can come to have a great time, relax, and get away from it all for a while - so let us know what YOU want us to do to help make your stay even better.

Remember to pray for our soldiers, and our president, as we walk through these times.

May God Bless and keep you and yours...

Until next month - Good Fishing!

Julie