BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE - THE ARKANSAS CHAT ROOM

We are having a great time here at the Outlet Side of the campgrounds. We've met a lot of wonderful people. Arkansas is know as the Natural State and I have came to the conclusion that this campgrounds is a outdoors meeting place for everyone. There is a special meeting place up by the spillway where the men put a line in the water and the women gather together and chat...

There is some serious fishing done by the men and they have an interesting way of catching the catfish. They use a large rod and reel with a good size treble hook. They cast the line out and reel it back in with jerks. They are trying to hook onto catfish with the treble rather then waiting for the fish to bite on bait. It is called snagging. The water is very swift and there are logs and rocks on the bottom. But the area is packed with catfish. I know because Phil and I sat out on the bank and watch them going up to the spillway. So that is why I know the men are not telling fish tales.

Yesterday, we watched the excitement of one man hooking onto a whopper. He caught it up near the mouth of the spillway and lost it when it went under a big log in the middle. He and others tried everyway they could think of to move it. But that catfish didn't move. Thumping the line didn't work because the line was tight against the log and the catfish never felt the thump. I've been told that there are monsters size cats in the lake. I think that was one of them.

 

A couple of days ago one of the guys (I think he is Bobby Chambers) was playing around and rigged up a monster snag pole using a monster size treble. He didn't snag with it because that hook cost $25.00 and he would lose it for sure on a log. Still, it was funny.

Phil tied his hand at snagging today but that didn't work out that good. He caught a log and broke his pole. He is back to the trotline that he put out near our campsite.

This is the lake side of the spillway. The rails behind Phil is the intake system that rushes the water out on the side where the men are fishing. There is a parking area next to the rails that is under water from the flooding. Phil is actually looking to find crayfish for bait. But the only thing he found was this poor little duck.

 

From the dam we drove over to the Waveland Campgrounds. Boy, did they name that place right. It is like a peninsula with a campground in the middle of it. One of the roads in the lower section is flooded. Here is a photo that I took of the park signs at a parking area there...

Coming back for that area I found a wild Cherokee Rose bush.

Phil ended up going to the bluehole on Big Shoal Creek and catching small fish  to put on his trotline.

I helped him catch fish for awhile then I went for a walk down the creek. Here is another bluehole that was a bit farther down. It is just as beautiful but not as big an area...

 From there we drove on down to Spring Lake as it was the shortest route back to camp. This is the lake photo...

 I love the old brick dam and walkway. Phil stopped so I could get a photo of it from this side. Wish the tree wasn't there so that you could see more of the lake. But you have a good view of the dam and walkway here.

 This is the back side of the dam with it's spillway.

I am going to call it a night. It is 2:am and I am tired. The Internet Service has been very bad and I've been trying to get a blog up for three days. So when I saw that it was a possibility for getting it done I jumped on it. I have no idea when I will post another blog because of the internet service. So if it takes a few days please bare with me as I try. I have not had phone service since we left the panhandle of Texas.

 

But that is life so I just Keep On Dancing.... but right now I'm headed to bed... God Bless and Keep On Dancing..... Nite, Nite...