Hats off today to the fine sixth-grade writers at Lingle Middle School in Rogers who took the outdoors writer class during the annual Lingle outdoors school at Lake Atalanta on April 30-May 1. I'm honored to teach the class each year. Here are a few of their stories.
Camping at the lake
NIAH FOSSE
Lingle Middle School
One weekend, my dad and I planned a camping trip. Not any ordinary trip, but a camping trip on an island.
We got all our camping stuff ready, tent, food, tools etc. Then we had my sisters stay home with my mom. After school on Friday we headed to the lake.
We took our kayaks off the car and paddled over to the island. We set up our tent and started fishing. We caught nothing.
Later on we started a fire. We cooked hot dogs and beans and cooked s'mores for dessert. We let the fire burn down then went to sleep in our sleeping bags in the tent.
The next morning we fished again. In a few casts I had one! It was a largemouth bass. I felt very proud. My dad also caught a bass. We felt very good after that. That was one of the best experiences I've had at the lake.
Don't rock the boat
FRANKIE HOTTO
Lingle Middle School
If you have ever heard the expression, "the early bird catches the fish," you are wrong.
Pa woke me up at 4:30 to go fishing with a guide. I sure did feel professional that day.
We got on the boat and my dad started to sway it back and forth. All of a sudden we sped to the guide's special spot.
It had been 15 minutes and we still hadn't caught anything. I believe the fish were still sleeping. We didn't catch anything but I squeezed in a great nap.
Hunt for morels
RACHEL ZEY
Lingle Middle School
Morels are a type of mushroom that grows in moist and partly sunny areas. You can eat morels and they tend to taste very good.
My family looks for them in the spring. We tend to find them around the time daffodils start to bloom. The bigger ones are found about the time the trees are out.
If you fry them in butter with cornbread on them they taste really good, but you must soak them in salt water two hours before hand.
Creekside camp
SAVANNAH DUNCAN
Lingle Middle School
I love to camp! My favorite camping was on July 3, 2013. It was a day before the Fourth of July.
I was with my family. My uncle has a creek going through his field. We put up our tents then went swimming in the creek. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs. When it got dark we set off fireworks and visited with family.
The next day we went to the lake and went swimming, tubing, fishing and ate dinner again. I go camping a lot, but that trip was very special to me because I was with my family for two days visiting and having fun.
Fish or no fish
ALLISON OLIVER
Lingle Middle School
At Beaver Lake we were fishing with my friend's family on their boat. It was dead silent until we started to fish.
We didn't catch anything until we went to Coose Hollow. I felt something tug on my line and it was really hard to pull up. Then I got it out and was so excited. It was a stick.
Sports on 05/07/2015