Tell it like it was

Warren Wilkey of Garfield shows the 8½ pound largemouth bass he caught while on a fishing trip with his brother and dad. Wilkey wrote about the outing to win the 2016 Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette fish story contest.
Warren Wilkey of Garfield shows the 8½ pound largemouth bass he caught while on a fishing trip with his brother and dad. Wilkey wrote about the outing to win the 2016 Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette fish story contest.

Editor's note: Warren Wilkey of Garfield is the winner of the 2016 Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette fish story contest. Here is his story, along with some of the other entries from the contest.

Dad's new bass boat

WARREN WILKEY

I don't remember the year, but after a lifetime of john boats and five-horse Johnsons, my dad decided to step up and buy one of the new super bass boats coming on the market. It was a MonArk boat with stick steering and a 50 horsepower Mercury, insane power for those days and a technical marvel complete with a Humminbird flasher-type depth finder.

Dad was anxious to check out his new fishing machine so he, my brother and I took off for Sardis Lake. The MonArk only had two seats, so my brother and I went in my brother's boat and dad went solo.

We were fishing the shallow upper end of Sardis and staying close together. We could see dad running around and his boat sounded a little funny. We caught up with him and asked how the new rig was operating. He said for the first hour everything seemed fine, but since then the MonArk was operating erratically, hard to steer, surging and stopping, generally a major disappointment.

My brother looked over and soon had a solution to the problem. "Dad, I think all of your issues will be solved by bringing in the anchor!"

I only caught one fish that day, an 8 1/2-pound largemouth bass on a Cotton Cordell Crab. It hangs on my wall today as a fond memory of the man who taught me to fish and enjoy the outdoors.

Out on a limb

GLENN KEATON

Siloam Springs

I always loved going fishing with my older brother, even when his young teenage son came along. Randy was a good kid who worked hard and fished that way, too.

Randy thought to catch the big fish ahead of everyone else in the boat, he had to cast to one spot, even if it was some distance away. That was the problem. Most of the time his casts never reached the water. It would land in a tree or on the bank or in someone else's boat.

We were fishing in Pine Creek when there was still a lot of standing timber in Beaver Lake. We were bass fishing. Randy was using a jig and pig. The jig was heavy, and Randy was trying to cast it close to a big cedar tree. Trouble was the tree was 50 feet away and there were stumps and brush in the way. But that didn't bother Randy.

His jig caught a limb 10 feet above the water. My brother said to wait a second and he'd run the boat over to the tree. Randy must have been hard of hearing because he was pulling as hard as he could. This happened a lot, so Randy used heavy line to keep from losing so many lures.

Suddenly the jig came loose just as the back of the boat came in line with Randy's line. Just as suddenly my lucky hat left my head and landed 20 feet in front of the boat. Randy's jig landed in another tree above my hat, so Randy went to pulling some more.

That jig came loose again and my brother hollered when the jig hit him right in the forehead. Fortunately the hook had broken and just the lead head hit him. But before we got back to War Eagle boat dock my brother's eyes had swollen shut.

The next weekend we were fishing again, with Randy right with us. You can't stop a kid from wanting to fish. It's better than anything for keeping a kid out of trouble and close to his dad and family.

Determined angler

BOB BRITZKE

Eureka Springs

I was throwing a Zara Spook into shallow water one morning at Bear Island on Beaver Lake. A small bass hit the lure, but when I tried to set the hook my line busted right at the reel. I waited awhile, and I saw the lure float to the surface with the bass still attached to it.

Determined to get the high-dollar lure back, I ran toward it with the trolling motor but every time I got near, the bass would go down and come up somewhere else, still with the lure.

This happened several times, and I was getting frustrated. Unbeknownst to me, the length of line trailing from the lure had become wrapped around my trolling motor prop, so when I hit the foot switch it neatly reeled in the fish and the lure right to me.

Second chance for bass

ROGER LANGLEY

Springdale

In July 2014 I decided to fish a lake I hadn't fished in more than 10 years since moving to Springdale from Berryville. I left at 5 a.m. for Lake Leatherwood in Eureka Springs.

The day was beautiful and the water crystal clear. About 9 a.m. I was fishing from my bass boat using a plastic worm. The water was about 10 feet deep. I saw a very large bass on the bottom doing what appeared to be a tail walk along the bottom.

As I watched he got closer and closer to shore all the while doing this strange tail walk. Then he got so close he was nearly out of the water. I used my electric motor to move closer and when I got next to him, to my surprise a large snapping turtle had the bass by the tail and was apparently trying to get him on the bank so it could eat him.

I took my boat paddle and tapped the turtle on the shell. He released the bass and it swam away. The bass was so weak he could barely swim. I put him in my livewell and took him to the dock because I knew they had a fish cage by the dock. I asked the lady to keep him and see if he would recover enough to be released. I weighed the bass and it was 7 pounds, 3 ounces.

Next weekend I was on the same bank fishing at night with my son using a plastic worm. I hooked and landed a 9 pounder. I told everyone about catching a 9 pounder on a plastic worm and a 7 pounder on a snapping turtle.

Feathered fish thief

TONI FENTON

Rogers

In the summer of 1987 I planned to visit my mother in Safety Harbor, Fla. Thinking of all the fun we could have fishing, visiting Disney World and beachcombing, I thought it would be a great idea to take my oldest son, Benjamin, who was 4.

We did many things on the trip, but Benjamin's favorite was the fishing trip grandma took us on. We packed the car with sandwiches, lures, buckets, poles and headed for Tampa Bay were she knew some god fishing spots. Benjamin was a good little fisherman. He caught redfish left and right, even a few blue crabs. What a dinner we were going to have!

We left the bucket of fish and walked up and down our fishing spot. After awhile we noticed Benjamin's fish were disappearing. All we could think was they were jumping out. After awhile Benjamin put another fish in the bucket and noticed all that was left was one blue crab and his new fish. What the heck was going on?

All of a sudden our culprit came walking around a big rock. A pelican. Benjamin tried to grab his bucket but the pelican wasn't interested in letting his free lunch go. A tug of war started between the pelican and Benjamin. The bird stuck its face in the bucket and got the last fish. We managed to get the blue crab. We turned and ran with the pelican hopping and flying after us. My mother came around with her fishing pole and blocked the pelican from following us. We finally made it to her cottage with the one blue crab.

Mom threw on a pot of water and before long we were ready to cook the crab. Benjamin was having none of that. He saved it from the pelican. It was his friend and he wasn't going to eat it. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner while the crab walked around the kitchen table.

Big fish, small boat

CHRIS SKROCKI

Fayetteville

The forecast for February 27, 2016 promised spring weather in spite of the calendar. My father Mark and I had just enough spring fever to stop discussing the possibility of fishing and actually get out on the water.

We launched our 17-foot canoe to put some lures in front of some toothy, tasty walleye that were hopefully 18-inches or longer to keep. Walleye should be biting on the White River east of Fayetteville where it flows into Beaver Lake.

The day started off strong. We trolled small crankbaits and landed a 6-pound channel catfish and three white bass in 20 minutes. Two crappie were quick to follow. We knew we were going to be on walleye soon.

We moved a few hundred yards upriver to further explore the channel. Mark was in front trolling a Rapala perch pattern deep runner on 10-pound line.

"Whoa!," he says as his rod bends towards the canoe. Clearly it's a snag, except for the fact that the line starts moving.

He adjusts the drag and for the next 20 minutes attempts to keep a manageable amount of line on his reel while I aim to keep the canoe within reach of the fish and away from tree limbs and other boats.

We have a net, but when Mark wrestles the fish towards the surface we realize we don't have enough net. Neither do the guys on the boat who have come over to watch the Beaver Lake version of the "Old Man and the Sea."

We see the tail and learn two things. First, the fish is snagged. Second, we're more likely join the fish in the river than it is the fish will join us in the canoe, should we make an ill-advised landing attempt.

I back the canoe toward a muddy bank as Mark finishes the fight. Wading into the water reminds me that it is still February. It isn't long before I grab the paddlefish by the tail and get it to shore.

We snap a couple of pictures before releasing her. Didn't catch a walleye that trip, but the paddlefish was easily the largest fish caught from our canoe. And it was a father son experience that won't be forgotten.

Overall a good trip

CONNELL BROWN

Fayetteville

I have fished the clear streams feeding the White and Buffalo rivers for 90 years. I've fished our lakes for crappie and bass. By far the most exciting fish I ever caught was one particular rainbow trout.

We teenage boys loved to go gigging. We would wade the clear streams in our area in search of hog suckers and white suckers. These were fish under 3 pounds that sought shoals and gravel bottoms to lay flat and still. If we could slip up on them we could gig them with a three-pronged gig we carried. We waded streams in a three-piece uniform. It was tennis shoes, no socks, bib overalls and a ball cap.

The uniform contributed to the most exciting fish I ever caught. It wasn't unusual to encounter rainbow trout in the cold spring-fed waters that fed the creeks. We had one cornered under a rock. Now I was bent over trying to catch the trout with my hands, called "noodling." The bib of my overalls was loose and the trout jumped down it and wiggled his way all the way down my left leg trying to escape. I caught him just before he escaped out my left pant leg. He was the most exciting fish I ever caught.

No gift for gator

CHRIS HOFFERBER

Bella Vista

My fish story begins and ends with a great blue heron. I love watching wading birds fish. They are so stealthy and patient.

This fishing event happened at Brazos Bend State Park near Houston, Texas. I was a volunteer there. My favorite time to observe wildlife was early morning before the park visitors came, or in the evening after they'd gone.

It was 6:30 a.m., and foggy. I was walking around one of the park lakes and saw a great blue heron stalking a little bass close to the lake's edge. The heron was so intent on his possible catch he didn't notice me close by, or didn't care.

As the heron slowly put himself between the open water and the fish, an alligator started swimming in very quickly from out in the lake. Alligators are natural wildlife at the park and number more than 300 adults. I had seen this scenario play out many times before.

The heron corrals the fish, the gator comes in, scares the wading bird and ends up with the fish. This time I got a shock. As the gator swam close the heron turned and opened up its huge beak widely and hissed very loud. The gator stopped dead in the water, no doubt extremely surprised. The heron grabbed the fish and flew away.

Next time you see wading birds fishing, give them some space. It's rough fishing for them sometimes, too.

Sports on 06/21/2016

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