Saturday April 14th, 2012

HOLY CRAP!!!! Bass boats screaming by at 50 freaking miles per hour at 6AM!!!  These guys in the Bass Boats were wearing helmets for crying out loud!  HELMETS!  Ya gotta be freaking kidding me!  It was not scary but it was bizarre!  

Okay, we were warned by the Marine Police.  It was apparent the bass fishermen were aware that we were going to be there. 

 But it was so surreal to have soooooooooooo many boats screaming by before daylight it was unreal.

 I had no idea that bass fishing tournaments involved top speed across the water to get to your favorite fishing spot before the other competitor does.  It was NUTS!

Trick and I hauled anchor and got the bleep out of there.  Once we were in the main channel all was back to normal.  Motored along and had breakfast.  We came across a few barges, a few power plants, and 50 or 60 of those Bass Boats. 

Passed a cruiser at around 2 in the afternoon.  This is the first cruiser we have seen on the river.  “Trust Me” from OK.  Just after we passed the cruiser we passed a barge, “Jackson III”.  We caught him in some pretty tight turns so with the barge Captain’s permission I hauled butt and ran full throttle past him just before the next tight bend in the river.

A few minutes later I heard “Trust Me” on the radio asking for permission to pass the barge.  The barge Captain radioed back saying his was run aground and the cruiser would have to wait.  Never did hear any further radio transmissions from them.

The lock at Coffeeville was a breeze.  Easy in. Easy out.

 Fenders and lines worked as planned. 

Got to Bobby’s Fish Camp around 6:45 – right on time.  Bobby’s is a real hoot!  Real “Country”.

I had to explain what AYE is and how it is pronounced to the lady that owns the place.  The restroom is a glorified outhouse with plastic walls and indoor plumbing.

There was a young lady that met us at the dock when we got in.  She was doing some sort of school project and wanted to take our picture.  I got a pic of her on the helm as she was posing for a picture her mom took of her.  People are so friendly every where we go.

They have a restaurant that is only open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday so we lucked out.  There was a group of six couples there that looked like they were going out to Easter Sunday dinner.  Very cute.  I had Catfish.  Pretty good!

Three large barges when by about 1AM and rocked us pretty good with their wake as we are side tied to a dock right on the river bank.