Since 2009, a group of guys from Louisiana has been traveling annually to the White River below Bull Shoals Dam in northcentral Arkansas. They have turned the weeklong trip into more than a leisure vacation, giving the event a name, logo and website -- Arkansas Adventure.
The group consists of Jeff "Mr. Ed" Horchoff, Mike "Mikie" D'Amico, Robert "Max" Breaux, Randy "Chef Randy" Smith, Irwin "Maranski" Marant, and Owen "Cuz" Short. All of them except for Breaux's cousin, Short, worked together for about 25 years at the Mandeville, La., post office and are retired in southeastern Louisiana. Short lives in Holiday Island.
While it's primarily a trout fishing trip, they add on plenty of other excursions, and good-natured fun.
They've put their logo on shirts, hats, wood plaques, lures, mouse pads and fishing trophies. Door magnets cling to their van. A banner is tied to the deck of their cabin.
"Most of our time is spent on this stretch of the White River" below Bull Shoals Dam, Horchoff said. "Browns and rainbows fishing is the main thing."
D'Amico caught a brown this year on a Rapala lure stamped with their Arkansas Adventure logo.
They update a leaderboard daily and have trophies made for the biggest fish -- brown trout, rainbow trout, largemouth bass and bluegill. This year for their "awards banquet" they asked the resort owner to be master of ceremonies.
Fishing is the common denominator among the group of six, yet the adventure is in the other activities they do on the drive and while there.
Other destinations they have visited include: the Kings River, the Fred Berry Conservation Education Center on Crooked Creek, Norfork National Fish Hatchery, Walmart Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Forrest Wood Gallery, Peel Ferry and Bull Shoals-White River State Park visitor center
They toured Ranger Boats one year, and Legend Boats and BassCat Boats this year. They called up Cavender's Greek Seasoning in Harrison a few years ago and asked for a tour, even though the company didn't offer public tours. The company said yes. They happened through Harrison a couple of years ago and caught the annual Crawdad Days Festival.
Additionally they have canoed the middle and lower Buffalo National River. They also spent time catching striped bass and black bass on Beaver Lake. D'Amico has a 15-lb. striper mounted and hanging on a wall in his house from that trip. They always make a visit to Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock to feed the carp hanging out at the marina.
There are three bee keepers among them, so they are interested in stopping to see Fischer's Honey in North Little Rock, another Arkansas company. They also want to check out Byrd's Adventure Center on the Mulberry River.
They love the White River. D'Amico described Louisiana rivers as mucky, marshy and slushy. So, while they are all avid saltwater fishermen, they put that aside to chase the fish in the clean rivers and lakes of Arkansas.
"We caught so many fish here the first couple years we came," D'Amico said. "Two hundred a day sometimes."
"But we never keep any," Horchoff added. While they have never eaten any of the trout they catch, there's no doubt they eat well. Smith is the chef. "Because they don't know where the kitchen is," he joked.
They usually make their annual pilgrimage to the White River in May, before all the students get out of school. It starts with renting a 15-passenger van so they can all ride together from Louisiana. "The laughing starts when we leave the driveway," D'Amico said. "That's at 5 a.m.," Horchoff added.
Sports on 09/22/2015