We found ourselves making a quick phone call to catch the last Dorena-Hickman ferry from Missouri to Kentucky. How did we get ourselves into this. We were just going to Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee!
Well, I can tell you how we did it. We did not turn on the “Avoid Ferries” option in our Garmin GPS Navigation Unit. You know, you’d kinda think that would be the default, but no, it’s not. If you get anything out of this story it should be this, check your Navigation Unit’s Route Preferences Settings.
So Wifey and I had ourselves a little adventure. We followed the GPS and the road ended right at the Mississippi River. The little lady inside the GPS told us to “Board Ferry”. Well, there was no Ferry, there was nothing, not even a parking lot. There was just a road that ended at the Mississippi river, with only a small turn around. But there was a wood pole with a button and small sign on it. We called the phone number and someone answered and said they would be right there.
Very nice use of duct tape don't you think. Funny thing is, the next morning I used some myself to close up an intake leak on the car!
Really! The Ferry would be right there! From the end of the road (essentially what looked like a boat ramp) you could see no signs of civilization anywhere. The other shoreline was just trees and more trees. hmm
Eventually we saw something creeping around those trees on the other side of the river. Life was now good. Lets just hope it’ll float a car cause from where we were looking, out across the great Mississippi River, it looked tiny! But it actually was pretty big. Even had a Coke Machine on it.
We arrived at Blue Bank Resort, checked in and had dinner. Wow, what a dinner. Owner Mike Hayes suggested Bang Bang Shrimp for an appetizer. They were huge, the size of a small fist. And they tasted great as well.
But even before the appetizers we had warm rolls with Strawberry Butter. Yeah I said that right, Strawberry Butter with real chunks of strawberries in it. mmm good. Wifey figured she could relax now after the ferry ride and ordered a Margarita.
I ordered Cajun Catfish (no crappie on the menu, dang). The catfish was nice and spicy just like I like it. And yeah, I ordered fries and shrooms, who does that! But it was all good.
Blue Bank Resort has a really nice setup. And good food too. if you get the opportunity definitely give'em a try.
And Reelfoot Lake, what a super place. The "Earthquake Lake" as they call it, provides gorgeous views. Reelfoot Lake was formed as a result of earthquakes back in 1811 and 1812. It's loaded with Cypress Trees, and has miles of Bayou like ditches that run through the Cypress Trees. Some say the Mississippi river flowed backwards for days to fill the lake up after the earthquakes.
This is one of the man made ditches that runs through the trees.
You see duck blinds everywhere. Supposed to be a great duck hunting lake as well.
OK, on to fishing. We started off Spider Rigging live minnows. It was windy so we used a wind sock. We used twelve rods, two hooks per rod. 24 minners out there fishing for us. Reelfoot Lake is wild, stumps everywhere in the water. You really have to know where the stump fields are and where they are not. They get real thick in places and you're guaranteed to hit them. I'm serious, it's guaranteed. Even when you're not directly in a stump field, there are still stumps around. Just look at your graph, they are everywhere. But that's also where the fish are. So essentially, you find an area where there are fewer stumps, and also where all the other boats are, and you'll get into fish! You're likely to get as many or more hang ups on those stumps as you'll get fish, so you really have to use thin wire hooks. You get a snag, pull it off the stump, and re-minnow it. Then eventually you'll get a fish, and you'll do the same thing. Pull in the fish, and re-minnow it. With 12 poles and 24 hooks it's always exciting. We had a great time fishing with Red.
Here's Red, of Big Red's Crappie Fishing Adventures. aka Quint Dupoyster. He was our guide. Great guy, really knows his stuff.
This is Red's neighbor showing us the set up. Drift socks off the back, and a bunch of rods off the front, just like we were fishing. Doing this alone has to be crazy, especially with all those poles and all those stumps, but these guys do it, and they are quite successful at it.
Hey, I caught one. The fishing was tough but we were able to get into some good ones.
We also fished the pads. We had to check out the pads just to see if they were in there yet. They had been there the week before but it seems that the recent cold weather pushed them back out.
Red catches a nice one pretty much in the same spot I caught nothing! doh
Guess I was not holding it right! This was the only one we caught in the pads, but we were running out of time and only were there for a half hour at the most.
And when we got back, Mike had us some great stuff waiting for us for lunch. Shrimp Etouffe, more Bang Bang Shrimp, Catfish Pieces. All great, and filled us up good.
This is our host Mike Hayes, and local guide Billy Blakely. We all hung out together for lunch. What a great bunch. If you get a chance to meet them tell them I said hi. And don't forget to ask Mike for some Bang Bang Shrimp.
After the days fishing adventure on Reelfoot we went to Discovery Park Of America (it's real close by). This is a kinda hard place to describe. It's not a museum, and it's not like Disneyland. It's got things like an Earthquake Simulator, and an aquarium. There's a massive main multi-story building with a tower this picture was taken from. We had dinner in the tower. In the picture is "The Settlement" with David Crockett's Cabin, a Mill, Farmhouse, Feed-store, School House and lots more. It's all really neat with inside parts and outside parts.
Inside they had this skeleton of a fish caught in Reelfoot! I think I'm gonna need a bigger net! Just kidding.
Albino kitties in the 20,000 gallon Aquarium.
We had dinner with Robert and Jenny Kirkland. The way I understand it, they donated 100 million dollars to build Discovery Park of America. We had an opportunity to chat with them. And one of the big take aways I got from the conversation was this interesting quote from Robert concerning his successes in life. He said "do not be afraid to be a misfit". And another was "everything he tried failed, at first". Something to think about. They were both very personable and very interesting people. It was kinda a funny moment when someone handed Robert something on the rocks, and then he said, OK, now I can relax! Really a down to earth fellow. Robert's a tall guy, reminded me a lot of John Wayne. One of my childhood idols.
After dinner came the Discovery Park's first live concert. Phillip Coleman & Friends played. They each played and sang solo, one after the other. Very entertaining, and very funny. I especially liked Wynn Varble's jokes.
If you ever get the chance take the time to visit www.BlueBankResort.com and also www.DiscoveryParkofAmerica.com in beautiful West Tennessee.
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