Dawn patrol for catfish on Bob Kidd Lake
PRAIRIE GROVE — Chris Gueydan and crew start fishing at sunset, but never feel a tug on their lines until sunrise.
That’s the way it is at Bob Kidd Lake when Gueydan, his son, Daniel, and their young neighbor Camden Gage, 11, run jug lines for catfish at the 200-acre lake. It’s an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission lake situated 2 miles west of Prairie Grove.
At sunset, the three are on the water floating a dozen or more baited jug lines at different areas of the lake. By dark they’re back home, maybe dreaming of the big channel catfish they hope to catch at first light.
Misty fog made an early June dawn even more beautiful when the trio set out to retrieve the night’s catch. Chris Gueydan idled slowly across the water in his aluminum boat. A small
outboard engine chugged quietly and pushed the boat along.
Daniel and Camden paddled in kayaks beside Gueydan gliding over the calm, mirror-smooth lake. Half-gallon milk jugs appeared through the thick, cool mist. A jug near Daniel bobbed and weaved as he paddled closer. The young fishermen grabbed the neck of the jug and hoisted a hefty channel catfish aboard that thrashed about in his boat.
“That’s a good one,” hollered Gueydan, who idled slowly toward his son to retrieve the catfish.
Eleven-year-old Camden had no trouble hoisting big catfish into his kayak. The youngster giggled each time a feisty channel cat‘ showered him in spray.
While the trio ran their lines, Labrador retriever Benelli dog-paddled near the action the whole time. A smaller pooch, Little Man, stood on the bow of Daniel’s kayak.
An hour later, another fine mess of channel catfish was in the bag before Gueydan headed to his job as a chaplain at the Veterans Hospital in Fayetteville. He’s also a brigade chaplain in the Louisiana National Guard.
“It’s such simple fishing,” Chris explained while plucking jugs from the water and organizing them for the next expedition. Each jug line is made of a plastic milk, soda, or detergent jugs. A length of stout twine 6 feet long is tied to the jug near the neck. A hook and weight are at the business end of the line.
“We fill each jug about half full of water so the wind doesn’t blow them as fast,” he said.
Bait is just as simple. Chris cuts hot dogs into pieces and “marinades” them in cherry Kook-Aid powder and garlic salt. Judging from this morning’s catch, the concoction is irresistible to a roving catfish.
They Gueydans are never short of the main ingredient for a neighborhood fish fry. “We have them all the time,” Chris Gueydan said.
They not only fish for catfish and crappie at the lake they love, the fishermen and others are dedicated stewards of Bob Kidd Lake. Families near the lake organize cleanups throughout the year and keep the shoreline clean. Daniel is an Eagle Scout and installed five wood duck boxes as part of his Eagle project. He’s 24 now.
“The residents around the lake are a community watch group,” Chris wrote in an email later. “We all treasure the lake and want to keep it clean and productive for generations to come. Each of us are quick to pick up trash or report nefarious activity.”
That’s from sunup to sundown and all hours night or day.