Spavinaw Lake

When I was 12 years old, I went into a bar with my Dad and Granddad for the first time in my life. I was only drinking soft drinks, but it made me feel like I was growing up. Of course, my Mom never knew about this or she would have had a fit. Here’s the story.

Spavinaw Lake

 

On our trip to Sulphur Springs, Arkansas when I was 12 years old on our summer vacation, my Dad, my Granddad, and I fished Spavinaw Lake. My Mom, Sister, and Grandmother usually didn’t go with us on this trip, so we had a little different routine. On the trip to the Lake, we would stop at a bar in Noel, Missouri, and I would sit at the bar with them and drink a Delaware Punch in the bottle while they both had a few shots of Kentucky Bourbon on the rocks. We would then drive to Jay, Oklahoma, and stop and get our lunch at a grocery store. My Dad would always get the same thing. He would buy eight cans of Vienna Sausage, a large chunk of sharp cheddar cheese, and a box of Saltine Crackers. Occasionally he would spice it up a little with a couple of cans of sardines. He always carried a can of ice cold water from home. When lunch time came, we had some mighty fine grub to chow down on.

 

After you’ve done some hard fishing all day, this is a mighty tasty meal that hit the spot. We saved all the sardines for my Dad, the Ex Navy man, however.

 

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We nearly always went to the upper end of the lake to fish. On one trip, we had caught a pretty good string of large mouth bass and they were staked out next to the shore in shallow water. My Dad went to pick them up. He didn’t see the large snake that was eating a fish on the stringer and it struck out and bit him on the arm as he tried to pick up the fish. He jumped back and I could see his arm was bleeding. The snake moved away a little. There was a couple of guys fishing off the bank who saw what had happened and they brought a 22 rifle over and shot the snake. We still weren’t sure what kind of snake it was. They waded out and picked up the snake and brought it to shore. They said it was just a large nonpoisonous water snake. We were all relieved. We cleaned the fish and and stopped by the doctors office in Jay and they cleaned the wound and dressed it to keep infection from being a problem.

 

 

 

My Granddad and Dad discussing a Mens only fishing trip to Spavinaw Lake with a couple of refreshment stops along the way.

 

On another trip to Spavinaw Lake, we rented a small aluminum boat and mounted my Granddads 5 horsepower Johnson motor on it and headed for the upper end of the lake. It was fascinating to me that the water in the upper end was crystal clear and you could see large fish swimming below you in 30 feet of water. We were using top water Jitterbug lures
fishing for large mouth bass. I had been casting for a couple of hours and had caught nothing. I was complaining about being tired and ready to go when a 5 pound Bass busted my jitterbug. He must of come up from deep water as he came out of the water about 1 1/2 feet when he hit it. I hooked him and reeled him in slowly so I wouldn’t break my line. After I landed him, my granddad asked me if I was still tired and I told him I thought I might go a couple of more hours now.

 

I really enjoyed those Men only trips to Spavinaw Lake with cool refreshments coming and going where I learned to sit on a bar stool and tell fishing stories.

 

 

On the trip home, we always stopped at that same bar in Noel. This time I would have two Delaware Punches while they enjoyed their Kentucky Bourbon on the rocks. Those fishing trips and stops made me feel like I was growing up hanging around with the men.

 

Set em up Joe, the men are back from a hard day of fishing at the lake, make it a double.

 

 

Thanks for reading Spavinaw Lake,
Bill