Stein

And, I have to concur, the food was horrible. Basically inedible. I almost couldn't go back for seconds.

Regardless of the fishing, I had a great time. Brett and Cody guided this sorry (excuse for a human being-censors caught me) onto some fish every day. I forgot how to fish in the last missing few years.

Leaving Joplin shortly. Will be down before lunch

Yeah, sorry to see you weren't going to make it. I'll try to get back down there more often next year.

Happy to share them Friday.

I'll get in around noon on Friday. Send me your phone number and I'll call when I'm close and we can work it out. What ramp are you going out of? I need to read back on the Jigfest thread to see where we are staying. I need to stop by Ham's house first and pick up my rods and jigs. He's had them since like 2018 when I sold my house and he kindly picked them up and have been holding them for me.

Sounds good. Shoot me your phone number and I'll give you a call when I get in.

Looks like I'm in for sure. I can probably get there around noon on Friday to fish if I can catch a ride and can fish Saturday. I plan to stay Friday and Saturday night. I'm coming in from a week-long business trip in MO and KS so I won't have food but I'm more than willing to contribute booze and funds towards meals.

I am now boatless and looking for a ride. Planning to be there Friday afternoon and Saturday to fish, going home Sunday.

Still have room for one more? I think I can make it. I no longer have a boat. Any room for a non-boater? This all assumes I can meet up with Ham at some point. He still has my rods and ZigJigs that he so kindly picked up from my house when I sold it and was still in Vietnam. Or he could pass them along to someone local that would be there.

No worries, 2022 will be better for me if you want to hit that June bite. I'll be hopping when we move back next year. Need to sell my house, buy another house in Lincoln in the school district that I want to live in and just overall get two foriegners settled into a new country. I know from my own experience coming here that it is tough. They will both have it easier than me because at least they speak the language. I've been here a year and a half and I probably only know 40-50 words. Tonal languages like Vietnamese and Chinese are difficult for English speaking people to understand and learn. Daughter is excited, wife less so because of leaving her family which I understand. Daughter turns 14 this month. She has done a great job learning English. When she came to live with us after we married she could speak maybe three words. Now we can get by no problem. Still not fluent but conversational English is fine. The reason I want to move to Lincoln is there are a lot of Vietnamese there and the high school I want her in has about 10% Asian, mostly Vietnamese so she will have friends and the school has a good ESL program for Vietnamese students.

Also, it is a foregone conclusion that if you go out there for three days you will lose a day to wind. Just can't avoid it. It never fails.

Great report! Since I'm moving back to Nebraska in June with the newly expanded family I can round up a group and we can go back with both kayaks and bass boats. Merritt reservoir is half an hour from the refuge and we can fish both the same trip. We usually fish two days at the refuge and two days at Merritt. Bass and walleye fishing is good at Merritt. A lot of 25" walleye and a chance at a 50" muskie. Watts got winter killed a few years back so all of the big bass and muskie are unfortunately gone. There's a couple of the better lakes at the refuge that you didn't fish. I really wish you would have told me you were going and I could have steered you. But, we can do that next time! See you next year!

Yes, I think there is a leak at the bead. No nails and it holds air for a few months. I just never got around to dismounting and re-seating the tire.

Thanks man, I REALLY appreciate it.

Thanks Ham. PM sent.

Here's the wife and daughter. Daughter is 13 so will be starting high school the year we move back to the US. With a move in June it allows them a couple months to acclimate. I tried to upload more pics but apparently there is a 9.77MB cap. I assumed that was per post, not per thread.

A couple of pictures while waiting. I bought a cashew farm here in Vietnam. When I retire in 5 years we will live six months in US and six months in Vietnam. We will have a house in the city and a lake house near her parents. The lake is huge - about 20 miles long. We have several acres on the lake and about 900 feet of lake frontage. In the meantime family will take care of the cashew farm. The brush pile is where the house will go. Second pic is what a cashew nut looks like when it is growing. The nut is the brown part hanging off of the cashew "apple" which is a fruit that can be eaten but almost everyone discards it and just keeps the cashew nut.

I know I have been gone for a couple of years but I need a tiny bit of help. I finally sold my house between Flippin and Bull Shoals town. I am supposed to close in about a month. I have a couple of trout fishing rods and a box of Zig Jigs in the boat in the garage and a vintage Pioneer stereo receiver and small speakers in the master bedroom closet that I have had for 40 years. I didn't think this move was going to happen so quickly or expect that I would be stuck in country for so long so I figured I would pick them up the next time I was down there for work. There might be a few other items in the boat and I think a four way lug wrench in front of the tire of the boat trailer. The new buyers bought the boat so that's good. I'm stuck here in Vietnam due the COVID so I can't get back to the US for the closing and to pick up these few items. The realtor said they would rent a storage unit but can't hold personal belongings. I can't justify a storage unit for these small things so I wondered if a forum member would be willing to meet the real estate agent at the house and pick them up for me. I'll be moving back to the US with my wife and daughter next June and would find my way down there sometime next summer. Maybe we could fish a day and then pick up these things from your house?

Since I'm moving to Vietnam 1/2/19 my goals will be to catch fish in Vietnam (Fiance's parents live on a 30 mile long lake but they never fish as they work all of the time) and to make it back to the US in September to go to Canada for our annual trip. Haven't missed that one in 22 years. I found out I can buy a brand new composite boat in Ho Chi Minh City similar to and the same size as the trout boat that I built for $140.00! Going to pick one up and leave it at her parents' house.

Heading down this weekend if anyone wants to see the boat. Could show it Saturday afternoon or evening. $3,000 402 499-0110

I appreciate the all of the well-wishes. Anyone interested in buying a boat? LOL

I very well may be back. I love the area. The plan is two years there then three years home while her daughter finishes school then retire and 6 months in the US and 6 months in the winter there. Winter temps there are 80 high, 70 overnight. I can deal with that.

I am a very lucky man and I know it. She just turned 29 last month.

You realize I could commission a new boat to be built there for about $100 LOL. thanks for the well wishes.