The hardest fish to land every year isn't in the water. The hardest catch is the date.
Get eight retired guys to agree on one open week and you've already done the heavy lifting. Between grandkids, travel, and the general chaos of people who swore retirement would slow them down, lining up this trip takes more negotiating than anything we ever did in our sales careers. But every year we land the week. And every year the trip knocks it out of the park.
The Crew
Bill Doshier, Ken Ellis, Terry Bradshaw, Richard French, Chris Woody, Larry Hollinger, Nelson Picard, and Paul Seaback. We all came up through sales together, and we've all retired within the last five years. Now we're scattered, and this week in the Ozarks is the one fixed point on everybody's calendar. Four waters: Lake Taneycomo, Bull Shoals Lake, the White River and the Norfork River, with home base aboard the Create.Buzz houseboat, and a standing rule that the fish stories get bigger every year whether the fish do or not.
Opening Weekend: Eureka Springs Blues — May 30–31
The week opened with music before fishing. Richard and I spent Saturday and Sunday in Eureka Springs for the Blues and Funk Festival. Great music, great town, and a reminder that the Ozarks deliver well beyond the riverbank.
Tuesday, June 2: Lake Taneycomo
Up at 4 a.m. On the water by 6:30, the earliest start this group has managed in years. We fished with two guides who know these waters cold: Pete Leonard of 8erBaits Guide Service, 417-543-0304, and Phil Stone of Stone's Guide Service, 870-715-2764. For the trout fisherman needing a solid read of the water and the catching patterns that produce, these two know Taneycomo and Table Rock as well as anyone on either water.
Taneycomo rewarded the effort. The trout cooperated all morning, and Paul Seaback took big fish honors for the day.
The best part came later. We fried up the day's catch that evening, and there's nothing on any restaurant menu that beats trout you pulled out of the water twelve hours earlier.
Wednesday, June 3: Bull Shoals Lake
Wednesday was the change-of-pace day. We chased crappie in the morning, then spent the afternoon cruising Bull Shoals aboard the Create.Buzz. Somewhere in there the top deck became a diving platform.
We closed the day with an early evening walleye expedition. Full disclosure: the walleye won the round. Not one came to the boat, and nobody filed a complaint. A full day on one of the prettiest lakes in the country, and we never once checked the time.
The Light Crew
Somewhere in the middle of all this, the guys took on a project. New string lights along the top deck of the Create.Buzz, measured, hung, and wired by a volunteer crew that didn't ask permission and didn't need supervision. The result speaks for itself.
The light project is the kind of thing this group does. You step away for an hour and come back to find your boat upgraded.
Friday and Saturday, June 5–6: The White River
For the White River days we were guests of our own Terry Bradshaw at his Norfork home, located just off the Highway 341 bridge near the White River water gauge. The same gauge BillyBot checks daily was running right outside the door.
The White saved its best for last. We fished the White with Terry captaining his own boat, along with guide Jeremy Campbell of Campbell's Guide Service. If you're a trout fisherman who wants real numbers to report back to your buddies, bagged or released, Jeremy is the call: 870-405-0162.
Friday was ridiculous rainbow fishing, the kind of day where the rods barely got a rest. Doubles and triples, all day long.
Then Saturday turned into brown trout day. Nelson Picard, Richard French, and Larry Hollinger each boated browns over four pounds. Three guys, three trophy-class browns, one stretch of river. None of us will let the others forget Saturday.
📊 The BillyBot Trip Log — May 30 – June 6, 2026
- Sat–Sun, May 30–31 | Eureka Springs: Blues and Funk Festival, Basin Park
- Tue, Jun 2 | Lake Taneycomo: Fog at first light, on the water 6:30 a.m. Big fish: Paul Seaback
- Wed, Jun 3 | Bull Shoals Lake: Sunny and hot. Crappie a.m., cruise and swim midday, walleye p.m. (walleye won)
- Fri, Jun 5 | White River: Morning fog on low water, rainbows at a ridiculous pace. Bull Shoals Dam fired 4–9 p.m.: 20,256 CFS, 6.1 units
- Sat, Jun 6 | White River: Low water all day at Cotter. Three browns over 4 lbs: Picard, French, Hollinger. Readout below
How BillyBot Called Brown Trout Saturday
Every morning at 6:00 BillyBot runs the full White River readout: generation schedules, live gauges, spot-by-spot arrival times, and the solunar windows. Saturday's report landed like this:
Friday's 20,256 CFS release rolled past the Highway 341 gauge at 10,284 CFS while we ate breakfast on Terry's porch and watched the water roll by. BillyBot said Cotter would stay low and prime all day. We picked Cotter. The browns did the rest.
Show the water, pick the spot, catch fish. The full readout runs every morning at create.buzz/riverflow.
🎣 Guides We Recommend
- Pete Leonard — 8erBaits Guide Service — 417-543-0304. Lake Taneycomo and Table Rock. A solid read of the water and the catching patterns that produce.
- Phil Stone — Stone's Guide Service — 870-715-2764. Lake Taneycomo and Table Rock. Knows both as well as anyone on them.
- Jeremy Campbell — Campbell's Guide Service — 870-405-0162. White River. If you want real numbers to report back to your buddies, bagged and released, Jeremy is the call.
- Lynn Hicks — Hicks Biggest Fish Guide Service — 870-405-9539. The name is the mission statement.
- Larry Price — More Fish Guide Team — 870-291-5625. Truth in advertising.
The Part That Actually Matters
Here's the truth about this trip: not much new happens with us, and the sameness is exactly the point. There's a lot less partying now than our old sales days. Most nights now everybody's in bed by ten, Richard by nine. Not much to brag about.
But you spend a career working alongside people and then one day everybody scatters. This week is how we make sure the scattering doesn't stick. Days on the water with guys who knew you when, no agenda, no schedule beyond the morning alarm and the generation horn.
See You Next Year
The only real debate left is the dates for next year. Nobody has to ask if we're going again. The automatic yes is the measure of a good trip, and ours has never missed.