All this talking about Bull Shoals got me wanting to go, so I took my boy over there yesterday to watch the pros and see what we could do ourselves. It was a good day and looks like everyone caught good fish, including my son.On the way home I decided to take him on the Hwy 125 Peel Ferry across Bull Shoals from Peel Ar to Protem Mo. Its the last public ferry in the state and is a vivid reflection back to days long gone by. By that I mean for most of the states history ferries were not at all uncommon in rural Arkansas. But as development progressed, traffic increased, lives became more fast paced and impatience grew, ferries were one by one replaced by bridges in the name of progress. As a kid growing up and traveling with my folks to see various relatives across Northern Arkansas we often encountered them and I have fond memories of the experiences. One of the most frequent ferries we encountered was the Hwy 62 (which is now US 412) ferry across Norfork Lake. It ran from right there in Henderson bay in the general vicinity of where we pass through the boat check at most OIs across to what is now the Panther Bay launching ramp and if I remember right took about 45 minutes round trip if you were unlucky enough to pull up just as it departed. Heres a postcard image of it and everyone should recognize the bank in the background. http://www.cardcow.com/90814/lake-norfo … s-ferries/ The Hwy 101 bridge also used to be a ferry as well.Good times!:The spare barge on the Peel bank.The Peel (Arkansas) dock on the south bank where we departedProtem (Missouri) dock on the north bank where we were headed:My boat out of the water on the water: The wheelhouse of the tug; the guys who were running it Saturday were really friendly and we talked quite a while; of course it was also about the end of the day: Docking at Protem:
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