From the depths of Bull Shoals Lake, Wilson and Suzette Bowling thought they were hauling up a big snake on their trot line.
"The lake is real clear and you could see it down there," Wilson Bowling recalled. "It looked like a snake, all balled up on the line."
They quickly realized the slippery creature wasn't a snake but an eel — an American eel — the first one they'd ever seen.
They kept it in their boat's live well until they got it home. As Wilson was preparing to fillet the serpent-like fish, their neighbor, a local fishing guide, took a look.