George L. Smith State Park a South Georgia Gem

"This would be a great day on the water if we didn't catch a fish," Nathaniel said as he pushed his paddle through the tea-colored water of Parrish Mill Pond, sliding the canoe through a gap between two tupelo trees and giving us both good casts to a pocket off the main creek channel.

I agreed. The 400-acre mill pond, which, along with the mill itself, form the centerpiece of George L. Smith State Park in South Georgia, would be spectacular to explore with no fishing rod in hand. That didn't really matter, though, because we did catch fish, both bass and pickerel, despite it being very early in the year and us knowing little about the lake.

The pond, which is loaded with tupelos and cypress and has some shallow swampy areas, has three blazed canoe trail that together offer several miles of paddling opportunities. Bass, crappie, bluegills, pickerel and channel catfish all provide fishing opportunities, but the pictures on the wall of the park office suggest that really big largemouths are the main attraction to visiting fishermen. One bass weighed more than 14 pounds!

The pond's dam and the combination sawmill/gristmill and covered bridge were built in 1880 and have a rich history. Across the bridge, on a short hiking trail, visitors are apt to spot Georgia's state reptile, the gopher tortoise.

I had visited George L. Smith several years ago, while doing some writing research, and had always wanted to get back down there. Having spent today fishing the mill pond, I'm already longing to return and spend more time in this gem of a park!

Bassmaster Classic Blog

Photo courtesy of B.A.S.S.

Having been unable to attend the Bassmaster Classic this year, I've enjoyed the exceptional event coverage on bassmaster.com. The live cameras put you on the docks during fog delays, allowing you to see just how soupy it has been, and watch the anglers pacing in their boats or on the docks -- all eager to get out and fish. There are also live cameras at the expo, at the weigh-in and even on some anglers' boats.

BASSTrack, which provides a live estimated leaderboard based on reports from in-boat observers, is really cool to watch. It's far from exact and spotty cell service within the huge Delta keeps some anglers off the screen for a while or even hidden until the fish are weighed. Still, it give you an idea about how things are unfolding.

Best of all, though, is the live blog, which includes the voices of several excellent reporters who are scattered all over the event, on shore and on the water, making continual updates about what they are seeing. Blogs range from nuts-and-bolts catch reports to great stories about fan interaction, competitors' perspectives, observations about conditions. You really couldn't get much closer to being there - without being there. Yesterday I was away from home most of the day, and I was able to follow the blog even with my only-semi-smart phone. I commend and thank the bloggers, the technical folks and the decision makers who have made such a thing possible.

Bassmaster Classic Begins Today

2010 Bassmaster Classic Champion, Kevin VanDam. Photo courtesy of B.A.S.S.

Fifty boats will launch this morning to ply the vast waters of the Mississippi River Delta, with each seeking a three-day catch that outweighs the rest. The top prize is half a million dollars. More significant to most, if not all, is the title of "Bassmaster Classic Champion." Every angler earned his place in the Classic field, which includes many of the biggest names in bass fishing.

I often attend the Classic and the huge outdoors expo that comes with it, so it's always a little odd to be watching from afar. Many of my friends from the fishing business are gathered in New Orleans this week. Among them are writers, magazine editors, bass pros and folks who work for the companies that make the rods and reels and lures and such. For the past few days I've been seeing their facebook comments about feasting on Cajun food and have been spotting familiar faces in photo galleries from the Classic.

I'm thankful for the many channels of live communication, and I'll be watching blogs and other reports to track how the events take shape. Unless they get delayed by fog, which reportedly is a possibility with the way the weather is shaping up, the boats will launch in a little less than two hours.

Fishing Videos

OK - There's not much there yet - just a single quick video of me pulling rainbow through a hole in the ice in Colorado. I've set up a YouTube Channel, though, and I hope to add regular video both to the channel and to this blog. Nathaniel has a Flip camera now, and he likes to tape stuff while we fish together, and my new waterproof point-and-shoot and one of my SLRs both shoot video. Beyond the action stuff, I plan to get video tips from some of the great anglers I get to join on the water. Stay tuned.

Coaxing Lakers

"If you see a fish, call me right away," Bernie Keefe said, as he showed Nathaniel and me how to work our jigs." The jig's movements showed up clearly on the Vexilar flasher, so any other substantial mark that showed up would be a fish.

When a laker did show up, it would have to be coaxed into biting, and showing it the wrong thing would cause the fish to bolt. When one of us spotted a fish, Keefe would come running and he would coach us through the process, which might involve slower or faster jigging motions, a couple of high lifts or other variations.

The first couple of fish I saw exited stage left before Keefe could even get to me, but he assured me those weren't the ones we wanted anyway. Then I happened to be watching him with my camera out when a fish showed up on his Vexilar, and I watched him vary the motions until he felt the tell-tale twitch, at which time he set the hook hard with a high lift and began reeling hard.

Keefe ended up landing that fish, which he estimated to be 32 inches long, and he coached me through the process when another showed up on my flasher. It turned out to be a smaller fish, but I managed to hook and land it. I had a couple of other lookers that didn't end up committing before I hooked a quality fish of my own, which as narrower than Keefe's but an inch or two longer, by his estimation.

The process of working the fish for several minutes, and watching it move down toward the bait and finally bite was really exciting - sort of the same sort of excitement as turkey hunters experience when they "work" a bird, I believe.

We kept our day short because of the coldest temperatures of the entire winter (40 below in the morning; high of 12 below), but we still managed to catch some nice fish, and I learned a tremendous amount about jigging for finicky lake trout.

Colorado Rocky Mountain Ice

Nathaniel has landed a lot of big fish, including a 60-pound blue catfish, but never before had to do so through a 10-inch-wide hole in the ice, using a short, whippy rod and light line, nor has he ever had to keep his line from hitting the edge of the hole and a rod tip from hitting the ice. With the expert coaching of Dave Bryant of Lake Ice USA, Nathaniel handled the task like an old pro. Nathaniel got things going for us only within minutes of drilling our first holes at Lake Antero with a chunky 22-inch rainbow.

We just finished two fabulous days of fishing with the Lake Ice USA team and are getting read to spend a couple of days with Bernie Keefe on Lake Granby. The weather has taken a harsh turn since we arrived, and tonight's forecast is for lows WAY below zero. We came a long distance to catch trout through the ice, though, and we're looking forward to targeting some big lakers on Granby.

More to follow about the whole ice experience, but we've been amazed by the snowy peaks around us, the friendly folks and the unique experience of walking across the lake, drilling holes in ice that's a couple of feet thick and then pulling beautiful colored trout up through those holes.