Wisps of fog danced slowly on the surface of the Tennessee River near Muscle Shoals as Brian Barton scanned a creek off the main river for the telltale signs of the bait we sought for a day of live-bait fishing on Pickwick Reservoir. Threadfin shad and gizzard shad were the targets as Barton and I looked for the bait flipping or tailing.

When Barton saw promising signs, he threw his small cast net into the dark waters in hopes of quickly securing enough bait for a day of fishing. However, the cold front that produced the fog made finding bait a little more difficult. Barton persisted with his casts and finally had enough shad in the baitwell to make the run to one of his favorite fishing spots, especially with live bait. Of course, the captured baitfish were for use on Pickwick only, since Alabama’s Wild Baitfish Regulation bans transporting live baitfish away from waters where they were caught.

On Pickwick, the so-called community holes get hammered regularly by bass fishermen with artificial lures, which makes the fish especially finicky. Barton’s live-bait presentation can turn a reluctant fish into an active feeder.

“This time of year, I look in the mouths of the creeks downriver to find bait,” Barton said. “That can be tough sometimes. You can also buy shiners, but the river bait is the best. There’s always plenty of bait at the tailrace. The thing is you usually get bigger bait in the middle part of the river. At times, the bait at the tailrace can be really small, and I’ll have to go to a cast net with a smaller mesh.”

Obviously, Barton’s guide service appeals to the novice or young angler who just wants to catch fish by any means necessary.

“This is what I call a family fun outing,” Barton said. “It’s not the skill required to use artificial baits and other lures. You catch lots of fish. Even with the cold front, we probably caught 150 pounds of fish. You typically catch lots of numbers. It’s fantastic in the fall and mid-spring. It’s something anybody can do.”

Barton can take three customers in his 22-foot War Eagle boat. He can also usually find another guide if the family or fishing party is larger than three.

After a chilly boat ride to the middle of Pickwick, a 43,000-acre reservoir, Barton pulled back the throttle and lowered his trolling motor that will hold the boat in one spot. The casting target was a pipeline that crosses the river. Rip rap covers the pipe and provides a current break for the fish.

“Never cast upriver,” he said. “You’re guaranteed to get hung if you do. Cast at a quarter angle behind the boat and let the current drift the bait to the fish. If you don’t get a bite right away, let out a little more line and let the bait get a little farther down river.”

Despite the possibility of hooking a monster blue catfish, Barton believes in light tackle. He uses 8-pound test monofilament line with a high-durability finish to stand up to the rigors of fishing structure. A No. 2 or No. 4 bait hook, depending on the size of the bait, is tied with a Palomar knot, and the smallest weight he can get by with, depending on the current, is pinched about 2 feet up the line.

“This gives the most natural presentation,” Barton said. “If you come to these spots with 3- and 4-ounce sinkers, you’d better bring a box of 50 hooks because you’re going to lose a lot of tackle.”

One of the appealing aspects of live-bait fishing is you never know what you’re going to catch. Any species that eats shad could end up on the hook.

Barton said on a 4-5 hour trip, his anglers usually will catch between 30 and 35 fish in the fall.

“We’ll usually have one or two good smallmouth bass and largemouth bass 4 pounds or better,” he said.

On our trip, we moved to another community hole near the Natchez Trace that is a rock dike built by early settlers to try to control flood waters. We sat on this spot and landed largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, white bass, freshwater drum and blue catfish up to 12 pounds. The biggest largemouth was a 7-pounder.

“Typically, if we’re fishing up the river at the tailrace, seven species is the norm, and nine or 10 species is not uncommon,” he said. “You never know.”

Barton said current can be the key when fishing any of the lakes on the Tennessee River.

“If you can choose your time, you always want to fish when TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) is generating electricity and you get maximum current,” he said. “You can use apps on your cellphone or your computer that will give you the generation schedule (www.tva.com/environment/lake-levels/) for that day. You always want to fish when there is maximum flow if you have the choice. Early in the fall, most of the time the maximum flow will be in the afternoons because we’re still in a cooling situation with more air conditioners running. Later in November, you’ll see that flip to a morning generation schedule.”

If you’re looking for big fish, Barton suggests booking a guide trip in the spring.

“Spring fishing is incredible,” he said. “You don’t get the numbers of fish you get in the fall, but you have a shot at catching a 7-pound smallmouth. I’ve done that four times over the years. That’s a trophy anywhere. Catching smallmouth that will go 5 or 5½ pounds is very common. The difference in the spring is you’re pretty much only going to catch bass. You might catch a catfish or two, but you don’t get as many species in the spring as you do in the fall. We fish the tailrace but also fish the same areas we targeted in the fall – the Natchez Trace area and around the old Colbert County Steam Plant. Any of those areas are good in the spring. The only difference is we were fishing isolated cover in 15 to 20 feet of water. In the spring, you might be up on the bars or the submerged Indian mounds in 5 to 7 feet of water because the fish are moving up to spawn.”

Barton has refined his live-bait fishing schedule. He offers live-bait trips from March 1 through April 15 and then September 15 through the end of November. He also offers select catfishing trips during May and early June. Contact Brian Barton at 256-412-0969 or send an email to brianbartonoutdoors@aol.com. Visit www.brianbartonoutdoors.com online.

Of course, fishing is the big draw for those who love the outdoors, but the Colbert County area offers a great deal more. Take the time to visit the Key Underwood Coon Dog Cemetery about 7 miles west of Tuscumbia.

If you’re a music lover, like me, check out the FAME Recording Studios, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Cypress Moon Studios and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. You’ll be surprised at the number of artists who have recorded huge hits in the Shoals.

And don’t forget Ivy Green, the birthplace and home of Helen Keller, located in Tuscumbia. Ivy Green, built in 1820 by Keller’s grandparents, is on the National Register of Historic Places and offers tours of the home, gardens and museum.

If you’re looking for a place to stay to enjoy the natural beauty of the area, consider Joe Wheeler State Park at nearby Rogersville. Joe Wheeler offers vistas of the Tennessee River from the Resort Lodge and 10 lakeside cottages. Go to www.alapark.com/parks/joe-wheeler-state-park to book your accommodations.

Visit www.VisitShoalsAL.com for more information on all the activities and historic sites in picturesque northwest Alabama.

David Rainer is an award-winning writer who has covered Alabama’s great outdoors for 25 years. The former outdoors editor at the Mobile Press-Register, he writes for Outdoor Alabama, the website of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Although several states currently have an open private boat recreational red snapper season, it appears red snapper seasons all along the Gulf Coast will come to an uneventful close for most anglers in 2021. For the most part, the states managed their private boat recreational seasons largely as predicted with months of free access to great fishing opportunities for anglers.

Unfortunately, 2021 may be the last “normal” season for quite a while.

In recent months, NOAA Fisheries (the federal management body that oversees Gulf of Mexico fisheries) has been at odds with the states over the need to calibrate the recreational harvest numbers generated by the states (largely acclaimed as the best recreational data available) with numbers generated by its own largely discredited Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). No one disputes the need to calibrate all the different data systems into a common data currency; the debate stems from forcing the states to calibrate their established data to the most suspect data of all – the federal government’s.

After decades of federal mismanagement resulting in recreational seasons as short as three days just a few years ago, the Gulf states and Congress had enough. The states fought for and won authority to replace the fed’s MRIP system and manage their private recreational anglers in the red snapper fishery with their own state-based harvest data collection systems. Each state developed strong and accurate monitoring systems on its own. Most – like Alabama’s and Mississippi’s – were certified as valid by NOAA and went into effect as early as 2017.

Since the Gulf red snapper fishery is still governed under the federal Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, it must comply with federal quotas, and here is where the trouble begins. With MRIP, one fish doesn’t necessarily equal one fish. To overcome massive systemic shortcomings, one MRIP fish might have to equal three fish in one state’s data collection system, or it might have to equal 1/8 of a fish in another.

The calibration dilemma is a massive problem that has been known since at least 2018, and yet NOAA has done little to solve it. Congress clearly seemed unhappy with the agency’s inaction when it included language in the FY 2021 Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations report forbidding any regulatory changes to red snapper management until it is determined which system – MRIP or the state data collection programs – is providing the best estimates of red snapper catch. Remarkably, though the problem has been known for years, a workshop to begin examining that critical issue is not scheduled until 2022.

In the meantime, each Gulf state was confident it had managed its recreational fishery within its quota at the end of 2019, but NOAA’s application of an overly simple ratio calibrator to convert all the various numbers back into the MRIP currency showed Alabama and Mississippi had overfished their quotas significantly – hard to imagine with systems certified by NOAA itself. State officials with both Mississippi and Alabama vehemently dispute those findings, offering up examples of absurd MRIP daily harvest data that equate to more boats than could possibly even launch in a single day from those states. NOAA remains unmoved and has pressed to reduce Alabama’s and Mississippi’s quotas by roughly 60 percent going forward. Astonishingly, paying back the alleged overages could eliminate snapper season in both states for years.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council took the only logical course of action available last June when it refused to consider recalibration until 2023, when all information can be fed into an official benchmark stock assessment, including the Great Red Snapper Count, a groundbreaking independent study of the Gulf snapper population that was completed in 2020, which showed a population three times larger than previously believed.

In an act of true federal arrogance, NOAA Fisheries unilaterally rejected the Council’s decision and attempted to force the Council to adopt measures reducing all five Gulf states’ red snapper quotas by 23 percent across the board. The Council stood firm and reiterated its desire to wait until 2023 to make sense of all the data and allow for better recalibration methods to be developed. But NOAA is clearly not content with that solution. The Council is meeting this week in Orange Beach, and this could be when the next shoe drops.

Future red snapper seasons for Alabama and all the Gulf states will always be in jeopardy if NOAA Fisheries insists on tying new, better information to its history of mistakes and bad data. The fishery and the fishing public would be far better served by cutting the cord on failed federal management entirely and allowing the Gulf states to fully manage the fishery as it exists off their state’s shores.

Many of my colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee agree with me. I was proud to host Reps. Buddy Carter (R-GA), Garret Graves (R-LA), Bruce Westerman (R-AR), and Rob Wittman (R-VA) on a red snapper fishing trip to see firsthand the abundant red snapper population and how well Alabama manages it.

Without a bold change of course, 2021 may mark the beginning of a new era of federal chaos in red snapper management. Moving forward, I will continue doing all I can to get the federal government out of the way and give full control of the fishery to the states.

Jerry Carl represents Alabama’s First Congressional District. He lives in Mobile with his wife Tina.

This summer, folks from across the region flew to Greensboro for the 2021 Black Belt Birding Festival – a sold-out event that has organizers with Alabama Audubon already working to expand the festival in 2022.

Indeed, the bigger event planned for next year follows what turned out to be an immensely successful 2021 festival for local businesses, artists and makers who enjoyed a unique opportunity to showcase their products, creations and community to a new audience.

“The Black Belt Birding Festival brought together community members and visitors from in and around the state, demonstrating the many birding opportunities Alabama’s historic Black Belt region has to offer, and bringing in a large weekend of sales for our Greensboro business community,” said Meg Ford, Black Belt coordinator for Alabama Audubon, the event host.

“When birders gather together, we can truly make a positive difference for birds and the people who love them – and we hope to make an even larger impact with a full weekend of Black Belt birding and an expansion of offerings for next year’s festival,” Ford said.

The 2022 Black Belt Birding Festival is slated for July 29-31, with a second day added to accommodate more birders and more activities. Details about the expanded festival will be coming soon, Ford said.

While the field trips to the diverse bird habitats that the Black Belt offers sold out quickly during the 2021 festival, the free in-town events attracted birders and nonbirders alike.

The festival is part of Alabama Audubon’s Black Belt Birding Initiative, designed to highlight the benefits of bird-based ecotourism for the Black Belt region. The Alabama Power Foundation was among the supporters of this year’s festival.

Among the special guests this year was Christian Cooper, a Black birder and member of the board of directors of NYC Audubon in New York. Cooper is a key organizer of National Black Birders Week, which celebrates Black nature enthusiasts but also points out the dangers they can face when enjoying the outdoors.

This year’s Black Belt Birding Festival, which took place in August, was Alabama Audubon’s first major event in more than a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization, celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year, is now back with a full slate of scheduled activities.

Learn more about Alabama Audubon here.

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)

An important bat habitat in north Alabama has recently been protected in what Nick Sharp of the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division considers possibly the highlight of his career as the Division’s bat expert.

Steel gates have been installed on Weaver Cave in Anniston to protect the extensive underground caverns as important bat habitat.

“Someone brought my attention to a YouTube video of bats coming out of the cave that was shot about six years ago by a local caver,” Sharp said. “When I saw it, I thought they must be gray bats. I started doing some investigating – catching bats coming out and counting bats coming out. We did some inside the cave surveys. It became apparent pretty quickly it was an important gray bat cave. Subsequently, we recognized it’s important for the tricolored bats as well.”

Gray bats are on the Endangered Species List and tricolored bats are under review to determine if listing as endangered or threatened is justified. Another endangered species, the Indiana bat, may also use the cave at times although more research is needed to verify its presence.

Sharp said Weaver Cave has a long history of human use. It was mined by the Confederacy for saltpeter during the Civil War. The mineral used to make gunpowder was loaded on the Selma, Dalton, and Rome Railroad less than a quarter mile from the cave and shipped to the furnaces in Oxford and Rome, Georgia. That railroad line is now the Chief Ladiga Trail.

Before and after the war, the cave was reportedly used for different social activities, like dances and parties. After lighting was installed in the cave in the early 1900s, it became a popular destination for picnicking, school field trips, and Sunday school outings.

Sharp said gray bats, northern long-eared bats, and tricolored bats were documented in the cave as early as 1959. Because gray bats are extremely sensitive to human disturbance in their caves, the bat populations crashed through the early to mid-1900s. The species was listed as Endangered in 1976. The cave is now home to about 10,000 gray bats in summer. About 600 tricolored bats use the cave in winter, making it an important hibernaculum for this at-risk species.

When the Georgia-Alabama Land Trust acquired the cave in 2020, WFF contacted the Trust about protecting the bat habitat with the use of steel gates to prevent people from entering.

With funding provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the gates were constructed and installed by Kennedy Above-Underground.

“These are called bat-friendly gates,” Sharp said. “A lot of investigation and thought was put into the design of these gates. They don’t restrict air flow at all. The main entrance to Weaver is the one where almost all of the bats come in and out. The bats always come out near the top so that was left open to give them enough room so they could flow out and the bats do not get backed up behind it.”

“We’re grateful to all the partners that made this rare conservation success possible,” Sharp said.

Although the caverns were once thought to be two different caves – Weaver (6,100 feet long) and Lady (6,400 feet long) – exploration by cavers determined the two were connected. They’re now commonly known as Weaver Cave.

“The cave system is quite extensive,” Sharp said. “It has multiple passages and chambers. I understand that Lady Cave was once used as a bomb shelter because it has a large cathedral size chamber. We found some gray bats roosting in that chamber in the spring. Part of the cave has a creek running through it, and a lot of bats roost in that area. Gray bats are real particular what caves they will use. For whatever reason, they like this cave. I think some of it has to do with air circulation. In the summer, they like high domes because it traps heat.”

One area with a high ceiling is called the Chicken Room because the owner at the time attempted to raise chickens in the cave under artificial lighting.

Sharp said 15 species of bats have been documented in Alabama. The animals with a spooky reputation make a very valuable contribution to agriculture in the U.S.

“The point I always make about the bats in Alabama is they are all insectivores,” he said. “They all provide that ecological service of pest control. A recent research paper came out looking at the bats in south Alabama and what crop pests they were eating. Another study that is often cited indicates that bats provide a minimum of $4 billion in pest control for agriculture in the U.S. With all the species we have, bats are eating billions of insects each summer night in Alabama.”

Sharp said the distribution of bats in Alabama varies a great deal. Gray bats are common in north Alabama along the Tennessee River

“The red bat is probably the most common species we have in Alabama,” he said. “They roost in trees and not caves. They look like dead leaves when they roost. In the evening, if you’re looking in the night sky and see a bat flying, it’s likely a red bat or a big brown bat, which is another common species we have.”

Sharp said the populations of the northern long-eared bat and the tricolored bat suffered serious declines because of white-nose syndrome, a disease caused by a fungus introduced from Europe.

“White-nose syndrome is still raging on, unfortunately,” he said. “It continues to spread west. It made it to the West Coast and is slowly covering the western U.S. We have spent a lot of money on ways to prevent it but have not been successful. Some species are near extinction. Northern long-eared bats used to be common in Alabama. Now they’re very rare. We never catch them anymore.”

Sharp said the protection of Weaver Cave should be celebrated.

“This is a big win for conservation,” he said. “It’s rare in conservation in general to see a big win like this. Bats, specifically, because they’re getting hammered so hard by white-nose syndrome and suffer a bad reputation. Putting restrictions on a cave of this importance is a big deal. The cave is right beside a road and has been so heavily vandalized in the past. People had been going in it all the time. Now that the gates are up and it’s protected, it’s going to be interesting to see if the numbers increase. There are roughly 10,000 gray bats in there in the summertime. Just protecting them alone is a big win for conservation.”

Having been in this position for almost 8 years, Sharp said, “This has to be a candidate for most the important thing I’ve been a part of in this job since I’ve been with Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries.”

David Rainer is an award-winning writer who has covered Alabama’s great outdoors for 25 years. The former outdoors editor at the Mobile Press-Register, he writes for Outdoor Alabama, the website of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Professionals from two of America’s most popular sports are getting together in Guntersville to do a little fishing, and more importantly, raise money to benefit youth.

Pro anglers with Major League Fishing along with pros from Major League Baseball will test their skills on one of the top bass fishing lakes in the country on Sunday Nov. 21

The list of former and current MLB players who have committed to participating in the event is sure to create excitement among baseball fans throughout Alabama and beyond.

The MLB will be represented by Jake Peavy, Ned Yost, Corbin Burnes, Josh Hader, Chaz Roe, Dan Jennings, Jake Marisnick, Jace Peterson, Wade Miley, LaTroy Hawkins and Lane Thomas.

MLF anglers joining the MLB players are Chris Lane, Jared Lintner, Brandon Coulter, Kelly Jordan, Paul Elias, Fred Roumbanis, Russ Lane, Casey Ashley, Mark Rose, Boyd Duckett, Gary Klein, Bobby Lane, Greg Vinson and Fletcher Shyrock.

Each team will depart early Sunday, November 21 with the goal of winning the tournament and securing bragging rights for an entire year.

Headed up by the Major League Fishing Foundation and the Major League Fishing Angler Association, “Cast 4 Kids” was conceived out of an idea within the MLF Foundation.

“Our goal at the MLFAA and MLF Foundation is to elevate the sport of fishing and there’s no better way to do that than to get our anglers exposure with other pros from other sports,” executive director of the MLF Foundation Wes Long said. “In addition, our goal at the MLF Foundation is to extend the life of the sport by taking care of our fisheries and making sure kids are exposed to fishing at an early age. We’re looking forward to raising money and putting on an event that kids and parents will enjoy.”

Each professional angler will be paired with a professional baseball player to make up teams for the tournament. The tournament launch will take place at Civitan Park in Guntersville.

The public will be invited to attend the tournament for free and meet their favorite pro anglers and baseball players. The teams are set to get off the water at approximately 1 p.m. A weigh-in will be held and the winners will be announced in front of the crowd. A fan fare will also be held at Civitan Park beginning at 12 p.m. Food and retail vendors will be on hand as well.

For more information about the MLFAA and MLF Foundation, visit www.mlfaa.org.

To become a vendor at the event or for more information, contact Joe Cagle at joecagle@mlfaa.org

A missing child may be the most frightening situation a community can imagine, and sometimes it takes a seasoned tracker to yield a successful outcome.

Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Conservation Enforcement Officer (CEO) Chris Hill found himself in just that scenario recently when a 3-year-old child was reported missing in Autauga County.

Hill was called by a local farmer who asked if Hill had heard about a missing child. He hadn’t.

“I called the sheriff, and they were looking for a child in the woods,” he said. “I said if he’s in the woods I’m coming to help.”

The WFF maintains a K-9 unit for tracking fugitives and missing persons, but none of the dogs were available at the time. When Hill arrived at the site, the first rule of tracking – don’t compromise the search site with human scent – was already out the window. Human nature in a situation like that is to venture into the area where the child was last seen and walk around looking for him. People do this out of the best of intentions with a genuine desire to help. Often, however, this makes the search much harder for those who come later.

“When I got there, I guess it had been put on social media because there were already 100 people there,” he said. “I found the sheriff when I got there and got an update. The daddy was cutting grass and the little kid was in the backyard, playing like he always does with his dog. The dad went to cut grass in the front yard.”

When he came back around to the backyard, his son had disappeared. When the youngster wasn’t found inside the house, the father called for help. When Hill arrived, a rescue squad was starting a grid search.

“There were two hunting roads, basically fire breaks, that lead in directions behind the house,” Hill said. “Before I got there, the rescue squad had a bloodhound that tracked something to a food plot about 350-400 yards behind the house, but the dog lost the scent at the food plot.”

Hill said between 40 and 50 people performed the grid search with flashlights behind the house and found no sign of the child.

The ALEA (Alabama Law Enforcement Agency) Aviation helicopter was also flying overhead searching with its FLIR (forward-looking infrared) thermal imaging camera and also found no trace of the missing youngster.

“After the grid search, we were coming back,” Hill said. “I wasn’t aware they had used a bloodhound before I got there, and somebody said the bloodhound had tracked the kid to a green field. I told the sheriff I was going back to the green field and look around. I had two deputies with me, (Ryan) Holena and (Devin) Lincoln, who I had worked with before I became a Game Warden. When we got down there, I looked around and told them, ‘This is a 3-year-old boy. He’s not going to walk through these briars,’ because it was thick.”

They looked around the food plot in the young pines, searching for any trails the youngster may have followed. When they got to the bottom of the food plot, they realized several ATVs had driven through the field looking for the boy.

“We found a four-wheeler trail at the bottom of the field that looked like it hadn’t been used since last hunting season,” Hill said. “We went down that trail, and it was pretty steep. It was mostly pine straw, but I could tell something had walked through there. The pine straw was turned. We kept going and all of a sudden there were a couple of briars across the path and drug downhill. I told them something had definitely been down this trail. Then it turned to a hardwood bottom, and I thought we would be able to pick up any footprints. That’s when I found something. I told them it was small, but it was definitely a human footprint. We had to find out if the search party had been down here. If not, the child had come that way.”

Despite calling Eli’s name often, the men didn’t hear a response. They decided to go back to the house and charge their flashlights. Hill found out nobody had been to the area in the hardwood bottom, and he asked about getting a dog to search that area.

A team from the Red Mountain Search Dog Association had just arrived at the scene and was tracking in an area that had undergone the grid search but with no positive results.

Hill then told the team about tracking somebody down the hill to the hardwood bottom, where he found a footprint. They went to that point and released the dogs.

“The dogs walked all over the hardwood bottom while we yelled, ‘Hey, Eli,’” he said. “I guess it was a good 30 minutes later, and they came back and said they just didn’t have anything.”

Hill said a little after 2 a.m., the ALEA helicopter had to go to Montgomery to refuel. He suggested making a horseshoe search around the bottom perimeter of the green field.

Instead of giving up, Hill and the deputies took advantage of the absence of helicopter noise to continue shouting Eli’s name.

“All of a sudden, about 50 yards ahead of us, I said ‘Eli’ and, to my surprise, Eli responded back, ‘Hey,’” Hill said. “I jogged over to him. He’s lying on a fallen stump and his puppy is lying right between his legs. I picked him up and said, ‘Hey, Eli, how are you doing?’ All he wanted to do was show me his puppy. I told him, ‘Yeah, baby, I see your puppy. That’s a good puppy.’ He was in good spirits. His legs were cut up from walking through the briars all night. Then he wanted to tell me about the stars he had been watching. He wanted to find the moon. I told him we’d go find it. He was not scared at all, like I figured he would be after sitting out in the woods all night. It was about 2:45 when I scooped him up. I was just glad to get him out of the woods.”

Hill lamented that one of the WFF K-9 dogs wasn’t available.

“If my partner, Jason McHenry, and his dog had been there and I’d have put him on that track, I promise you we’d have gone straight to that boy,” Hill said. “Jason’s dog went 2 or 3 miles looking for a turkey poacher last year and caught him. I know for a fact that if our beagle had been there, he would have found that boy. We found him about 350 yards from that green field. I sure am glad I recognized those tracks.”

“Sight tracking, or the act of reading those visual signs left behind as a person or animal passes through an environment like a wooded area, is a fundamental skill that every Alabama Game Warden learns early,” said WFF Law Enforcement Section Chief Michael Weathers. “They will continue to use and hone that skill every day of their career. They are the subject-matter experts when it comes to detecting and tracking people in the woods. In the greater law enforcement community, each agency has its own special resource to offer. Like the air assets that ALEA brings to events like this, or the tracking dog teams that the Alabama Department of Corrections offer, we are always happy to volunteer the ‘off pavement’ tracking skills that our officers possess. When the opportunity to put tracking skills to work saving lives arises, you can expect an officer like Chris Hill to be the first to arrive and last to leave. He has the talent and work ethic to make a difference.”

David Rainer is an award-winning writer who has covered Alabama’s great outdoors for 25 years. The former outdoors editor at the Mobile Press-Register, he writes for Outdoor Alabama, the website of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The top prize for the Alabama Black Belt Adventures Best Fish Photo Contest’s beginners division was awarded to three-year-old Spur Knight of Valley Grande.

For the Knight family, fishing is certainly a family affair. Chase Knight and his son Spur, accompanied by his older brother Gauge, age seven, were fishing at the Dallas County Public Fishing Lake when they opted to cast their line into a new area of the lake.

They noticed tree limbs hanging into the water on the backside of the lake. They cast their line in the direction of the limbs in hopes that it would attract fish.

“I tried to help Spur make the perfect cast to get his hook near the structure without getting caught up, but he would have none of it and insisted he go it alone,” said Knight. “By the end, you can imagine the number of hooks and corks that were dangling from the limbs – easily 10 to 15. I honestly thought he was hung up again when he started yelling but, sure enough, he made a great cast and did it all by himself, eventually landing a huge shellcracker.”

For his catch, Spur received nearly 1,000 votes during the Triple D Ranch-sponsored contest. As winner, the young fisherman won a full day of fishing for two along with one night’s lodging at Triple D Ranch near Emelle in Sumter County.

Both Knight brothers can claim bragging rights as Gauge was a previous winner of an ALBBAA Best Fish Photo Contest.

This contest recognized a winner in two categories for both beginners and experienced anglers. ALBBAA awarded Brandon Sullivan of Tyler the top prize in the latter category for his catch of a nine-pound, 11-ounce bass retrieved from a private lake in Dallas County.

Pam Swanner, director of the Alabama Black Belt Adventures Association, touted the array of fishing opportunities in the Yellowhammer State’s Black Belt region.

“Having a winner from both a public fishing lake and a private lake speaks to the bountiful fishing opportunities in the Black Belt,” said Swanner. “The many water ways and impoundments found in the Black Belt have always had great reputations as abundant fisheries and the privately managed lakes at various outfitters are well maintained for the utmost in customer satisfaction. We’re extremely proud to recognize both an experienced and beginner angler this year and are very grateful to Triple D Ranch’s support and partnership of the contest.”

Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL

Prime coastal habitat, sea turtles, marine mammals, birds and oysters in Alabama will benefit from the recent approval of almost $100 million in funding from the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process that distributes restoration funds from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement.

The $99.6 million allotment will be used in all five Gulf of Mexico states, and Alabama will receive funding to purchase key coastal habitat on the Fort Morgan peninsula.

A 99-acre tract, known as Pilot Town, will be purchased by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and then transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to become part of the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge (NWR).

The Pilot Town settlement, which was destroyed by a hurricane in 1906, was named for the bar pilots who guided sea-going vessels past the sand bars of Mobile Bay. Currently the habitat is relatively undisturbed except for one small area where the public uses the road to access a kayak/canoe launch. The habitat includes sandy shrub scrub, coastal marsh and several brackish inland lagoons and is a great rookery and resting area for migrating birds.

Bon Secour NWR, 8 miles west of the city of Gulf Shores, was established to protect neotropical migratory songbird habitat and threatened and endangered species. The refuge, which is divided into five different management units, serves as the best remaining stopover and staging habitat for neotropical migratory songbirds during the fall and spring migration along Alabama’s coastline. Habitats in the refuge include sandy beach and dune, sandy shrub scrub, coastal marsh, maritime forest, and estuarine habitat.

“We are excited about the habitat acquisition of Pilot Town,” said Amy Hunter, Deepwater Horizon Restoration Coordinator for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR). “Pilot Town is important bird habitat. As invasive species, mainly Chinese tallow trees (known locally as popcorn trees), and previously installed infrastructure is removed, we should see an uplift in the quality of the habitat.”

Kelly Swindle, Coastal Restoration Specialist with the ADCNR, said a variety of birds will benefit from the Pilot Town acquisition, including the great blue heron.

“A blue heron rookery is located not too far east of the property,” Swindle said. “Having the property managed as bird habitat, we hope to see continued or increased nesting activity in the area for the foreseeable future.”

Hunter added, “This is a valuable property because it is an area that is either the first or last stopover for migrating birds as they cross the Gulf of Mexico.”

Hunter said the sale of the property should be closed by the end of the year and will be managed as part of Bon Secour NWR. She said the restoration activity should begin in early spring.

“We had great partners to get this done,” Hunter said. “The Nature Conservancy was instrumental in securing the option for the property by working with the landowner. We also appreciate the work the Department of Interior has done to help make the acquisition a reality.”

Conservation Commissioner Chris Blankenship was instrumental in advocating for this acquisition and making the other NRDA trustees aware of the importance of the project.

Commissioner Blankenship added, “If you look at the Pilot Town project, along with the acquisition of the west end of Dauphin Island, as well as previous acquisitions in Oyster Bay, Gulf Highlands and two large parcels on the east side of Little Point Clear, it shows that our barrier islands and Gulf-facing beaches are very important to ADCNR and our federal and local partners. We have worked very hard to conserve this critical, development-pressured habitat for perpetuity.”

In addition to the Pilot Town project, Swindle said Alabama will receive a portion of the funding that will benefit sea turtles and marine mammals Gulf-wide. The marine mammal funding will be used to work with fisheries, including shrimp-fishing communities to reduce dolphin entanglements in gear and hook-and-line fisheries to reduce dolphin injuries and deaths.

“For the marine mammal part, what Alabama will be a part of is the larger effort to streamline stranding network capabilities and education,” Swindle said. “This will streamline the data collection process, which will be led by NOAA Fisheries. The sea turtle portion will be basically the same.”

Hunter said another facet of the funding will also benefit sea turtles and birds through marine debris removal.

“That project will identify marine debris hotspots that impact sea turtles and birds throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico,” Hunter said. “The goal is to reduce the number of those hotspots and the amount of debris there. It will also conduct public outreach to encourage people to keep our waters clean.”

Hunter said the oyster project will not be implemented right away. In the future, the intent of the project is for each state to identify areas to deploy harvestable sink reefs and non-harvested brood reefs in Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound.

“When that project gets underway, hopefully it will increase oyster abundance by increasing the number of spat released and improving oyster reproductive success,” she said.

Of the recently approved funding, Hunter said the most impact will come with the purchase of Pilot Town.

“Anytime you can get a nearly 100-acre parcel of beach habitat and have that conserved for birds and other native animals, that’s extremely impactful,” she said. “It’s not just a stand-alone parcel. It will become a part of the much larger wildlife refuge. In days of shrinking habitat, it is extremely impactful.”

David Rainer is an award-winning writer who has covered Alabama’s great outdoors for 25 years. The former outdoors editor at the Mobile Press-Register, he writes for Outdoor Alabama, the website of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountain range as if it were the final stroke of a Martin Johnson Heade painting lies a gem filled with unforgettable charm and unmatched hospitality. This 2,000-acre property boasts uniquely diverse topography, world-class upland bird and whitetail deer hunting, stunning event spaces and a 14,000 square foot log and stone lodge that boasts spectacular views of the Tennessee River you can take in from the balcony as you watch the sunset against the distant mountainside. This is a place you can disconnect from the world and reconnect with those closest to you. If it is starting to feel like a dream, then you are on the right path, as it is fittingly named Dream Ranch.

Dream Ranch is located just outside of Huntsville and within an hour of Birmingham in Guntersville, Alabama. This convenient location makes it a top destination for weekend getaways, corporate events, weddings, day hunts and captivating experiences without the hassle of extensive travel arrangements. Additionally, Dream Ranch is a few minutes away from one of the nation’s top freshwater fishing destinations, Lake Guntersville, where the staff can arrange for a day of guided bass fishing with a local pro angler.

For the avid outdoorsmen and hunters, Dream Ranch is quite possibly beyond what you could imagine in the state of Alabama because of the diverse wildlife and habitat along the varying topography. One minute, you may have the opportunity to watch a trophy whitetail buck feed along an acorn-covered ridge and the next you may jump up a covey of quail in the best upland bird habitat in the southeast. If you prefer fishing, the property boasts two fully stocked lakes where a typical cast may bring in your largest catch to date. The owner’s passion for wildlife habitat management is evident around each turn in the trail as every acre has been utilized to produce the highest quality hunting conditions to ensure your success.

If you prefer a different style of adventure, the staff has additional opportunities you can enjoy to help settle into the evening festivities. As the sun goes down, turn on the night lights and challenge a friend to a friendly round of sporting clays off the back patio before heading to bed. I can assure you; it will be a blast!

Dream Ranch has the ingredients to help you make memories that will last a lifetime and the southern hospitality to make you feel comfortable enough to kick off your shoes and prop your feet up. At the end of the night, the staff will give you free reins of the 14,000 square foot lodge that will leave you feeling like your dad just threw you the keys to his baby when you turned sixteen. Buckle up. Hold tight. Let your dreams come true.

If you thought you’d have to leave Alabama to get a cozy mountain town experience, think again. Nestled in the woodlands of Lookout Mountain, Mentone is our state’s highest city—and also one of the most fun to visit.

Its location in the northeast corner of the state, teetering near the Georgia state line, renders it a gateway to the Appalachians. But it’s also the gateway to years of history and culture built by the mountain people who call it home.

With gorgeous natural surroundings to explore—on foot, skis, or horseback—plus plenty of colorful shops and restaurants, Mentone is ideal for a refreshing retreat. Here’s our guide to spending a day in Mentone.

Breakfast at The Hatter Café

Kick off your tour of the town with breakfast at The Hatter Café. Roger and Pamela Wald found their slice of heaven in Mentone in 2016, then opened their Wonderland-themed café and bed and breakfast two years later. The café’s whimsical teahouse ambiance adds to the utter joy of sitting down to a comforting plate of biscuits and gravy or fluffy pancakes. If you want to carry the wonder into the evening, book one of two rooms at the adjoining Country Inn. Both feature a private porch with a hot tub.

Explore Desoto State Park

Desoto State Park is an outdoor enthusiast’s dream. The 3,502-acre park is best known for its stunning waterfalls, including the dramatic 107-foot Desoto Falls. It, as well as several other smaller falls, are easy to access via nearly 30 miles of trails. In addition to waterfall chasing, Desoto State Park is also an ideal venue for hiking, mountain biking, fly fishing, horseback riding, swimming, picnicking, wildflower spotting, and more. If you prefer your outdoor adventure to have a hint of adrenaline, hit up One World Adventures. The outfitter offers kayaks and canoe rentals, as well as bouldering, rock climbing, and rappelling trips.

Lunch at Mentone Market

Once you’ve worked up an appetite, head to Mentone Market for a bite to eat. The longtime convenience store, mountain market, and community gathering spot has become popular over the years for always carrying exactly what you need. They even offer a selection of locally made gifts like gourmet food items, linen tea towels, and scented candles. Their lunch menu includes all-American staples like subs, pulled pork sandwiches, pizza, soups, and salads. Live like a local by sitting down for a quick lunch in the market’s Art from the Market gallery.

Shop at Log Cabin Village

Walk off lunch down the street at Mentone’s famous Log Cabin Village. The grouping of eight authentic log cabins house businesses that run the gamut from an old-fashioned ice cream shop to a pottery shop and women’s boutiques. AJ Trading Post, with its handmade leather goods, natural gemstone jewelry, and native art and blankets, is a great way to learn about the area’s rich history of mountain artisans and craftspeople. Patron another Mentone maker at Little River Soap, an all-natural soap and bath product shop.

Ski or Horseback Ride

The next item on your Mentone itinerary depends on the season. In winter, make it a point to visit Cloudmont Ski and Golf Resort, Alabama’s only ski resort. The resort’s two 1,000-foot slopes are ideal for new skiers looking to test out the sport. Since the resort uses artificial snow to cover its slopes, you won’t have to worry about the weather either. In warmer months, swap an afternoon on the slopes for time on the ranch. Shady Grove Dude Ranch, which adjoins Cloudmont, features 800 acres of wilderness populated with picturesque trails for horseback riding.

Dinner at Wildflower Café

There’s only one place to cap off a perfect day in Mentone, and it’s The Wildflower Café. Voted as the Best Restaurant in Dekalb County, Wildflower offers a menu as eclectic as its decor, where string lights and folksy art rule. Several dishes are legendary at this establishment, including the Famous Tomato Pie, House Fettucine Alfredo, and Black and Blue Filet Mignon. Dessert is also a must. Try the gluten-free peanut butter pie, classic hummingbird cake, or signature Wildflower crepes filled with sweetened cream cheese and your choice of chocolate sauce or homemade strawberry puree. (Wildflower Café is only open for dinner Fridays and Saturdays.)

(Courtesy of Soul Grown)

With almost perfect weather and water conditions, Paul Cox and Joe Mann shattered the record for the Great Alabama 650 (AL650) paddling race that traversed Alabama from Weiss Lake in the northeast corner of the state to Fort Morgan on the state’s beautiful Gulf Coast.

Cox and Mann won last year’s AL650 in 5 days, 22 hours and 8 minutes. The team covered the 650 miles this year in 4 days, 17 hours and 2 minutes. Runners-up Rod Price and Bobby Johnson finished in 4 days, 22 hours and 25 minutes. The top female and solo paddler was Salli O’Donnell, who finished in 4 days, 22 hours and 39 minutes.

The AL650 started in 2019 as a way to showcase Alabama’s abundant waterways and diversity, according to Laura Gaddy, Communications Director with the Alabama Scenic River Trail.

“We wanted a way to highlight how valuable our waterways are for recreation,” Gaddy said. “We thought, what better way to demonstrate that than to invite the world’s best racers to compete on this course. They said the AL650 is one of the toughest courses in the world. They say it’s a paddler’s race.”

One reason the paddlers deem the AL650 one of the toughest courses is they have to portage around nine dams on the Coosa and Alabama rivers. Once they get to the Mobile River, the portages are finished, but then they must deal with the unpredictable conditions on Mobile Bay.

“We are accomplishing the goal we had when we started the race,” Gaddy said. “People are becoming more aware how valuable our waterways are. This competition is known internationally among elite paddlers. They put it on their bucket list of events. We think as people recognize our water is so good that elite paddlers are willing to travel across the globe that everybody, even Alabamians, will recognize how unique our resources are.”

The number of entries into the AL650 is capped at 20 to be able to staff the route.

“We want to manage the race in a way that is responsible,” Gaddy said. “Organizing and managing the race is a feat unto itself. We have to have staff at each one of the nine portages.”

Even though the winning team set a new standard for the race, Cox, who lives in Atlanta, said it was not easy.

“It’s extremely hard,” Cox said. “The thing I like about the AL650 is you have so many types of water conditions. You start in the lakes in northern Alabama and then you get to Wetumpka and get a little whitewater in. The lakes can be very difficult because of all the recreational boating traffic. But this year, I’m guessing because of the overcast and rainy weather, there weren’t many recreational boats on the water. We didn’t have to contend with boat wakes much, which made it better.”

Unlike other races, the AL650 has no sleep requirement, which means that sleep deprivation is another hurdle for some of the paddlers.

Cox estimated their sleep consisted of an hour at Wetumpka, two hours at Selma, two hours before they entered Mobile Bay and then a final two hours about two-thirds of the way to Fort Morgan.

“That’s what you have to do to be fast,” Cox said. “Sometimes you have to fight off the sleep monsters. There were definitely moments when I wasn’t paddling well. I was trying to stay upright, splashing myself with water. You have to talk to each other and tell stories. My partner, Joe, is a great storyteller, but he finally told me no more stories. That’s when I knew we needed to pull over and get some sleep.”

Although the rapids at Wetumpka broke up the routine for the paddlers, Cox especially appreciated Mitchell Lake.

“I think the Mitchell Lake section was probably my favorite of the whole race,” he said. “It’s just so beautiful. You have the rock formations that jut out from the eastern side of the lake.

“Then you get to Wetumpka and get a little taste of whitewater. Then you get into the Alabama River, and it gets to be a wider, slower river. But there was obviously a lot of rain this year, so the rivers were moving faster this year. That contributed to the faster pace.”

After the paddlers went through Montgomery and Selma, they found out just what rural Alabama looks like.

“You don’t see many people after Selma,” Cox said. “As a racer, you start having to deal with sleepiness, being tired and not seeing your crew as often. North of Selma, we would see our crew about every 12 miles. After Selma, we went for stretches up to 50 miles before seeing them.”

During the stops, the support crew met the competitors with warm clothes, food and fresh water. They prepared warm food, like chili or roast beef and mashed potatoes, that they put in Thermos containers for the paddlers to take on the next leg of the race.

“That was the difference,” Cox said. “Our fantastic crew would do anything for us.”

Cox and Mann then got a close-up view of the magnificent Mobile-Tensaw Delta, although it wasn’t as long a visit as last year.

“The river down south was flowing so fast that we made great time,” Cox said.

While Mitchell was the favorite spot for Cox, Mann said traversing Mobile Bay provided a unique satisfaction, even after taking a swim in the Bay’s brackish water.

“I’m not a big ocean guy,” Mann said. “I live in Kansas City, Missouri, about as far away from the ocean as you can get. I’ve never been a fan of the bays. I was not looking forward to it at all. And this year it ate us. We tipped over. We had to use a lot of energy to get back in the boat. We were more than 90 percent to the finish. We decided it could all fall apart right here, so we stopped, got dry, got something to eat and slept.”

That stop gave the team enough energy to tackle the Bay with waves building from an early cold front that prompted small craft advisories.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve had to do – get back out there in the dark and fight those waves,” Mann said. “But we knew if we wanted to win, that’s what we had to do. As it turned out, honestly, we had a lot of fun. We figured out the pattern of the waves and how to do it. Paul did a masterful job of steering the boat. The last four hours, we had it down. I felt like we could take on anything. I was tired, but we had a much higher level of confidence. Anytime the big rollers came in, we began to recognize the angles of the waves. There were two different sets of wave currents that would cross each other. We would ride one and jump on the next one. The Bay ended up being quite fun.”

Mann said he and Cox learned a great deal from last year’s race and utilized that knowledge to shave as much time as possible.

“The first time you do something like this, it’s a magical sense of adventure and everything is new,” Mann said. “The second time you have the learning curve. When we looked back, it was so much fun, but we made a lot of mistakes. With a course this long, there’s a lot of room for mistakes, which adds up to a significant amount of time. I think the difference this year was we approached this a lot more analytically. It’s not that we didn’t want to have fun, because we did. Before it was a magical adventure. This time it was how were we going to execute our plan to stay in the boat and keep moving. Obviously, we did that by beating our old time by almost 30 hours.”

Cox would not commit to attempting a three-peat because of logistics of such a long race. He does not count it out though.

“What makes the 650 so cool is the varied conditions you have to contend with,” he said. “You have lakes, rivers, whitewater and the bay. It’s quite a challenge. I’ve been competing for 15 years. I’ve done races in the Yukon Territory. I did the 1,000-mile race up there a few years ago. But this one is special because of the diversity of habitat. You’ve got mountains and swamps. You see everything from great blue herons to eagles. You always feel like you’re in the real natural world. I think it’s a great race. Alabama is so beautiful. Alabama has a lot to offer for sure.”

For those who love to kayak or canoe but prefer a leisurely paddle along some of the most scenic vistas in Alabama, consider a trip down the Bartram Canoe Trail or the Perdido River Canoe Trail. The trails, developed and now managed through the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ State Lands Division and Forever Wild Land Trust, cover 196 miles of water.

The Bartram Canoe Trail in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta has four land-based shelters and four floating platforms for camping. The floating platforms are used by reservation only. The Perdido River Canoe Trail is in Baldwin County and has six land-based camping shelters.

Visit www.alabamacanoetrails.com for information on both trails.

David Rainer is an award-winning writer who has covered Alabama’s great outdoors for 25 years. The former outdoors editor at the Mobile Press-Register, he writes for Outdoor Alabama, the website of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Two recently awarded grants will help support habitat protection and restoration along two important Alabama rivers.

The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program will provide conservation grants to the South Alabama Land Trust (SALT) and the Little River Waterkeeper to support their efforts to protect and enhance portions of the Fish River in Baldwin County and the Little River watershed in northeast Alabama.

The Five Star program is a collaborative effort of multiple partners, including Alabama Power and its parent Southern Company, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency. The program focuses its resources on river, stream and coastal habitat restoration.

In Baldwin County, the grant will support SALT, formerly the Weeks Bay Foundation, in efforts to maintain and protect the 60-acre Alta Fish River Nature Preserve. The grant will provide resources for invasive plant removal, prescribed burning and native planting, if needed, as well as trail-building and educational field trips. Located in southwest Baldwin County, the Fish River drains into Weeks Bay, which flows into Mobile Bay.

Partners with SALT on the Fish River project include the Student Conservation Association GulfCorps, Baldwin County Sewer Service, Mobile County Wildlife and Conservation Association, the University of West Florida’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Nature Connect.

On the northeast corner of the state, Little River Waterkeeper will use its grant to support elements of the Little River Watershed Restoration Project – a long-term plan to protect the river and its natural environs, which are facing increasing pressure from development and tourism.

Among the activities the grant will support are riverbank restoration and planting of native grasses and other species along power line rights-of-way.

Much of the Little River in Alabama flows atop Lookout Mountain in DeKalb and Cherokee counties. The unique river system and surrounding habitat is home to rare and endangered plants and animals. It is also home to the Little River Canyon National Preserve and DeSoto State Park, which draw hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.

Decades ago, Alabama Power played an important role in helping protect land that eventually became part of Little River Canyon National Preserve.

Alabama Power supports SALT and its annual Alabama Coastal Birdfest, scheduled for Oct. 6-9. The event includes birdwatching opportunities at sites along Alabama’s Gulf coast as well as workshops and a Bird and Conservation Expo on the campus of Coastal Alabama Community College. Since 2004, Birdfest has raised more than $100,000 to preserve and protect coastal birding and wildlife habitat in the region.

“Alabama Power is proud to continue to play a role, with many partners, in the Five Star program,” said Susan Comensky, Alabama Power vice president for Environmental Affairs. “Over many years, Five Star has helped protect and improve important habitats and water quality in both urban and rural communities in our state, as well as along Alabama’s coast. These efforts are helping preserve rare, native plants and animals while also enhancing recreation and providing opportunities for children and adults to learn about the beauty and biological diversity of this amazing place we call home.”

Learn more about Alabama Power’s ongoing efforts to protect natural resources here.

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)

The Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division’s Adult Mentored Hunting (AMH) Program has two main goals – to provide those with little or no hunting experience with a safe, enjoyable weekend in the woods and to kindle an interest in hunting that will last a lifetime.

Judging from the feedback from the mentored hunts, the first goal has been a great success. For some of the newcomers – Terrance Marshall and Kevin Kurtz – those AMH outings have changed their lives.

Marshall of Clayton, Alabama, has been connected to the outdoors most of his life but never as a hunter.

“I was always big on fishing,” said Marshall, who has been an officer at the Ventress Correctional Facility for the past 20 years. “I love fishing.”

Marshall and WFF Conservation Enforcement Officer (CEO) Bill Freeman have been buddies for many years, a friendship that started with the Alabama Department of Corrections (DOC). Freeman moved to Conservation and Marshall stayed with the DOC.

“Bill got into all the (outreach) programs, and he found out that I was interested in going hunting,” Marshall said. “Bill called me, and I told him I’d never been hunting. I’ve got a passion for fishing. I told him if hunting was like fishing, I was going to love it.”

Marshall teamed up with Freeman and retired CEO Johnny Johnson, who sat in the stand with Marshall, for a late-season deer hunt.

“I enjoyed it,” Marshall said. “I didn’t get the opportunity to shoot anything, but it was relaxing. I loved it. The next day I bought a rifle. Johnny had a Remington .270. I fired it before our hunt when we went over firearms safety. I liked the way that rifle fired, so the next day I went and purchased one.”

A new rifle wasn’t the only purchase Marshall made to enjoy Alabama’s great outdoors.

“I just purchased a tract of land, 114 acres with two ponds and all kinds of wildlife,” he said. “In fact, I’ve been over there bushhogging and cleaning things up to get prepared for the season that’s coming in. I love the outdoors and I love the cold. I don’t regret a minute of it. I give credit to Bill for reaching out and telling me about the programs. Not only was I going, I brought my son along when they had something for the youth. I also took my daughters to the youth fishing events.”

Meanwhile, Kurtz, an Auburn graduate, is in the process of making a more dramatic commitment to his new hunting activity.

After traveling the world in the U.S. Navy for 20 years, much of that time as a Service Warfare Officer (what Kurtz calls a ship driver in simple terms), he went into the geographical information systems (GIS) business in Tampa, Florida.

“I hadn’t been back to Alabama in a long time because there aren’t too many Navy bases,” he said. “But when my son (Nathan) applied to and was accepted into Auburn, I got my interest back in Alabama.”

Nathan entered the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences to study Geospatial and Environmental Informatics, which includes digital mapping.

“The School of Forestry was just getting ready to graduate their first class in that program, and Professor Scott Enebak found out what I was doing after my retirement from the Navy,” said the elder Kurtz, whose Navy career included guiding the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman through the Suez Canal. “He asked me to be on an advisory board. Obviously, I said yes.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit full-force, Kurtz heard a presentation from WFF Director Chuck Sykes about the AMH opportunities.

“My son’s birthday was that September, and I decided to take him to a weekend class on deer hunting,” Kurtz said. “I’ve always owned handguns and shotguns but had never been hunting. I put our names in for a mentored hunt, and we got to go in January. They taught us everything from soup to nuts – what to look for, how to dress, everything. It’s so professional and so well done. Every meal we had had some kind of venison in it. It was just awesome.”

Both son and father harvested their first deer. Nathan bagged a 175-pound buck, and Kevin took a 120-pound doe at Portland Landing Special Opportunity Area (SOA).

“What a fantastic time,” Kevin said. “Chuck was my mentor. As we were walking up to the area we were going to hunt, Chuck stopped. He’s got the eye. I can see a ship on the horizon, but Chuck can see a deer in the woods on the horizon. I think it was a six-point. Chuck looked at him and said, ‘He’s a little too young. We’re going to pass on that one.’ I ended up shooting the doe at sunset. It was such a thrill. He told me that I would be nervous and excited and, after it was over, if I didn’t feel something for the animal there was something wrong. I get it. At that point, I realized this is serious business. We’re practicing wildlife management, and it’s not a bad thing.”

After attending a turkey hunting workshop, Kurtz had a serious conversation with his wife about relocating.

“We decided to buy some land in Alabama,” he said. “We looked and looked. An incredible opportunity came up near Ramer, Alabama. We bought 120 acres in southern Montgomery County. It’s gorgeous. Chuck came over and said we had a gem; it is turkey heaven. So, I guess we’re getting into turkey hunting. The land has a house and barn. My wife and I are planning to move there next summer. It’s not only the hunting culture, but just the culture in that area. It’s a unique bunch of people. They’re responsible. They love their Second Amendment rights and love America. We’re blessed. It was a domino effect that started with my son going back to my alma mater.”

Kurtz has obviously become a big supporter of the AMH outreach programs and the WFF personnel and volunteers who make it happen.

“What they do is phenomenal,” he said. “It was such a diverse group of people at the hunts – people from all walks of life. There were people there like my son and I who had never been hunting before. I told Chuck and everybody else, it was life changing. It really was. I have such an appreciation now for what responsible hunting is about.”

Consuming what you harvest is a steadfast mantra of the hunting community, and the Kurtz family is definitely on board.

“We’re still eating the deer we got in January,” he said. “If I don’t ever buy any more ground red meat, I’ll be fine. I’m making venison burgers, chili and stew.”

The Kurtz family has a big week planned around the opening of gun deer season in Alabama on November 20. They get to hunt deer the week of Thanksgiving before they head to Auburn the Saturday after the holiday for the Iron Bowl.

Kurtz said he has a lot of work to do before the season opener, but he admits the end result brings him great satisfaction.

“The best advice Chuck gave on my property is that you can easily get overwhelmed,” Kurtz said. “Just take it a day at a time. Every time I go up, I’ve got a list of 20 things. If I get five done, I’m happy. We’re fortunate the previous owners were hunters. We’ve got two nice deer plots. There’s a shooting house on the power line. I’ve got plots to plant in October, and I’ll be on the tractor bushhogging. But it’s just fun. I never thought 10 years ago I would say the best season in the world is hunting season. Not fall or winter; the best season is hunting season. I can see now why people get so excited about it.”

Visit www.outdooralabama.com/hunting/adult-mentored-hunting-program for information and how to register.

David Rainer is an award-winning writer who has covered Alabama’s great outdoors for 25 years. The former outdoors editor at the Mobile Press-Register, he writes for Outdoor Alabama, the website of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Picture-postcard weather greeted the youngsters and volunteer mentors last weekend for the Kids’ Free Surf Fishing Clinic at Gulf State Park.

David Thornton, renowned surf and pier fishermen, and Cindy Langston, Special Events Manager at Gulf State Park, wanted to see if the coastal community would respond to another kids’ event after a successful day teaching the youngsters how to fish the surf last spring.

The answer was a resounding “yes” with a huge turnout for Saturday’s event on the sugar-sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico.

“Cindy and I have been talking about making this a biannual event,” Thornton said. “The participation has been fantastic with people wanting to try this, most of them for the first time. What I’ve really been tickled pink with is the support from the surf fishing community. A lot of these fishermen are just wanting to share their experience and seeing this next generation get plugged into it. It’s so much fun. You see so many smiles that it’s just a grand thing to be a part of.”

Thornton said Gulf State Park has embraced the event, which garnered the support from the fishermen and local businesses and the participation from the community.

Thornton said the clinic received donations of fresh dead shrimp from Christi Wallace at Hooked Up Bait and Tackle, Fish Bites from Brett Burford and Salty’s Pompano Rigs from Justin McCrory.

More than 50 youngsters were signed up for the event and more than a dozen experienced surf fishermen volunteered to help with the event that was held at the Gulf State Park Pavilion.

Fishing poles reached skyward for more than a quarter-mile east of the pavilion as the kids, parents and mentors enjoyed a morning of fishing and great weather.

“We contacted everybody through social media, primarily Facebook, to get the word out,” Thornton said. “We got everybody here on time. As the kids came in and signed up for the event, we had the mentors come out on the beach with a certain number of kids. We stretched out down the beach. Then we networked back and forth down the beach to make sure everybody was covered, making sure all the kids were catching fish.”

The mentors taught the kids the basics of fishing from tying knots to baiting the hook.

“Some of these kids don’t have any casting experience, so we start there,” Thornton said. “We just take whatever level they bring and take it to the next level for saltwater surf fishing so we can expand their experience and make them want to continue fishing and enjoy it like the rest of us have been. It’s a ‘pay it forward’ thing for us.”

One of the clinic mentors, Jordan Gooding of G2 Coastal YouTube channel, was in law enforcement for 10 years before deciding to make surf fishing his new vocation.

“I decided to chase a dream and I love fishing with kids,” Gooding said. “They’re the future of fishing down the road. I want to encourage them to get out and enjoy it. We just try to teach the kids how to tie rigs, what to look for along the beach in terms of structure, and how to cast into the areas where they are most likely to catch a fish.”

Thornton said new anglers and seasoned fishermen will soon find one of the most productive times to fish the surf on the Alabama Gulf Coast.

“I think we’re right on the cusp of some good fall fishing,” he said. “The days are getting shorter, and the fish sense that. We saw a good bit of that during the clinic with a lot of ladyfish in the surf zone. The (bottlenose) dolphins were pushing them. We’re kind of in a transition where the pelagic species like ladyfish and the other jacks are getting restless in the surf zone. They’ll be moving out by the end of the month when the water temperature falls below 80 degrees. They’ll be gone for the rest of the year.”

That means the bait stealers and nuisance species will become less prevalent and fishing for species like whiting, also known as Gulf kingfish, will become hot. For those new to surf fishing, whiting will be silvery colored with a black tip on the top of the tail fin. While they don’t get much larger than two pounds, they are great table fare.

A few Southern kingfish (ground mullet) will be mixed in. Redfish and pompano will be more willing to bite as well. Remember, redfish (red drum) has a slot limit of 16 to 26 inches with an allowance for one oversized fish in the three-fish daily creel limit. The daily creel limit for pompano is also three fish with a minimum length of 12 inches. Whiting and ground mullet do not have daily creel or size limits.

“That’s when our local, our resident, species really shine,” Thornton said. “That’s when the whiting bite really comes in and will last through October. The redfish bite also picks up. We’ll start seeing slot reds, primarily because the amount of bycatch goes down. There aren’t as many jacks and little fish to worry with.”

The surf angler’s most desired species is the Florida pompano. The pompano bite ebbs and flows during the year on the Alabama Gulf Coast, but fall is one of the better times to target pompano.

“We even managed to catch a couple of nice keepers during the clinic,” Thornton said of pompano. “The bite cleans up as the fall progresses, and the pompano fishing just gets better. From about Christmas to spring break, the pompano bite can be a little slow. There’s not one fish you can hang your hat on during that time. It may be good one day; then when you come back the next, the conditions have changed. Winter weather is unpredictable and hardly ever the same two days in a row. Then after spring break, the pompano fishing explodes. It’s as good as it gets in the spring.”

Don’t forget that you will need a saltwater fishing license to fish the surf. All licenses expired on August 31. Go to www.outdooralabama.com/licenses/saltwater-recreational-licenses for information on annual and trip licenses. Visit www.outdooralabama.com/license-packages for information on saltwater fishing packages. If you are resident license-exempt (65 or older, or holder of lifetime license or fish exclusively from a pier that holds a pier fishing license), you will still need to complete the Saltwater Angler Registration that is available free at www.outdooralabama.com/saltwater-fishing/saltwater-angler-registration.

Also, for those who catch reef fish species, including gray (mangrove) snapper and red snapper, a Gulf Reef Fish Endorsement is required.

David Rainer is an award-winning writer who has covered Alabama’s great outdoors for 25 years. The former outdoors editor at the Mobile Press-Register, he writes for Outdoor Alabama, the website of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

A fundraising effort is underway to support plans to renovate, modernize and expand a key portion of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL), Alabama’s primary marine education and research center for K-12, undergraduate and graduate students across the state.

The DISL, in conjunction with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab Foundation, launched last month a capital fundraising campaign called “Building Spaces for a Brighter Future.” DISL Executive Director John Valentine says the campaign is seeking money to build a new multi-purpose outdoor classroom and renovate the educational pool.

“The pool and that area the pool is in was constructed in the late 1950s and the 1960s,” Valentine said. “Hurricanes, the sun, the weather – all those things that are hard on facilities on a Gulf coast have caught up to that pool. It’s also not a very big pool and it’s not very functional in terms of how much our program has grown. We need to address that.”

Alabama Power supports Dauphin Island Sea Lab capital campaign from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

Valentine says the new pool will be 24 feet wide, 75 feet long and up to 10 feet deep, giving students plenty of space and depth to learn rescue swimming and how to execute scientific scuba diving.

“The scuba diving is a big deal,” Valentine said. “We take kids all the way from learning how to snorkel to deep sea diving. But before we can take them out into the open ocean – which is a challenging environment to dive in on a good day – we have to know that they are familiar with their equipment, that they know the emergency procedures that they need to take and that they can execute those training modules.”

The pool will also give other students more space to build and “fly” remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), a growing curriculum among classroom teachers and educators who incorporate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in their classrooms and in after-school team programs.

“What we will predominately use this project for is for ROV competitions and training,” Valentine said. “Young children come from 67 counties around the state to build and drive their own ROV.”

Parallel to the pool renovation and expansion is the creation of a new outdoor classroom. Valentine says the facility would provide students a hands-on learning environment and some much-needed storage for classroom materials frequently transported to and from the pool.

“Architects have designed a fabulous classroom,” Valentine said. “Kids from all ages – kindergarten all the way up to folks whose hair is white and thin like mine – can be out in nature and get classroom instruction, both in terms of high-tech classroom instruction and hands-on training.”

Among the initial financial supporters is the Alabama Power Foundation. Patrick Murphy, vice president of Alabama Power’s Mobile Division, says the company is happy to support the project.

“Alabama Power’s partnership with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab goes back many years, and we’ve been a great supporter of what they use those facilities for,” Murphy said. “The educational opportunities they provide for youngsters and college-age kids is really phenomenal. It’s an impressive campus and this scientific pool will be used for further education down the road.”

Valentine said he appreciates Alabama Power’s support.

“It’s heartening to see,” he said. “We’ve come from an old Air Force base with cinder block construction and galvanized metal. We’ve reached that point where we have to modernize. We have to get up to building code. This is one of several key steps that we are taking, and the fact that we could get statewide support from foundations and donors to pull this off tells me that we’re finally sitting on the precipice of some really great new things that we can do for the state. The gift from Alabama Power helps us get there.”

To learn more or donate to the “Building Spaces for a Brighter Future” capital campaign, watch the videos below and visit sealabfoundation.org. To learn more about the DISL, visit disl.edu.

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)

The M. Barnett Lawley Forever Wild Field Trial Area (FWFTA) in Hale County, Alabama, will host a series of deer hunts for hunters with physical disabilities from late November 2021 through January 2022. To register for the hunts, call (334) 289-8030 starting October 1, 2021.

“Access to outdoor activities such as hunting should be available to everyone who has an interest,” said Chris Blankenship, Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) and Chairman of the Forever Wild Board of Trustees. “We are honored to provide hunting opportunities for all Alabamians including those with physical disabilities.”

Hunt availability is limited and will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. Hunters are limited to registering for only one hunt for the season and may bring an assistant to help with the hunt. Hunters will need a hunting license and Conservation ID number prior to registering.

FWFTA physically disabled hunt dates

• November 24, 27
• December 1, 4, 29
• January 5, 8, 12, 15, 26, 29

Hunters with physical disabilities are required to fill out a Disabled Hunter Permit Application prior to the hunt dates. The permit can be downloaded from the “Physically Disabled Hunting Areas” section of www.outdooralabama.com/hunting/where-hunt-alabama.

All deer harvested during the FWFTA physically disabled hunts must be reported via Alabama’s Game Check system. Hunters will have 48 hours to Game Check their harvest through the Outdoor AL mobile app or online at outdooralabama.com.

If you have questions about the FWFTA physically disabled hunts, call Zachary Heard with the ADCNR State Lands Division at (334) 353-1357, or email Zachary.Heard@dcnr.alabama.gov.

The M. Barnett Lawley Forever Wild Field Trial Area consists of 4,300 acres in Hale County and is managed as a nature preserve and recreation area. In addition to developing a sporting dog test ground and a youth hunting program, the ADCNR State Lands Division is currently restoring the tract’s native prairie grasslands and managing its numerous ponds for public fishing events.

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources promotes wise stewardship, management and enjoyment of Alabama’s natural resources through four divisions: Marine Resources, State Lands, State Parks, and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. To learn more about ADCNR, visit www.outdooralabama.com.

Kyle Davis swung the big fish into his 21-foot boat during the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo this summer and let it flop on the deck for a minute, never considering what he had just landed.

The Irvington resident just thought the fish, a little tunny more commonly known as a bonito, would make some nice bait when he goes shark fishing.

“I was fishing for blackfin tuna in 1,200 feet of water,” Davis said. “It was not the location I normally go fishing. I’m only on a 21-foot boat. I pushed 74 miles out. I go out a little farther, and we got into a good school of bonito. We were catching them in varying sizes, some like that one. We were cutting them in half to freeze them for bait. We decided to keep that one to turn in at the rodeo. We had no idea we had a state record on board.”

What Davis accomplished by hauling in that little tunny was snapping the longest-held record in the Alabama Marine Resources Division’s (MRD) saltwater record book. Davis’ bonito weighed 22 pounds, 4 ounces to eclipse the 21.0-pound mark set by W.A. March Jr. of Mobile in 1956.

“If my buddy hadn’t called me the next day and told me it was a state record, it was about to be going out to be used as shark bait,” Davis said. “I called and asked the rodeo about it; they said not to do anything with it. Luckily, I still had it in the cooler. By the time they told me they needed the fish, I had it cut in half to get ready to freeze it.”

Fortunately, MRD biologists had plenty of evidence of the catch through the rodeo and confirmed the species, which is different from the smaller Atlantic bonita.

Fishing the rodeo is a big deal for Davis and his buddies. He admits he pushes the envelope a bit with a single-outboard boat during the rodeo.

“We plan for a while for the rodeo,” he said. “At the beginning of the year, I start finding spots with big fish, and then I leave them untouched until the rodeo. Honestly, I just wing it. If it’s pretty weather, I go far. If it’s not, I stay inshore.”

“I don’t normally go more than 50 to 60 miles in my boat, but I like going out to the pelagic waters and catching tuna. I like the taste of tuna. I was trying to put tuna on the board in a 21-foot boat, just to be known as being kind of crazy.”

To go that far, Davis takes a little extra fuel if he finds a bite he can’t resist.

“I’ve got an 80-gallon tank and get 2.9 miles per gallon,” he said. “I bring 30 gallons extra inside my console just in case. I tell my family that if I do go out that far, I know where Louisiana is. Louisiana is closer than Dauphin Island, so I tell them I’ll call them when I hit the Mississippi River.”

On that fateful day during the rodeo, Davis said they were “chunking” to entice a tuna bite. Chunking involves cutting dead bait into smaller pieces and letting them drift down to attract the targeted species.

With the rods with cut bait out, Davis picked up a rod with a 200-gram Shimano butterfly jig, dropped it into the deep and started rapidly jigging.

“I dropped it down, probably 500 to 600 feet, jigging it back up,” he said. “I probably got to about 100 feet when I got into the bonitos. We put three fish the same size as that one on the boat.”

Davis tried to get the fish back to the rodeo site in time to weigh in on Saturday, but he couldn’t get there in time.

“I had to hold onto the fish for another day, plus we went fishing again,” he said. “So, it was Sunday afternoon before we could weigh the fish. I had the fish out of the water for a long time and still had the record fish. It would have probably been a little heavier if I could have weighed it in earlier, but I just didn’t get the opportunity.”

Davis’ little tunny wasn’t the only fish recently approved for the record books. Tyler Van’t Hoff landed a 52-pound, 14-ounce Almaco jack. Bennie Goldman Jr. caught a 28-pound, 1-ounce horse-eye jack, and William Tyler Cruitt landed a keeltail pomfret that weighed 29.44 pounds.

Also, possibly missed during last year’s first wave of Covid-19, two records were set for big game species. Ginger Myers, on the Fleur de Lis out of Louisiana, landed a state record blue marlin at 851.9 pounds. The marlin was weighed in at the Mobile Big Game Fishing Club at Orange Beach during the Mongo Challenge. In March 2020, Maurice Redell boated a 230-pound yellowfin tuna.

MRD Director Scott Bannon said the record fish illustrates just how good the fishing is in Alabama waters and off the Alabama coast. He also said breaking the little tunny record is special.

“That was the oldest standing record,” Bannon said. “That’s a big fish. State records are about bragging rights and showing off what we have. It’s not a highly sought after fish for eating, but it’s great for bait and exciting to catch. They’re all muscle, like a miniature tuna. When you see state records, it shows we have fantastic resources off of Alabama. Anglers get great opportunities to participate in these fisheries. Everybody wants to catch the big one, and occasionally you get one in the record books.”

In other Marine Resources news, Bannon recently returned from the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council), where the discussion centered on calibration of the state’s estimate of red snapper harvest data.

The calibration pushed by NOAA Fisheries would take the data collected by the five Gulf states and “calibrate” it with the data collected through the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). This “calibration” would cause Alabama to lose almost half of its red snapper quota.

Conservation Commissioner Chris Blankenship attended the public comment portion of the meeting in San Antonio, Texas, and gave an impassioned speech to the Gulf Council concerning multiple facets of red snapper management. He also met individually with Council members from the other Gulf States to explain Alabama’s position on the issues. His efforts proved fruitful as the Gulf Council voted 13-3 to continue to postpone any calibration until 2023 when the new stock assessment should be completed. This new assessment should contain data from the Great Red Snapper Count that was recently completed that showed the Gulf of Mexico has more than three times the red snapper previously counted by NOAA Fisheries. Surprisingly, Susan Boggs of Orange Beach voted with NOAA Fisheries to reduce Alabama’s quota. Had the motioned passed, it could result in a loss of more than $45 million from the Coastal Alabama economy over the first three years of the change.

Bannon also said the next Gulf Council meeting will be held October 25-28 at the Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach, where one of the subjects of discussion will be the status of the cobia fishery.

“Cobia has been a hot topic lately,” he said. “The Council is holding public meetings on cobia management options, and one of those meetings being planned is to be held in conjunction with the Council meeting. We want people who want to discuss their concerns about cobia to come to the Council meeting in Orange Beach.”

David Rainer is an award-winning writer who has covered Alabama’s great outdoors for 25 years. The former outdoors editor at the Mobile Press-Register, he writes for Outdoor Alabama, the website of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

At first glance, Alabama, New Zealand, and Australia have little in common. They’re separated by thousands of miles and centuries of culture. However, despite their distance and dissimilarities, all three locations are connected by one thing: glow worms. Once darkness descends, a strange and extremely rare phenomenon occurs in North Alabama (as well as in places in Australia and New Zealand). The walls of Dismals Canyon light up with tiny pinpricks of bright blue light. The otherworldly display occurs naturally in only three locations in the world—and one happens to be in our very own backyard. Keep reading for all the details on how and when to see them here.

What are the Dismalites?

The source of the magical twinkling display is the larvae of an insect closely related to fungus gnats. The only bioluminescent insect native to North America, Dismalites emit the bluest light of any known animal, and though too tiny to see with the naked eye, they resemble star-shaped flowers up close. The light comes from a chemical reaction in two pairs of light-producing structures, one in the thorax and one near the larvae’s tail end. Like fungus gnats, Dismalites are drawn to mold and moist, dark places—including the dark recesses of damp, algae-covered canyon walls. The Alabama larvae are close cousins to the glowworms found in Australia and New Zealand.

Where can you see them?

If you’re not planning an international trip anytime soon, you’re in luck. North Alabama is home to two locations where you can get up close and personal with all the majesty of the tiny critters.

Designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1975, Dismals Canyon is an 85-acre privately owned and operated nature conservatory. The conservatory is open for hiking and exploring Monday through Sunday, with daytime admission ending between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. each day. To see the Dismalites, guests must schedule a 45-minute guided night tour to gain access to the canyon floor past dusk. Cabin rentals and campsites are available for those who want to spend the night. In addition to miles of hiking trails and other landmarks of interest like Pulpit Rock, Rainbow Falls, and Weeping Bluff, Dismals Canyon also has a soda fountain and grill, as well as a country store, that are open to the public.

Another place to see the Dismalites is at Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve. The 700-acre privately owned natural area in Tuscumbia is open to the public daily and offers primitive camping for those who want to stay up late to view the Dismalites.

How much does it cost to see them?

At Dismals Canyon, night tour admission is $10 for adults, $9 for those over 60, and $7.75 for children under 12. Admission to Cane Creek Canyon is free.

When can you see them?

The best time to see the Dismalites is between April and August. Summer night tours at Dismals Canyon run until July 31 and fall tours return from September 25 through October 30.

Tips

• Leave your flashlight at home! If you want to bring a source of light, a red flashlight is best for viewing.
• Don’t be alarmed if you don’t see the glow right away. Give your eyes time to adjust and things should start lighting up.

(Courtesy of SoulGrown)

Alabama Power is extending the summer pool on Lake Martin into the fall, giving residents more opportunities for boating and recreation on the lake.

In a normal year, the water level at Lake Martin begins to lower around Sept. 1, achieving winter pool levels near mid-November. The lower water level allows the reservoir to capture and store winter rains. The lake begins to rise in early spring, reaching full summer level around the end of April.

The fall drawdown will now begin Oct. 15, and the lake will be down an extra 3 feet from Dec. 31, 2021 to Feb. 17, 2022. This additional drawdown is performed every six years and is a requirement of Alabama Power’s license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

“Drawdowns offer a great chance for lake property owners to work on repairs and improvements to docks, ramps and other permitted construction projects,” said Rhett Hanks, Alabama Power’s Shoreline Management team leader for Lake Martin. “We strongly encourage residents and property owners to contact our Shoreline permitting offices early to allow sufficient time to secure their permits and line up any contractors they may need.”

Residents interested in performing shoreline maintenance during this drawdown should apply now for the necessary lakeshore-use permits by visiting apcshorelines.com/permits or calling the Shoreline Management Office at 256-825-0053 before beginning any construction.

As always, Alabama Power encourages people with boats and other water-related equipment and facilities to pay close attention to the changing conditions on the lake, remain mindful of personal safety and be prepared to take necessary steps to protect their property.

Weather conditions could affect this drawdown schedule. Lake elevations and projections are subject to change.

For details about Alabama Power lakes, visit apcshorelines.com, add the free Alabama Power Shorelines app to your mobile device or call the automated Reservoir Information Line at 1-800-LAKES11 (1-800-525-3711).

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)

Seven projects supporting the important longleaf pine ecosystem in Alabama will benefit from new grants provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF).

The grants will provide support to several nonprofits working in Alabama to improve existing longleaf pine forests and create longleaf habitat in the state.

Alabama Power and its parent company, Southern Company, are among the organizations helping support longleaf pine habitat restoration through NFWF’s Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund.

In all, 21 grants were awarded through the fund to advance longleaf pine habitat restoration across its historic range, which covers portions of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. Together, the grants are expected to establish more than 15,000 new acres of longleaf pine and enhance an additional 400,000 acres of habitat through prescribed burning, invasive species removal and other forest management practices.

“Now in its 10th year of grant-making, the Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund continues to expand and improve the longleaf pine ecosystem, benefiting numerous at-risk species, such as the red-cockaded woodpecker and gopher tortoise,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. “This longstanding public-private partnership has enabled us to engage more project partners, reach more landowners and support landscape-scale projects that will improve and maintain the iconic longleaf pine ecosystem.”

In Alabama, the grants will provide support to several nonprofit organizations working to expand and improve longleaf pine ecosystems in the state, including the Alabama Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy, Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership and the Chattahoochee Fall Line Conservation Partnership. The bulk of the projects involve working with private landowners to enhance longleaf habitat through selective burning, thinning and removal of invasive plants, as well as encouraging landowners to plant more longleaf pines. Providing education, outreach efforts and technical assistance to landowners, contractors and forestry professionals is also part of the plan.

“This is an outstanding partnership that is making a real difference in helping us preserve and expand the longleaf pine ecosystem in our state,” said Jason Carlee, an Environmental Affairs supervisor with Alabama Power.

Longleaf pines once blanketed much of the Southeast, but now exist on a fraction of the historic range after more than a century of logging and development. The longleaf pine habitat is critically important to a wide variety of plants and animals, including at-risk species, such as the northern bobwhite.

Alabama Power has been involved for more than 20 years in cooperative efforts to protect and enhance the longleaf pine ecosystem in the state, including managing company lands that contain longleaf pine forests.

“We’re excited to continue to support and collaborate with our Alabama partners and with NFWF to help bring back this important habitat,” Carlee said.

To learn more about Alabama Power’s efforts to protect and enhance the state’s natural resources, visit www.alabamapower.com and search “environmental stewardship.”

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (ADCNR) State Lands Division announces the youth deer and duck hunt schedules for the M. Barnett Lawley Forever Wild Field Trial Area (FWFTA) in Hale County. The hunts will take place late November 2021 through January 2022. Registration will open September 14 and run until November 1. Hunters will be selected via a computerized, random drawing after registration closes.

“I am thrilled that we will have an opportunity again this year to introduce youth to the great deer and duck hunting on this Forever Wild property,” said Chris Blankenship, ADCNR Commissioner and Chairman of the Forever Wild Board of Trustees.

Youth Deer Hunt Dates:

• November 24, 27
• December 1, 4, 29
• January 5, 8, 12, 15, 26, 29

Youth Duck Hunt Dates

• November 27
• December 4, 29
• January 5, 8, 12, 15, 26, 29

Phil Cowley from Seale, Alabama, took his son, John, on a FWFTA youth duck hunt in January of 2018.

John was 9 years old at the time of his hunt. He was already interested in the outdoors, but this was his first experience hunting waterfowl with his dad.

The day of their hunt was very cold and perfect for duck hunting. After checking in at the station, Phil and John were taken to their hunting spot – a corner of an impoundment with plenty of cover on the leeward side of a high levee. Phil used an aerial photo on his phone to help the pair orient themselves.

“The location was perfect,” Phil said. “We were out of the howling wind and in an inviting spot for ducks.”

The first ducks started dropping in before legal shooting hours, verifying they’d been placed in a prime location.

“When legal shooting hours began, the birds were still flying,” Phil said. “After the initial shots I was no longer a shooter but an ammo loader for my son. The birds flew for about 45 minutes and we ended up with close to our limit.”

The father and son duo harvested blue-winged teal, green-winged teal and gadwall that they took home and pan fried in a wine reduction.

“The field trial area youth hunt is the best waterfowl hunt John has been on so far and he is hooked,” Phil said. “It was a wonderful experience that deepened his passion for hunting.”

To register for a hunt, visit https://publichunts.dcnr.alabama.gov/Public/AvailableHunts during the registration period listed above.

Registration for the FWFTA youth hunts is only available to parents or adults who are at least 21 years old and have a Conservation ID number. A hunting license is not required at the time of registration. However, if selected during the random draw, you must have a valid hunting license to accept the hunt permit. If selected for a hunt, you will receive an email requesting that you validate/accept the permit. Once the permit is accepted, you will receive an email with the hunt details.

To participate in the youth hunts, youth hunters must be age 15 or younger and accompanied by an adult at least 21 years old (or a parent). Adults must have a valid state hunting license and applicable duck stamp, if duck hunting. Hunters must obtain their license and duck stamp (if duck hunting) before the hunt since they will not be available on-site. Licenses are available for purchase at various retailers throughout the state or online at www.outdooralabama.com.

All deer harvested during the FWFTA youth hunts must be reported via Alabama’s Game Check system. Hunters have 48 hours to Game Check their harvest through the Outdoor AL mobile app or online at www.outdooralabama.com.

In addition to being required when registering for the FWFTA youth hunts, a Conservation ID number is the fastest and easiest way to report a deer or turkey harvest. This number is unique to each hunter and can also be used to purchase future licenses, obtain Harvest Information Program (HIP) permits, register for Special Opportunity Area hunts and more. For information about how to obtain a Conservation ID number, visit www.outdooralabama.com/hunting.

For more information about the hunt details or registration process, call Zachary Heard with the ADCNR State Lands Division at (334) 721-9796, or email Zachary.Heard@dcnr.alabama.gov.

The M. Barnett Lawley Forever Wild Field Trial Area consists of 4,300 acres in Hale County and is managed as a nature preserve and recreation area. In addition to developing a sporting dog test ground and a youth hunting program, the ADCNR State Lands Division is currently restoring the tract’s native prairie grasslands and managing its numerous ponds for public fishing events.

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources promotes wise stewardship, management and enjoyment of Alabama’s natural resources through four divisions: Marine Resources, State Lands, State Parks, and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. To learn more about ADCNR, visit www.outdooralabama.com.

The Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division’s Law Enforcement Section K-9 Unit has integrated the latest technology in its quest to track down poachers and those attempting to flee from law enforcement as well as missing persons.

In a training session held recently in Baldwin County, the WFF K-9 unit and other WFF Conservation Enforcement Officers (CEOs) demonstrated the use of a tracking system to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department and law enforcement officers from several municipalities in the county.

The technology involves GPS tracking collars for the beagles used by the K9 Unit as well as a tracking unit that is on board the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) helicopter. When a search is in progress, each tracking unit, worn by K-9s in the form of a collar, is displayed on a screen in the portable command center, CEO vehicles and the helicopter to maximize search efficiency.

The WFF K-9 Unit was created in 2019 after CEO Brad Gavins became interested in the Alabama Department of Corrections’ (DOC) use of tracking dogs to find escaped prisoners. Corrections gave WFF one of their dogs to try and soon the K-9 unit came into existence. WFF now has eight tracking beagles deployed with Conservation Enforcement Officers around the state.

CEOs Jason McHenry of Autauga County and Ben Kiser of Calhoun County are among the officers with tracking beagles, and they were among the WFF staff at the recent training session.

McHenry explained the practical rural canine training that occurred at Perdido River Wildlife Management Area.

“We have a mock scenario set up where an individual, the suspect, is in the woods,” McHenry said. “The initial officer on the scene has made a traffic stop. That individual has fled into the woods. That officer has contacted his supervisor and asked for backup, which includes DOC, ALEA Aviation and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries to assist in establishing a perimeter and tracking.”

McHenry said when the supervisor arrives at the scene, that individual sets up the incident command, which is the hub of communications. Responding officers check in at incident command to keep track of the officers in the field and issue assignments at the scene.

Hitching a ride with McHenry and Kiser, we loaded into McHenry’s vehicle equipped with the Garmin DriveTrack tracking receiver and rode the perimeter as the WFF K-9 Unit unloaded their tracking dogs to pick up the scent at the site where the suspect entered the woods.

During the exercise, McHenry and Kiser were able to watch the screen and see the positions of the dogs and the ALEA helicopter as they performed the search for the suspect. This allowed the WFF CEOs to move their vehicle and personnel into a position to best intercept the suspect.

Gavins, the CEO in Crenshaw County, is the team leader for the WFF K-9 unit, which procures all the beagles, man-tracking dogs from DOC already trained. The beagles are trained not to bark so the suspect won’t be alerted to the tracking team’s approach.

Gavins said the WFF K-9 Unit assists local law enforcement agencies on manhunts, and the recent training was the result of discussions on how to best coordinate their efforts and increase the chances of apprehending suspects or finding the missing persons as quickly as possible.

“We’ve had discussions on what goes right and what goes wrong during a manhunt,” Gavins said. “We talked about what we can do to get the information out to the agencies that will be on scene, setting up the search and communicating more efficiently so that we have a safer, more effective search. When the Garmin DriveTrack became available to our agency about a year ago, it worked out so well that our Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries officers became perimeter security for many searches across the state. Since we can see where the canines are in real time on a satellite image map, it becomes possible to direct officers to the area that a suspect may be fleeing through or to an area where a lost child or person suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease may be located. We can see all the roads, food plots and terrain features. If the canines start to get close to a road, our officers can shut down the road for the safety of the dogs or prepare for a fleeing fugitive.”

The WFF officers can gather information from the ALEA helicopter and DOC and relay that information to the incident command center or whatever agency is in control of the scene.

Gavins said WFF works closely with the DOC and can assist in any search effort.

“We train with them and we already have the DOC tracking collar codes programmed into our computers,” he said. “If they call and ask us to come to a certain county to assist them, we turn our computers on and we can see where their dogs are on the ground. We can immediately start assisting without having to find out where the dogs are.”

Gavins said ALEA Aviation and several county aviation units tested the system and agreed to install a tracking unit in their aircraft.

“It’s a game changer for a manhunt or a search for a missing person,” Gavins said. “Sometimes the suspect can be miles ahead of the dogs. The helicopter knows where we are and can tell us if it’s a hot track or a cold track. It actually helps them get in the area where the person is running, and it keeps them in the area where the person is. With this tactic, the suspect’s focus remains on the aviation assets. It helps suppress the suspect’s movement as long as the aircraft is there. Through interviews with suspects after they have been apprehended, it became evident that if the helicopter makes a loop or is gone to refuel, that’s when a fugitive will try to cross a road or make a move. In the suspect’s mind, if the aviation is in the area, they know where they are, which keeps their attention on the aviation instead of the other efforts with the tracking dogs and pursuing officers.”

Gavins said once word spread of how successful the new technology was for performing searches, other law enforcement agencies became interested. The WFF K-9 Unit started working to develop a training course that would bring the outside enforcement agencies into the group. The training that was developed includes a morning of classroom discussion, followed by an afternoon of demonstrating the tracking system with WFF K-9s, WFF officers and the ALEA helicopter.

Gavins said the classroom discussion includes communications, incident command preparation and tracking site contamination mitigation techniques.

“When we developed the classroom portion and practical portion, one thing that was important was to clearly establish the call-out protocol for ALEA Aviation, DOC and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries,” he said. “What ALEA Aviation stressed was that any enforcement agency that needed their help for a manhunt or finding a missing person should call right away instead of waiting eight or nine hours. ALEA’s concern was found to be the same concern that all agencies involved in this training expressed. We talk about protocols that need to be followed for a missing person or suspect – things that need to be done before calling aviation or the K-9 unit. This falls into the hands of the first responding law enforcement officer on scene. The key is to set that up right away and not contaminate the area for the canines.”

David Rainer is an award-winning writer who has covered Alabama’s great outdoors for 25 years. The former outdoors editor at the Mobile Press-Register, he writes for Outdoor Alabama, the website of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Less than a year after work on the Great Red Snapper Count, which changed the way scientists estimate fish populations in the Gulf of Mexico, Dr. Sean Powers of the University of South Alabama is leading a “Dream Team” of researchers in an $11.7 million study of the greater amberjack species.

The Greater Amberjack Research Project, funded by the National Sea Grant College Program and National Marine Fisheries Service, could have significant implications for commercial and recreational fishing and coastal economies supported by those industries.

This study is the first major grant for South’s new School of Marine and Environmental Sciences. The project will use some of the latest video and acoustical equipment, along with methods developed at South, to count fish in the Gulf and South Atlantic.

“The technology of underwater cameras, the resolution and our ability to measure fish, is much better now,” said Powers, chair of marine sciences at South and a senior marine scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.  “Remotely operated vehicles have gotten more accessible to researchers and allow amazing imagery to be collected. The hydroacoustics, the same instruments that give you a bottom image with a fish finder, have gotten much easier to use and afford. All of that has required a lot of development, not only of the technology, but the software to process that technology.”

The amberjack project will rely on sampling and observational work — actually counting fish — rather than previous estimates that relied on catch data from the fishery, along with complicated mathematical models.

“It’s not an easy thing to do,” said Powers, “but that’s what we did for the red snapper count, and that’s what we think we can do with the greater amberjack count.”

Researchers from a dozen different universities will work on the Greater Amberjack Research Program. These include Auburn University, Texas A&M, Louisiana State University and the University of Florida. Also involved are Sea Grant programs from nine states ranging from North Carolina to Florida and Georgia to Texas.

“It’s kind of a dream team of fishery ecologists,” Powers said. “We have everybody from geneticists to modelers to statisticians to oceanographers. We probably have a good 300 years of collective experience doing this.”

The goal of the program is to improve agency estimates of fish populations by developing additional data sources, assessment approaches and knowledge of fisheries.

“The Greater Amberjack abundance study in the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico is one way Sea Grant is helping to ensure a safe and sustainable supply of seafood products for current and future generations,” said National Sea Grant College Program Director Jonathan Pennock. “This project will provide valuable information for the management of Greater Amberjack as well as insight useful to future fisheries research and engagement.”

In 2020, Congress appropriated $5 million to the Fisheries Service and $5 million to Sea Grant for the amberjack program. Matching funds from institutions bring the total budget to $11.7 million.

“I am pleased that the University of South Alabama and Auburn University have been selected as institutions awarded grant funding for the Greater Amberjack Abundance Study,” said U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. “This is great news for anglers along the Gulf Coast. The research grant will help resolve discrepancies in regard to Greater Amberjack stock assessments and inform researchers of the best ways to monitor these populations moving forward. Alabama scientists and researchers are leaders when it comes to reef fish management, and I am confident that this project will be successful as a result of their involvement.”

Dr. Steven Scyphers, who earned his Ph.D at South, is now an assistant professor of marine science at Northeastern University in Boston. He is one of the many scientists working with Powers on the greater amberjack study.

“This is an enormous project,” Scyphers said. “There are nearly 20 investigators at the highest level.”

He and his team of graduate researchers will be interviewing Gulf fisherman about what they’ve witnessed in fishing for greater amberjack. Joining them in this task will be Dr. Marcus Drymon, an assistant professor at Mississippi State University, who also worked at South and Sea Lab.

The University’s investment in marine science resulted in grants for the greater amberjack study. It remains a leader in Gulf research and the instruction of young marine scientists.

“It was perfect training for a career in fisheries and coastal management,” said Scyphers. “I’m a tremendous fan of South Alabama.”

Management of reef fish has been highly contentious in the southeastern United States, with fishermen arguing that species have been undercounted, resulting in too-short fishing seasons. The Great Red Snapper Count offered an estimate of 110 million fish, three times larger than previous estimates, which could result in more days of fishing.

Congressional support has been key for this type of research endeavor because the scale of the projects requires more funding than a typical grant competition would give. Congress is interested in resolving the apparent discrepancy between what their constituents are seeing on the water and what the formal stock assessments are showing.

The annual season for greater amberjack is 60 days. There are two periods, one in May-April and one in August-September.

The Greater Amberjack Research Project will take two or three years to complete. This summer, scientists will begin creating a comprehensive habitat map of the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

The greater amberjack, or Seriola dumerili, will be more difficult to count than the red snapper.

“Red snapper are a very well-studied species, but the greater amberjack is not,” Powers said. “We don’t know a lot about its migration and movements.”

The research project will use different underwater methods in different underwater environments.

“The underwater video works great from Alabama through Florida,” Powers said. “From Louisiana to Texas, the bottom 10 meters, you often can’t see anything, but the acoustics can penetrate that. You have to pair these technologies.

“There are also brand new technologies like eDNA — environmental DNA. Fish essentially defecate in the water, and they also get eaten, and these things leave traces in the water. So you can sample the water and figure out if a species has been there. That’s been done for a while with endangered species like sturgeon. What we’re trying to do is correlate the amount of eDNA with a density of fish.”

Research will help scientists decide which technologies are most promising for years to come. The end goal is maintaining a healthy and prosperous fishery for everyone, including those who make their living from the seafood industry along the Gulf Coast.

“What the fishermen want is increased catch levels and more days at sea,” Powers said. “That means more charter boat trips, more hotel stays, more gas, more bait. In coastal Alabama, as well as Louisiana and Florida, offshore fishing has a tremendous economic impact. It really makes or breaks some of these local economies.”

(Courtesy of the University of South Alabama)

To say the Auburn University Bass Fishing Team had a big weekend at nationals would be an understatement.

Just days after the talented tandem of Logan Parks and Tucker Smith won the title of Carhartt Bassmaster College Series 2021 Team of the Year, four other Auburn anglers made a big splash at the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops. The teams of Conner Crosby/James Cobbs and Sam Hanggi/Sam Hoesley not only advanced to Championship Saturday at the St. Lawrence River in Waddington, New York, but finished among the top six in a battle with more than 120 college teams from across the country.

Crosby and Cobbs reeled in a third-place finish with a total haul of 59 pounds, 8 ounces, with Hanggi and Hoesley netting sixth place at 57 pounds, 11 ounces. With the top-three finish, Crosby and Cobbs also qualified for the College Classic Bracket — a limited-field event scheduled for later this year that will send one angler to the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk — where they will join Parks and Smith, who qualified via their Team of the Year victory.

“I still can’t believe it, honestly,” said Crosby, a fifth-year senior majoring in fisheries, aquaculture and aquatic sciences who plans to attend graduate school after completing his undergraduate degree next spring. “We just went up there just trying to have fun, and it was our main goal just to make it to that tournament. Of course, you want to do well in the tournament, but we didn’t really have any expectations.

“On the way up, I was talking to my partner and saying, ‘Let’s go catch a 20-plus-pound bag and take home some hardware.’ Something just felt right, and everything just seemed to fall in place. Every decision we made was the right decision.”

The outpouring of support for the entire Auburn team was overwhelming for the anglers.

“It was crazy and kind of choked me up,” said Crosby, who qualified for nationals with Cobbs in the final regular-season event of the year. “On the way to the (boat) ramp at 5 o’clock in the morning — which was 4 o’clock Central time — I was getting 50 text messages from everybody on the team, all my family and friends, saying ‘Good luck,’ ‘Go get ‘em,’ and ‘It’s going to happen.’ That was just the whole mind frame — if it’s going to happen, it’ll happen.”

Parks and Smith received a $2,500 check along with a boatload of prizes for being named the nation’s top collegiate team after finishing no worse than 16^th in four regular-season collegiate events this year at a variety of water types across the country. Parks, a senior, and Smith, an incoming sophomore this fall, won an event on Saginaw Bay in Bangor Charter Township, Michigan, in mid-June to take home Team of the Year honors by a record points margin.

“It’s pretty cool to say you’re the No. 1-ranked boat in the entire country,” said Parks, a double major in supply chain management and information systems management who will graduate this December. “It’s a pretty big honor to be able to hold that trophy up. Being consistent is really what it’s about.

“We fished all over the country, so you have to be a diverse fisherman and can’t be just a one-trick pony. You’ve got to be able to do everything everywhere, and being able to fish all those different bodies of water definitely helps prepare you for a career in fishing afterward, too.”

Auburn’s team enjoyed immense success in 2021, landing 10 two-man pairs in the field for the national championship, which ran Aug. 12-14. Six of those 10 teams finished among the top 60, with seven ending up in the top 70 of the final standings.

This year’s accomplishments further cemented Auburn as a major player in the collegiate fishing ranks.

“We’re definitely one of the most well-known college teams overall just because of some of the famous alumni who fished for Auburn and are pros now,” said Parks, who plans to become a professional angler after graduation. “This year, I think we have a good shot at the School of the Year title for the No. 1-ranked school in the country, because we’ve got a lot of good guys. We’re pretty pumped about that.”

Auburn’s high level of internal competition among team members is a great motivator for the anglers to take their skills to the next level.

“Being on the Auburn team, you’re around the best in the nation,” Crosby said. “There’s no bad people on the team, and you’ve got to bring your A game no matter what.

“I feel like that’s helped me the last two years I’ve been on the team. I feel like I became a better angler and a better person.”

The quartet of Tigers will next take on the nation’s other top four collegiate anglers at the College Classic Bracket in October, an event with still-to-be-determined dates and location that will be featured on Fox Sports 1. Auburn’s anglers are excited about the chance to win that event and punch their ticket to next year’s Bassmaster Classic.

“That’s huge, and it’s probably the biggest win you can have in college is to win that tournament, because you get to go on and fish in the Bassmaster Classic,” Parks said. “That’s basically the Super Bowl of bass fishing, and you’ve got millions of fans watching that tournament. That would be huge recognition for yourself and your school if you were to win it, and to have four of the eight people competing in it, Auburn’s got a 50 percent chance of one of us getting to go. So, it’s pretty exciting.”

This story originally appeared on Auburn University’s website.

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)