Living In Paradise Is
Just A Short Cast Away

Resort Community Lures Buyers
With "Great Small Waters"
Designed by Ray Scott

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Resort community developers and builders have long known the value of designing their projects around a special golf course for attracting links addicts to buy and build.

Lately, the appeal is being channeled toward angling addicts. And, "The market is wide open with far more fishermen than golfers to lure as potential residents," according to Scott Smallwood, sales manager for Highland Lakes, an upscale residential development near Birmingham, Alabama.

With some 52 million fishermen to draw from, resort developers see the demand for lake development. Eddlemann Properties, Inc., the developer of Highland Lakes, has gone the extra mile to make its four fishing lakes the centerpiece of the community's over 1,700 acres.

"These are great bass fishing lakes, designed by Ray Scott, the founder of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.)," points out Smallwood.

The promise of quality bass fishing lured Ron Davis to the Highland Lakes property. "I caught a seven-pound bass," says Davis, who adds, "the fishing is extremely good and the lakes are well managed and fertilized."

Scott Smallwood points out, "The developers talked with the fisheries department at Auburn University and to pond management groups in the Southeast, and the unanimous recommendation for designing such a bass attraction was Ray Scott."

Scott of Pintlala, Alabama, known as the "Bass Boss," is the founder of world's largest fishing organization, B.A.S.S., with over 600,000 members.

But, among avid bass anglers, Scott is regarded as the master of "Great Small Waters" for bass fishing. His three-set video series on designing, constructing and managing small lakes and ponds as a trophy bass fishery is heralded among fishermen and fishery biologists, alike.

Scott's thumbprint for growing big bass is "bass holding structure, more structure, and pouring the groceries to the bass."

The proof pays off in the creel, says Scott. "For so long, pond owners and builders made an effort to remove all the cover and structure. Most lakes were more like big soup bowls entirely void of debris. Bass are ambush critters. They relate to cover and structure."

Scott consulted with the Highland Lakes staff and developed four unique lakes - Blue Heron, Highland Glen, Highland and Swan. The lake bottoms were contoured to provide fish-holding structure.

A regulated stocking plan for bass and forage fish was implemented along with a management program to fertilize for weed control and nourishment of the food chain.

Scott's proven steps to success and his videotape instruction applies to new lake creation or the rehabilitation of older, established lakes or ponds.

Scott's signature lake is his own 55-acre big bass factory located in the piney woods west of Pintlala in south Montgomery County. The super bass lake gained national attention as the location for fishing trips by then President George Bush and now President George W. Bush.

But, viewers of "The BASSMASTERS" tv show on The Nashville Network (TNN) cable system recall the size of the bass not the celebrity status of the fisherman. For the record, four-time world champion Rick Clunn boated the "President's Lake" record catch of 13.89 pounds, a huge largemouth.

However, Ray Scott says, "You can create your own private honey hole - from one to five acres - with the right know-how. Smaller lakes can be managed and manicured to perfection."

"The last thing most fishermen think about in creating an outstanding fishery is getting a soil test, but that's where it all starts for a management plan. You've got to know if the lake needs liming or not."

As Scott explains, lime neutralizes acidic soil on the bottom and allows the fertilizer to do its job. Without the proper water pH, "you can dump a train load of fertilizer into a lake and still get poor results."

"Proper fertilization is all-important because that's the basis of the food chain," continues Scott. "The tiniest minnows feed on algae and if there's no algae growth, the minnows go hungry. If your pond doesn't have minnows, there's nothing for the small bream…as a result the bass start to starve, too.

"Without proper fertilization," declares Scott, "the food chain has no foundation. Without a firm foundation, there's no hope to develop a trophy bass fishery."

Since building his 55-acre jewel, Scott completed a five-acre impoundment, as the case study for his video production of "secrets to creating GREAT SMALL WATERS." The three volume video series details the entire construction, including planning, building artificial reef-structures, stocking, fertilization and maintenance.

Site selection and how-to obtain free assistance from government agencies and how-to get the most from the pond contractor, including how-to build a foolproof over-flow system are detailed in over two hours of video instruction.

Putting structure in an established impoundment can be a challenge. Any wood structure left standing, most likely, has long since decayed and the trees toppled.

Here's a quick-fix Ray Scott labels as his "pickle barrel habitat." Using a five-gallon pickle container, a plastic bucket, picked up at a local restaurant, Scott builds a bass-holding magnet.

With the bucket, cut hardwood limbs to size to fashion a vertical structure. Insert a seven-foot length of angle iron through the bucket's bottom, add a bag of ready-mix concrete. Allow cement to harden, then place the structure in three to four feet of depth, and drive the angle iron into the bottom with a sledge hammer.

"It's a simple, inexpensive method to add bass-holding structure to a new or old lake," points out Scott. "This pickle barrel habitat will last a long time, much longer than a bunch of Christmas trees tied to a cement block."

To obtain more information on Ray Scott's complete Guide to Creating "GREAT SMALL WATERS," call 1-800-518-7222 at Ray Scott Outdoors, Inc., in Pintlala, Alabama. The three-set volume is $69.95 and can be ordered by mail or e-mail.

For information on the Highland Lakes, contact: Eddleman Properties, Inc., Mountain Brook Center, 2700 Hwy 280, Suite 325, Birmingham, AL 35223. The Highland Lakes sales office number is (205) 991-7060.

For consultations by resort developers on planning and creating small waters as trophy bass attractions, call Ray Scott direct at (334) 281-3661 at Ray Scott Outdoors, Inc.

Additional photos are available by clicking above links or at:   www.rayscott.net/news/nrphotos