From Cabinets 
To Catching Bass 


Alabama cabinet company
follows Ray Scott's "Great
Small Waters" lake building
plan…

ASHLAND, Alabama - When Ray Scott, the founder of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.), looks out his vehicle window at the passing terrain, he doesn't see woods, grass or ditches. He sees a would-be flooded bass lake.

Scott, best known as the mastermind behind the cast-for-cash sport of professional bass fishing, enjoys digging in the dirt. In his spare time, he builds trophy bass lakes.

Scott's 55-acre fishing lake near Pintlala, Alabama is called the "Presidential Lake" because of past fishing trips by U. S. President George Bush and George W. Bush. The Scott-designed trophy bass factory has gained worldwide attention as the ideal man-made impoundment.

Scott's claim to fame and requests for information on how to build such a lake resulted in his filming a three-volume video series appropriately named "Great Small Waters."

That's how Scott met Paul Wellborn, president of Wellborn Cabinets, a 40-something year-old company based in Ashland, Alabama.

Paul Wellborn has grand plans to turn a 35-acre hole in the ground into a "prime bass fishery" and develop a recreational showplace around bass fishing.

Unlike some resorts or company retreats built around a golf course, the Wellborn Cabinet project is unique in more ways than one. Besides the 35-acre lake, a 13,000 square-foot lodge and a sporting clays range are planned.

The rewards of "watching a cork go under" or catching a trophy bass are a few months down the road, but the Wellborn company can dream a bit. A Ray Scott-designed fishing hole is to bass fishermen what a Jack Nicklaus-built course is to golfers.

The first thing you'll find out about a Ray Scott creation is that it's more that a flooded hole in the ground. "The largemouth bass is an ambush critter," says Scott. "That means a bass hides in cover and waits for a baitfish to swim by. Scott explains a bass is built for short, quick runs and not a marathon swimmer. "That's why you want to put a lot of the right-placed structure in a lake," says Scott.

Structure or cover are objects on the lake bottom. In a man-made lake, brush piles, rock piles, staked automobile tires, old car bodies, and ridges or drop-offs and standing timber provide "ambush points" for bass - and hide-outs for bream and other little critters.

On site at the Wellborn lake location, Scott, in his mind's-eye, plotted locations for structure spots and related the layout to depth contours. "Ideal water depth for planting structure is six feet, like a man-made ridge near deeper water," said Scott. "This will act as a feeding shelf where bass can relocate from deeper water."

As a rule, pond owners frequently place cover in a lake such as discarded Christmas trees - but Scott suggests "bois 'd arc" trees. "Those hedgeapple trees are like iron wood," continued Scott, "and will not rot away like a Christmas tree."

Digging the hole, building the dam, adding the special structure and stocking the lake are all important, says Scott, "but managing the fishery for trophy bass fishing is the key."

He says a good forage base - like bluegill or bream - is important to maintain. The food chain is the link to bigger bass. Ponds need to be fertilized to promote growth of plankton to feed the baitfish which provide forage for largemouth bass at the peak of the pyramid.

The Wellborn Lake will be the centerpiece of the some 600-acre recreational area located about one mile form the cabinets manufacturing facilities.

A Ray Scott signature lake has served as the unique attraction for a residential development in Birmingham, Alabama. "Rather than a golf course, builders are finding out more people fish than tee it up," said Scott.

"This 35-acre Wellborn Lake, no doubt, will provide a world-class fishing experience," believes Scott. "You're doing it right to start with," he congratulated Paul Wellborn.

The three-volume video set on "How To Build Great Small Waters" is available from Ray Scott Outdoors, Inc., 238 Whitetail Trail, Pintlala, Alabama 36043 or Ph. 1-800-518-7222 to order. Or visit the Ray Scott Outdoors website at www.rayscott.net for information.