Net Results

A trio of St. Clair anglers make a splash at Bassmaster Classic

Story by Paul South
Submitted, staff photos

The PGA Tour has its FedEx Cup. NASCAR drivers put the pedal to the metal and trade paint gunning for The Chase.

 And Matt Herren, Wes Logan and Joey Nania professional anglers with St. Clair County ties, hoped to make their mark at the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk, where the best bass fishermen in the world gathered in hopes of reeling in the sport’s most prestigious prize, fishing’s Super Bowl.

Nania finished 13th with winnings of $15,000; Logan finished 23rd with $13,000 in winnings; and Herren finished 32nd with $10,000 in winnings.

Wes Logan reels one in.

The 2022 classic came to Lake Hartwell, a man-made body of water near Greenville, S.C., in early March. While St. Clair County has made a mark in the NFL – with San Francisco defensive end Dee Ford (Odenville) and Major League Baseball with Springville native and Detroit Tiger hurler Casey Mize, the county’s biggest pro sports splash may be in professional fishing, thanks in large part to Herren, Logan and Nania. Seven anglers who have competed on the pro circuit call the county home.

It’s not unusual in sports to see large metropolitan areas produce world-class competitors. But for a largely rural county like St. Clair that’s peppered with small towns, three world-class competitors from the county in a sport’s marquee event is worth cheering, regardless of the end results.

“It’s kind of a cool thing to think about,” said Springville’s Logan. “With our county being so small and three of us competing in it. I think it just shows the caliber of fishing in Alabama and especially in Central Alabama where our county’s located. It gives a testament to the lakes and rivers in the surrounding area about how good they are and how diverse they are.”

Located near the South Carolina-Georgia border, the 87.5-square-mile Lake Hartwell reservoir is comprised by waters from the Savannah, Tugaloo and Seneca rivers and is one of the Southeast’s largest lakes.

Hartwell’s deep waters presented a trophy-sized challenge for Classic competitors. In fact, the 2022 Classic was Logan’s first-ever tournament on Hartwell. The lake is known for its deep waters, similar to Northwest Alabama’s Smith Lake. By contrast, the lakes of the Coosa are stained and shallow.

Anglers call Hartwell a Blueback Herring lake, named for the small migratory fish that’s a favorite bite for the big bass of Hartwell. Because the herring are on the move, it makes anglers’ quest for a catch a bigger challenge. Bluebacks can be in one patch of water in the morning, another by the afternoon, taking the famished bigger fish with them.

“(The herring) roam around a lot,” Logan said. “They’re nomadic. “If you find fish on Tuesday. They’re liable to be gone by Tuesday afternoon. The fish just follow the bait.”

The 50,000-acre lake’s deep waters – a maximum of 185 feet – offers another challenge for anglers.

“It’s going to set up a little bit different than I’m used to, being from around the Coosa River, where it’s shallow fishing mostly. The baitfish and the way the fish act is going to be really different,” Logan said.

“Hartwell is a really good lake, just in general,” he added. “I got to free practice over there for a couple of days, and it seemed to have a really good population of fish in it … I know from past Classics there, it’s a really good lake.”

Joey Nania celebrates win at Bassmaster Elite Series

Herren is an Ashville resident who grew up fishing with his dad, Butch, on Neely Henry Lake. At 59, he’s one of the senior competitors on the B.A.S.S. circuit who didn’t become a full pro angler until 2003. Before that, he worked in his dad’s Birmingham body shop. He married his wife, Candy, and the couple raised two sons, Josh and Jacob.

But this year’s Bassmaster Classic will mark his 17th major championship tournament since 2003.

“To me, the tournament fishing was kind of an afterthought; I just always loved to fish. I’ve been competitive my whole life. I mean, I played sports in school … One thing led to another.”

The pro fishing game has changed since Herren was in high school and college, when tournament fishing “just wasn’t that big a deal.” Now, it’s a big money game, with tournament cash, television, endorsement deals, even video games. Hank Cherry Jr. took home a $300,000 first-prize check after winning last year’s Classic.

“I think I was 39 when I went full time. The sport has kind of evolved into something the younger guys are getting into. It’s growing by leaps and bounds,” Herren said.

But one of pro fishing’s graybeards isn’t intimidated by the young bucks he faces on tour.

“I’m still highly competitive now,” Herren said. “These young whippersnappers, I can still run with ‘em.”

Herren breaks down Lake Hartwell, much like a football or basketball coach breaks down an opponent. In fishing, the seasons, weather patterns and more are taken into account.

“Every body of water we fish will offer an angler areas that he likes to fish, styles, certain techniques. That’s how I try to go about doing my job,” Herren said. “I try to fish the techniques and patterns that are my strong suit and just see what happens … I just try to be consistent and do what I do.”

A St. Clair County transplant – Joey Nania – moved with his wife and kids to Cropwell from Washington state. In 2009, he competed in the Bassmaster Classic on Lay Lake. He met Rick Hughes, a Cropwell evangelist and “a really good fisherman.” The two became friends, and Nania visited the following summer. The combination of faith, family values and fishing lured Nania to settle in the county. He now calls Pell City home.

Nania accepted Christ at 19 after meeting Hughes. Later, Nania met his future wife, Jessica, and his career took off. He calls it “a string of blessings.” His newfound faith – belief he shares on tour, played a role in his decision to move south.

Along with his pro career, he is a fishing guide on the Coosa River system, Smith Lake and Lake Martin.

“It’s just such a great location, and it’s just the fact about Alabama. If you can learn to fish in Alabama, you can fish anywhere in the country because we have such diversity, Nania said.

Nania has fished Hartwell before, beginning with an episode of a fishing show he hosted for seven years called, Sweetwater. Hartwell is comparable to Smith Lake in Alabama, Nania said.

“I really like the size of the lake. It’s a big body of water; but it didn’t seem like overwhelmingly big. Having the mixture of spotted bass and largemouth and having multiple options that aren’t far apart, is great … If you can catch spots and have a largemouth pattern going, it’s a good way to go. And Lake Hartwell fits that bill.”

Regardless of how St. Clair’s three Bassmaster Classic competitors fared, Logan, Herren and Nania are proud to represent their home county in pro bass fishing’s Super Bowl. The trio are good friends. And all take pride in representing St. Clair County.

“It really just goes to show that fishing is deeply rooted in the South, especially this area of Alabama.” Nania said. “There’s just so many different lakes, and fishing is just sort of a way of life around here. It’s faith, family and then fishing is kind of the motto for people around here. I know Wes Logan and Matt are like that, too

“It’s really a cool thing to see all of us succeeding and has been awesome and just a total blessing.”

Zeke Gossett Going Pro

Local fishing star has a ‘big string’ of blessings

Story by Paul South
Submitted photos

For most, in fishing terms, 2020 was an empty net, a snapped rod or a snarled line. But the past 12 months witnessed a string of blessings for Zeke Gossett.

 As a member of the Jacksonville State University Fishing Team, Gossett was one of the nation’s top collegiate anglers. Teamed with fellow Gamecock Lucas Smith, he was part of the Carhartt Bassmaster College Team of the Year. In December, he received his degree in Recreational Leadership with a minor in Coaching. He joined the B.A.S.S. Pro Tour. And best tidings of all, his parents, Curtis and Laura, are recovering from the coronavirus.

“It was terrible,” Zeke told bassmaster.com about his parents’ illness. Curtis Gossett, who suffers from asthma, wound up on a ventilator. “One day, they tried to take the tube out, and it didn’t work. The next day, by the grace of God, his numbers went up to where he was strong enough to get the tube out. I just want to thank everyone for the prayers. Him and Mom are on the uptrend and doing a lot better.”

‘Gone fishing’ a way of life

On a windless day in early December, Zeke was in a boat on Logan Martin, working his craft. Fishing was slow, perfect for a phone interview. He recounted his unusual, but magical year.

Zeke and Lucas, Bassmaster College Team of the Year

Like many youngsters, his fishing journey began with his father, who also competed on the tournament trail. He was his coach at Pell City High School and now coaches at Briarwood.

“He was always real patient with me,” Zeke said. “I loved spending time with him, of course. But fishing has always been a part of my life and our family’s life for sure.”

He added, “Just having a dad that spent the time with me – junior fishing and high school fishing were just starting to become popular. I grew up in it. Doing it from a young age, I love the competition. No drug can get you as high as winning a tournament, big or small.”

His parents have been with him on this journey to the professional ranks, particularly Curtis, who has spent “countless hours” and at every tournament, every weigh-in on the journey.

“They’ve always supported me in my dream to become a professional angler,” Zeke said. “They’ve always wanted me to do this ever since I said I wanted to. They are definitely my biggest supporters, bar none, to this day.”

He didn’t disappoint. Zeke captured 12 state titles between ages 11 and 18 on the way to becoming a high school All-American. In fact, he won the first two tournaments he ever fished as a junior angler (B.A.S.S. And FLW). As you can guess, he was hooked.

At the collegiate level, Jacksonville State competed against SEC schools. There are no divisions, so schools compete against each other, regardless of size.

“We fished against everybody. Auburn, Alabama, people like that,” he said.

Competing first at Jefferson State, then for Jacksonville, his teams were nationally ranked four times in five years. Jacksonville’s best finish was 16th nationally.

Zeke fished his first tournament as a pro in December 2020, finishing in the middle of the pack among some 170 anglers in the B.A.S.S. Open Series on Lay Lake. But he won’t officially join the tour until the 2021 season. He’s come up through the B.A.S.S. ranks, from juniors, to college and now to the pros, fishing lakes from Upstate New York to Florida.

He will compete on the B.A.S.S. Pro Tour, and he laid out his reasons for joining B.A.S.S. “The people that work there, I love them to death. B.A.S.S. offers steppingstones from juniors to high school – then the college experience. Taking part in all they offer really taught me a lot – especially the college experience – I believe this is best way for an angler to learn. If you want to do this as a profession one day, that is the way to go.”

He added, “I really feel like B.A.S.S. prepares you the best of any of the organizations, and I feel like sticking with them is the right choice. Their grassroots are here in Alabama.”

After only one tournament, Zeke sees a difference between college and the pros. There’s a similarity between pro fishing and pro football.

A quiet fishing spot along the shore

“It’s pretty much the same deal,” he explained. “Everybody’s bigger and faster. You can be pretty dominant in high school. In college, you’re fishing against your buddies. You get to kick around and stuff, and it’s a great time, and you don’t feel much pressure. When I sat down in the boat at the Open and I looked over, and Jason Christie is to my left, and he’s won about everything in the sport, and I look to my right, and there’s Scott Martin, who’s won about everything in the sport. The intensity level in a pro tournament is a lot higher than I expected it to be … The competitiveness of those tournaments is through the roof compared to where I’ve ever fished.”

Even as a rookie on tour, Zeke has landed endorsement deals from Xpress Boats®, Woods Surfside Marina, Daiwa rods and reels, Vicious Fishing®, Elite Tungsten and LakeLife 24/7®, the creators of Discover magazine.

Through it all, the Gossetts have been there. Professional fishing is a precision sport that in part requires competitors to consistently cast a lure in a spot the size of a paper cup and do it quietly without much splash. Zeke learned those techniques from his dad.

Experience on the water and not losing heart when that big bass gets away are critical. As a high school senior, he fished 43 of 52 weekends.

 And as for the mental side, “When you lose a big fish in a tournament, don’t get down on yourself, that’s one of the biggest things you have to do when it comes to tournament fishing,” Zeke said. “That’s all between the ears.”

That’s a lesson Zeke learned well. He knows vision and goals are critical to long-term success on the tour.

What’s his vision for life on tour after five years on the water? “I’d love to see myself fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series. You can’t go any higher. I’d like to have won a tournament by then.”

Even at 24, he knows how tough the waters of pro fishing can be. “They did a study and determined the odds of winning a B.A.S.S. tournament is .05 percent, once you hit the water,” Gossett said. “So, it’s really hard. But maybe I’ll have a couple of wins and maybe an Angler of the Year title. You got to shoot high for sure.”

Vegetables for Sale

Former Pell City Schools Superintendent Michael Barber pens uplifting book

Story by Scottie Vickery
Submitted photos

Michael Barber was 10 years old the day he took his daddy’s prized Pontiac Catalina for a joyride. After returning it safely to its covered parking spot, he thought he’d gotten away with his grave sin. But a twist of fate and a dog named Whiskers caused things to take a terrible turn. Let’s just say a dog mistakenly left overnight in a car is capable of causing a whole lot of damage. 

That’s not the only lesson young Michael learned that day. He realized his father loved him far more than his most prized possession. “My father never stood behind a pulpit and preached a sermon, but he taught me the most important spiritual lesson I carry in my heart to this day,” Barber recalled. “Total forgiveness is just that, it is total.”

A former teacher and retired superintendent of Pell City Schools, Barber has spent his adult life educating children, but the “eternal lessons” of his childhood were learned outside of a classroom. They often took place on front porches and came in the form of joyrides, dogs, shotguns and a cheap necklace.

Barber shares seven stories from his childhood – including the story of his father’s Catalina – in his new book, Vegetables for Sale: A Child’s Discovery of Redemption in the American South, published in November. “It’s a simple book for a complicated time,” Barber said. “These are stories of redemption, unconditional love, forgiveness and mercy.”

The title comes from a sign 5-year-old Michael helped his grandmother make, a testament of his grandmother’s wisdom. She was tired of him asking for candy money, so she set up a vegetable stand on the side of the highway and put young Michael in charge. “My grandfather had a third-grade education, and my grandmother only finished sixth grade, but they knew we needed to know the value of certain things, and one was the value of money,” he said.

“I didn’t make much money, but the lesson I learned was worth millions,” he wrote in the book’s introduction. “It is better to earn than to be given, with the exception of God’s love.” As a reminder, Barber framed the sign he made with his grandmother (“She wrote the letters and I painted it”) and hung it alongside his diplomas in every office he has ever had.

A preacher, public speaker, and bluegrass musician, Barber didn’t set out to write a great work of literature or theology. He intended the book to be a ministry tool, one he could leave behind when he spoke at prisons, jails, nursing homes or revivals. “These are stories I’ve used from the pulpit,” said Barber, the pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church. “I knew some had the ability to move people because I’d seen how God had used them during sermons.”

The book is a small one, measuring 5 inches by 7 inches with fewer than 100 pages, and that was Barber’s intention. “It’s designed to be a book you could put in a purse, in a glove box, in a tacklebox,” he said, adding that his hope was to make the book more inviting by writing something that could be read in one sitting. “It’s written by a preacher, but it’s not preaching. Whatever God wants to do with it, it’s out there. He’ll put it in the right hands.”

A special place

Barber, 55, grew up in Pell City with his brother and sister in a time when life was simpler. “The American South has changed in the past half century of my life, much for the good, but I admit sometimes I find myself missing a place I never left,” he wrote.

His days were filled with bike rides, fishing, baseball, watermelon, peach cobbler and lessons he didn’t realize he was learning. “I’ve always had people invest in the right things in my life – my parents, my grandparents, church folks,” Barber said. “They made sure we learned the right things. We were held accountable if we did something wrong, and they didn’t always come to our aid bailing us out.”

They also served as wonderful role models. His father, who was the first in his family to go to college, was a certified registered nurse anesthetist and owned an anesthesia corporation. “I think he put everyone in the county to sleep at some time,” Barber said. His mother was a registered nurse, and Barber thought he would follow in his parents’ footsteps and enter the medical field. His plans changed, though, when he got a feeling he just couldn’t shake. “The Lord kept leading me to education,” Barber said.

Mother Pearl, Cobbler Cook Extraordinaire

His Sunday school teacher, Andrew Wright, was the principal of Iola Roberts Elementary School at the time, and his pastors were teachers, as well. “To have three men in your life who were elementary school teachers and in ministry showed me how God could use you in education,” Barber said. “God has always put the right people around me.”

Although he retired from the school system in 2019, Barber performs contract work for the Alabama Association of School Boards. “I’ve had a great experience in public education,” he said. “To me, education is ministry,” he said.

Barber was an assistant principal in 1995 when God called him to preach, as well. He had a guitar and his Bible, and he traveled around ministering at nursing homes and “wherever God placed me.” He landed at Mt. Zion as a deacon and has been preaching for about 25 years.

One ministry he particularly enjoys is Cake Walk, the bluegrass band he helped form that earned its name from the early days of playing at cake walks and fall festivals. “Mt. Zion is a musically blessed haven,” he said. “Anyone you pick out of a pew can pick something, play something or sing something.”

Barber, who plays mandolin, guitar, banjo and bass, said the size of the group fluctuates and the members range from 8-year-olds to 90-year-olds. “We’re not the best musicians in the world, but for some reason when you put us all together, it sounds pretty good,” he said. “It’s a joyful noise, I know that.”

The group plays live every Sunday morning on WFHK 94.1 The River, and before the coronavirus pandemic, the members regularly shared their music at nursing homes and other places. “I’ve seen people who were really sick wiggle a toe under the cover when they hear the banjo,” Barber said. “It’s a wonderful ministry, and members of the band have said they had no idea that service could be so much fun. For me, that’s when you really hit the mark.”

A tool for ministry

Barber’s outreach ministry was the impetus for Vegetables for Sale, and the idea had been in the back of his mind for a while. “I had a bunch of stories I wrote years ago, and I’d always planned on doing something with them, but I didn’t know what that would look like,” he said. Once the pandemic hit last March, Barber finally had time, so “I went to the attic and started gathering stories I’d written in old spiral notebooks.”

Although he’d planned to leave them behind at speaking engagements, COVID-19 changed those plans, so Barber started to give them away. “My idea of promoting it is leaving a copy on the table at Starbucks,” he said with a laugh.

After his wife, Legay, posted about the book on social media, it started taking off. “We accidentally, I guess, launched it,” Barber said. “The potential to reach people through the internet is mind boggling.” The book, which features a childhood photo of his father on the cover, is available through Amazon, Walmart.com, Barnes & Noble and Kindle. It will soon be available on Audible, an audiobook book service from Amazon.

Barber said he read the book for the Audible recording because the subject was so close to his heart. “This is a book about my mom, my daddy, my sister and brother and my grandparents,” he said. “I sure didn’t want someone reading it and having it be just a book to them. Besides, I hate when people try to fake a Southern accent.”

Although he never expected to sell a single copy, Barber said he’s heard from people from all over the country who have shared how the book has touched them. A hospice nurse shared how a family read it together during the last hours of their mother’s life, and it gave them a chance to laugh and cry together. Another woman wrote to say the book helped her after receiving a cancer diagnosis.

“If God doesn’t use it for anything other than that, it was worth writing it and putting it out there,” Barber said. “I’m definitely not a writer, and I’ll never be a best-selling author, but this was a labor of love. Whatever voice we have, whether it’s a guitar or an ink pen, as long as we’re giving God the glory, He’ll use it.”

Mind, muscle and ‘angels’ power the Great Alabama 650

The world’s longest paddle race showcases the wonder of Alabama’s waterways

Story by Paul South
Submitted photos from Max Jolley, Great Alabama 650

Max Jolley was 7 when he picked up a paddle for the first time. And from that first pull of wood through water – a centuries-old skill he says takes the whole body, head to toe, mind and muscle – he’s been a recreational kayaker on the Coosa River and its companion lakes, Logan Martin and Neely Henry.

Needless to say, in 2019 – when the Alabama Scenic River Trail launched the maiden Great Alabama 650 – the world’s longest paddle race – he was intrigued. Fifty miles of the race traverses St. Clair County.

“Last year, I was interested in it,” he says. “This year, I was really looking forward to it.”

Jolley isn’t a competitor, but he and others like him play a valuable role in the 10-day race, He’s a “trail angel,” one of a small army of good Samaritans who do everything from providing meals and places to sleep to portage, helping weary paddlers portage their craft over land and in and out of the water at all hours of day and night.

The racecourse passes Jolley’s home. He helped competitors portage their craft out of the water at Logan Martin Dam. But the paddlers, not the paddling, draws Jolley to the competition, one of the least known events in American sports. For paddlers, it’s a magical mystery tour of Alabama rivers and lakes, featuring changing currents, landscapes, flora and fauna.

And for the trail angels like Jolley, friendships are forged. Competitors came from as far away as Hawaii.

“There are a lot of different-walks-of-life people that you meet,” Jolley says. “It’s just interesting talking to the paddlers and their ground crews, to see what they do and how they do it and why they do it.”

Alabama tourism officials, like Clarke County resident Linda Vice, president of the Alabama Scenic River Trail, hope the 650 puts the spotlight on Alabama waterways, the reason behind the race. Alabama has 5,300 miles of accessible waterways, stretching from the mountain streams of north Alabama southward to the salt and sand of the Gulf Coast. State tourism officials bill the trail as the “most experience-diverse river trail in America.”

“We started the Scenic River Trail as an environmental and tourism project, as well as a recreational thing,” Vice says. “What we wanted to do was get people out on the waterways so they could see the natural beauty and so that they could find a low-cost sport that anybody could participate in if they had a kayak or a canoe.”

The trail was the brainchild of Fred Couch, a veteran Alabama kayaker. It was decided that the trail needed a premiere event to draw attention to the river trail. After fact-finding trips to paddle races in Alaska, Colorado and around the country, Alabama organizers learned something.

A calm day and smoothe water as kayakers cross the lake to the stopping point

“We realized through them that we had the best race in the nation, because of the types of situations they would find themselves in as they traveled the trail,” Vice says. “It’s also the longest, with 632 miles. So, what we did was put together the race.”

While the inaugural race was open to all comers, qualifying was required to compete in 2020. COVID-19 sank qualifying this year, but 20 participants – tandem and individual racers, male and female – competed, and most finished the race.

“We started this race to draw attention to Alabama’s rivers as recreational waterways,” Vice says.

In a sports-crazy state that lives and dies each autumn Saturday with roaring football crowds, the Great Alabama 650 is different, the slap of wood on water, the silence of shifting currents, the quack of ducks and the splash of jumping fish.

“The diversity of landscape is a really big deal,” Vice says. “There are all kinds of fossils and plants. There are so many things.”

And then there are trail angels like Jolley, who do anything and everything to help the paddlers, from helping schlep wet, heavy kayaks, to cookouts featuring sizzling Conecuh County sausage.

“A lot of our angels will take them to their houses and cook ‘em a meal,” she said. “We have chapters of supporters and paddlers around the state.”

In its short history, the Great Alabama 650 is generating attention in the paddling community and beyond.

“The 650 is the most challenging race in the world according to the participants,” Vice said.

And the race is having an impact on tourism in St. Clair County, even with its short span in the county. Ecotourism is a growing sector of the local economy.

“We’re delighted that they’re here,” St. Clair County Tourism Director Blair Goodgame says. “Any economic, or any ecotourism is going to promote quality of life for the area here. It’s going to promote a healthy lifestyle, our connection to nature and wildlife and really push our citizens to be guardians of the resources that we have.”

Ironically, COVID-19 has led to an increase in outdoor activity, as residents look for socially distant activities to combat coronavirus cabin fever.

“COVID-19 has amplified things. But even before the pandemic, people were beginning to re-invest in the outdoors in their local communities. And luckily for St. Clair County, we have the natural assets here to be able to play on that. So, we have become just an outdoor recreational paradise because we do have so much potential to grow,” Goodgame says.

Don Smith, executive director of the St. Clair County Economic Development Council, says the 650 fits in the ecotourism sector of the county’s economic vision. Interestingly, Smith saw something similar, thanks to the trail angels who serve hikers along the Appalachian Trail. For hikers, those angels spark a fondness and an everlasting memory of those communities, and perhaps a desire to return.

“I think if we can continue to encourage those racers as they’re going through our community, the word about how we support those communities will get out and hopefully will get folks to come back and visit with us,” Smith says.

The kayakers in the Great Alabama 650 share the waters with ski boats, bass boats, sailboats and pontoons. And sometimes, hospitality comes in colorful – yet illegal ways.

“A guy in a boat offered one of the paddlers a beer …,” Jolley says with a laugh.

Not unexpectedly, the paddler refused the offer.

The paddlers, you see, have am abiding reverence for their sport. And like many of the residents on the Coosa, on Logan Martin and on Neely Henry, they have a reverence for the land and water. The attention wrought by the Great Alabama 650 may deepen that respect.

“It certainly won’t hurt,” Jolley says. “Boaters in general – kayakers, canoers, outdoor sports people in general – they respect the environment. They understand the water, and they know what happens on the water. And they want to keep the water clean.”

A Night at the Opera

Summer-ending concert may become
yearly event on Logan Martin Lake

Jason Rogoff and Jeff Thompson found the cure for the quarantined summer blues: an outdoor rock concert … during Labor Day weekend.

But it cannot be your normal concert.

This one has to be arranged in less than eight weeks; it has to feature a sought-after performer who just happens to be available because of pandemic cancellations; it has to provide seating that socially distances audience members attending by land and huge video screens visible to those attending by boat; it has to raise funds for two entities, and it has to be full of energy.

That concert – which was on Sept. 4 at Pell City Sports Complex on the shores of Logan Martin Lake – fulfilled all the requirements and quite possibly began an annual event.

For the concert, the Black Jacket Symphony performed the songs from the Queen album, A Night at the Opera, and featured the vocal talent of Marc Martel.

The stage lights up the night

Martel provided some vocals for Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic about Queen’s late lead singer Freddie Mercury, said Rogoff, director and producer of the Black Jacket Symphony.

Thompson, who is director of the Center for Education and Performing Arts (CEPA) in Pell City, said Rogoff approached him about an outdoor concert patterned after others that the Black Jacket Symphony had held in Birmingham.

For the Black Jacket Symphony, this would be a return visit to Pell City.

In February 2020, the Black Jacket Symphony performed Fleetwood Mac’s album, Rumours, in concert at CEPA and had scheduled Led Zeppelin IV for May. But COVID containment measures canceled Led Zeppelin IV.

Visit the Black Jacket Symphony online
at blackjacketsymphony.com

Marc Martel once again playing guitar during a BJS Queen show

Best of the Best

St. Clair dealers dominate
Alabama’s biggest boat show

Story by Jackie Romine Walburn
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

St. Clair-based boat dealers and local dock and boat house builders accounted for about a third of the more than 20 exhibitors at the 49th annual Birmingham Boat Show, the oldest and largest in the state.

And rightly so. St. Clair is blessed with two lakes and a host of businesses to make the lake season an understandable favorite for getting out on the water and making the most of it.

Exhibiting at the boat show allows dealers to show off the newest in design and amenities in boats they sell – including fishing, pontoon, deck, ski, wakeboard, wakesurf and leisure boats – to thousands of visitors during the four-day event at the Birmingham Civic Center Jan. 23-26. The annual exhibitioon also brings “boat-show” pricing from manufacturers.

Among those showing were Poor House Branch Marina in Lincoln and Rodney’s Marine, Trident Marine Group and Woods Surfside Marina from Pell City and Cropwell. All brought their top sellers for 2020 to show off what’s new and unique, take custom orders and often sell the exhibited boats, too.

“This is not your daddy’s pontoon boat,” says Trident Marine Group co-owner Jeff Tolbert, pointing to the Trifecta 900 hp double-engine pontoon boat, Trident’s most unique offering at the boat show. “There are only three in the U.S. right now,” Tolbert said. The 30-foot fiberglass “tri-toon” with its twin 450 hp Mercury engines can push the luxury ship up to 83 miles per hour.

Armed with lighted speaker systems and matching under lights, front and rear cameras that display on a state-of-the-art touch screen and two deluxe leather captain seats, the new Trifecta combines luxury with horsepower and was boat show priced at about $254,000. Trident had already taken two custom orders for the Trifecta boat, which is being manufactured in northern Indiana. 

Trident’s Cropwell business is one of three locations where they sell Trifecta, South Bay and Berkshire boats, the pontoon boat lines produced by Forest River, a Berkshire-Hathaway company associated with financier Warren Buffett.

Geared toward families, with free admission for children 12 and younger, the boat show dedicates 250,000 square feet of exhibit space to highlighting the latest in boats, motors, boathouses, piers and boat-lift design, plus fishing gear, guides and outfitters.

For local boat dealers, the investment in the boat show exhibits pays off in new and returning customers and brand recognition.

 “The boat-show pricing brings in customers, and the quality of the products often drives customers to our stores,” says Eddie Rush of Poor House Branch Marina and Boat Outlet on Logan Martin Lake. They specialize in Avalon boats, which are manufactured in Michigan.

 “The boat show is also a chance for us to see what customers are looking for,” he says. Most dealers bring top 2020 boats to show and share information about other offerings, including used boats, available at the dealer locations.

The newest Avalon offering – the Avalon WakeToon-Surf series that’s designed as a wakeboard surfing boat – was not on display at the boat show. The new WakeToon is in production and won a 2020 national innovation award from the National Marine Manufacturers Association, says Mark Semino of Avalon boats.

Aside from the new WakeToon, Avalon has made few changes in its design in recent years, Semino says. “We’ve been very successful with our core boat, so there are not many changes,” just new color offerings and the popular addition of a center console pontoon the company introduced in recent years, he says.

Poor House Branch Marina, located on Logan Martin at Lincoln, also offers service and repair, boat storage and boat rental.

Over at Woods Surfside Marina’s boat show exhibition, co-owner Eva Hildebrant pointed out Bennington’s new Bowrider pontoon, which has a step-down U-lounge seating area in the front of the boat. The Bennington Bowrider, available in 20- and 24-foot lengths, also placed in the 2020 national innovation awards.

The new design won an honorable mention for the industry’s first bowrider-style pontoon, with innovation judges noting that “the stadium-like seating increases driver sight lines while providing a sporty and elegant look not seen before.” 

Woods Surfside Marina also brought along Xpress Aluminum fishing boats and highlighted a variety of Bennington Pontoon boats, the No. 1 brand pontoon in the U.S. The 14-acre Marina at Cropwell has more than 300 dry storage stalls and three piers of wet slips, offers full-service gas and a valet boat launch service. Woods Surfside also carries Yamaha and Mercury motors and sells pre-owned boats.

Rodney’s Marine Center in Pell City brought to the boat show Starcraft tri-toon and Silver Wave pontoon boats and Blue Wave and Carolina Skiff-Sea Chaser center-console boats.

 But the star of Rodney’s boat show offerings was the new 300 hp Silver Wave fiberglass tri-toon boat equipped with RGB lights, Bluetooth control and a touch-screen system with forward and back camera. RGB lights are red, blue and green LED lights that combine the three colors to produce more than 16 million hues of light.

 “It ain’t your grandfather’s pontoon,” says co-owner Rodney Humphries. An innovative design allows for expanded passenger seating or playpen room with more space per square foot. The new 24-foot Silver Wave is a top seller and can be customized. “It’s a $100,000 look for $50,000.”

Rodney’s, which is a full-service marine stop with service, sales and storage with valet services, also sells fishing boats, Alweld duck boats and Suzuki engines.

Personal watercraft remain popular at the boat show, with attendees lining up to register to win the show’s grand prize, a 2020 Yamaha Waverunner EX, being given away by Big #1 Motor Sports of Birmingham.

At the Big #1 exhibit, the newest and fastest-selling option in personal watercraft was the SeaDoo Fish Pro, a three-seater designed for sport fishing. Equipped with a Rotax 1630 ACE 170 hp engine and 70-liter fuel tank, the SeaDoo Fish Pro comes with a 51-liter LinQ Fishing cooler with rod holders, a fishing bench seat, watertight phone box, trolling mode, Garmin ECHOMAP Plus 62 cv fish finder, direct access front storage, a boarding ladder, extended rear platform, LinQ attachment points, angled gunwale footrests with a stable and predictable hull. The boat show price for the SeaDoo Fish Pro was $16,000, including a four-year warranty and a SeaDoo trailer.

“We’ve sold some,” Hairston says, noting that by Saturday of the boat show, Big #1 had sold more than 20 personal watercraft – both SeaDoo and Yamaha – to boat show attendees.

Three St. Clair County-based dock and boathouse building companies – Tradesman, Mackey and Lakeside Boathouse – exhibited at the event, showing off their latest designs and meeting new customers.

Specializing in custom boathouses, sun decks, boat lifts, docks and seawalls, Tradesman Company’s exhibit at the boat show highlighted Tradesman’s attention to detail and long-lasting structures. Sales manager Ryan Wooten says Tradesman owner and founder Fred Casey’s original innovative designs for boathouses remain the standard at Tradesman.

“The hipped metal roof, 8-by-8 support beams and braces made of pressure-treated pine” are unique to Tradesman boathouses, he says. He adds that Tradesman is the “only boathouse builder statewide using hand-picked No. 1, 34MCQ pressure-treated lumber from the water level up to the roof.”

Being at the boat show helps in Tradesman’s expanding market, Wooten says. In addition to custom boathouses with single or double slips, boat lifts and sundecks, Tradesman’s offerings include floating piers, seawalls and docks. They also build aluminum boathouses and commercial and residential floating piers.

Today’s boathouses can include all the bells and whistles owners want, including entertainment decks plus boat lifts and storage for personal watercraft, kayaks and paddle boats, says Eric Mackey of Mackey Docks and Boat Houses, a third-generation dock builder.

He says Mackey builds docks and boathouses that last a lifetime. Located in Ragland and in business since 1983, Mackey specializes in high-end boathouses at an economical price. The goal is to build durable structures with low maintenance that meet the needs of folks who live on and enjoy lake and waterfront living.

With standard and custom designs in piers, docks and boathouses, Mackey’s promotional material states, “Even our competition loves our work.”

Serving Logan Martin with dock and boathouse work on most Alabama lakes down to the Florida Panhandle, Mackey’s work includes pile driving, dock and boathouse construction, boat lift installation, seawall construction, and repair of existing shore structures.

Lakeside Boathouses in Cropwell exhibits at the boat show most years, says Lakeside partner Chris Hoover. “We see existing customers and meet new ones,” Hoover says. He notes that Lakeside sees repeat customers and enjoys strong referrals. “That lets us know that we are doing a good job.” Lakeside builds boathouses, decks, boat lifts, piers and seawalls.

“Our philosophy is to do a good job for a fair price and exceed expectations,” Hoover says, noting that word of mouth and outreach at events including the Birmingham Boat Show have helped Lakeside grow its market.

It is expanding services and has completed building projects on lakes and rivers from the Tennessee Valley to the Gulf.

Lakeside also provides staining and pressure washer services, sells Wet Steps and, most recently, introduced a new travel service business. Lakeside also plans to open a new Lakeside Grill at Coosa Island in May 2020.