Get out the paddles, the
oars and canoes. Don’t forget fishing poles, tackle boxes and bait. Throw in
those binoculars for some serious birdwatching. Some have even spotted an eagle
or two. Oh, and don’t forget the sunscreen.
Folks in and around St.
Clair County are heralding the arrival of spring and all it has to offer. Tops
on just about everybody’s favorites “to do” list is Big Canoe Creek. The
treasured waterway runs through Ashville and Springville, providing adventures
not only for kayaks and canoes, but also for fishing enthusiasts, birdwatchers
and anybody who’s seeking to unplug and unwind.
For Meg Hays, who along
with husband Perry own Big Canoe Creek Outfitters in Springville, getting out
on the creek is almost a spiritual experience.
“We offer a trip down the
creek where people get to experience nature in a different way … a way that a
lot a lot of people never get to see,” Hays says. “It’s peaceful here. It’s
quiet. We see all kinds of wildlife, a very diverse group of fish and birds,
egrets, owls, hawks. I mean all kinds of birds.
We even have a couple of
bald eagles that live around here.”
She believes the creek’s
solitude is a big draw for many visitors. “You don’t pass any civilization.
You’re just out there in the woods.
Paddling the creek
provides a great family time to enjoy nature together. “I think that’s why
a lot of people have come to see us.”
Randall Vann, owner of
Yak tha Creek in Ashville, couldn’t agree more. “We’re all outdoors people here
at my house. We’ve always enjoyed being outdoors, whether it’s on the
water or in the woods. We’re passionate about it. We spend a lot of our
downtime enjoying the nature that God has given us.”
Vann gives his business
address as “off the side of the road, on Highway 231, at the bridge coming into
Ashville.” Folks seem to have no trouble following those directions. On a
weekend day from April through Labor Day, cars are lined up at the bridge,
their passengers ready for an adventure on the creek.
“It’s about a three to
three-and-a-half-hour trip,” said Vann, “although there is no time limit. We’ve
got people who come just to fish. They’ll stay from eight in the morning till
dark.”
But for the most part,
Vann says, they come to “pretty much, just enjoy the creek, the scenery and the
weather. They get in their boats and may have to paddle a little bit to
stay straight, but typically, they just get out there with a Bluetooth speaker
listening to music with a group of friends. They just hang out. They’ll
find a place by the side of the creek to go swimming. It’s just a
place to relax. Sometimes we get a mom and dad and a couple of kids, and the
kids like to race their parents to see who gets back first.”
Yak tha Creek opened in
2016. Since that time, according to Vann, “we’ve grown and grown and grown. We
started out with 12 little store-bought boats and one pickup truck. Now, we can
handle about 60 people at a time,” he said. “We have a passenger van to
haul people, and we run three pickup trucks all weekend long.”
He says visitors come
from all across Alabama.
Vann’s success seems to
reflect a national trend in kayaking. According to a recent report in
Time, kayaking has risen
to one of the fastest growing sports in the nation. It has grown to more than 8
million active participants, marking a substantial increase from 3.5 million
just 10 years ago.
Hays isn’t surprised by
the boat’s growing popularity. “Anybody can kayak,” she said. “One of the
beauties of this section of the creek that we’re on is that it is very beginner
friendly. We’ve had so many newbies come through. They had never been in a
kayak before, and they loved it. They learned the boat and how to paddle and
were able to make it to the end. They said they couldn’t wait to come back.”
There is also, no age
limit on who can paddle the creek. “I’ve sent them down as young as six and as
old as 78,” she recalled. “We also had a 2-year-old ride the creek in a tandem
boat, where the parent paddles in the back.”
The Outfitters have
recently opened four primitive campsites, complete with picnic tables, fire
rings and tent areas. The business is open year-round, seven days a week.
Reservations are $35 for a single kayak; $50 for a double. The shuttle fee with
your own boat is $10.
Yak tha Creek is open
weekends, April through Labor Day, and weekdays with prior arrangements. Cost
is $30 per kayak and $5 for your own boat.
Discounts are offered to
the military, nurses, teachers, fire and police.
Group discounts are
available with five or more renting.
Doug Morrison, president
of the conservation group, Friends of Canoe Creek, has said, “paddling the
creek is giving people a chance to explore, to stop and see, if they will pay
attention. They’ll see that when you paddle up a creek, you tend to observe
nature more than just walking outside in your backyard. When you paddle up a
creek, you will see all kinds of creatures. In today’s society there’s just not
enough outdoor recreation. People are too plugged into their electronic
devices.”
St. Clair lakes play prominent role in epic paddle race
Story by Scottie Vickery Submitted Photos
Seven days, 8 hours, 1 minute and 55 seconds after launching his
kayak at Weiss Lake in northeast Alabama, Bobby Johnson paddled his way to the
finish line at Fort Morgan in Mobile Bay.
He’d spent a little more than a week traversing 650 miles of
Alabama waterways, battling the heat, alligators, exhaustion and hunger to win
the inaugural Great Alabama 650, a world-class paddle race held in September.
He and his 17 competitors raced along the core section of the Alabama Scenic
River Trail, the longest river trail in a single state.
“It was incredible,” said Johnson, who lives in Dunedin, Fla., and
first started kayaking about four years ago. “The people of Alabama are
awesome, and the scenery was amazing. Every day you saw something beautiful –
sunrises, sunsets, the hills, the very dense woods. The wildlife was
unbelievable. Everybody I talk to; I recommend that race all day long.”
That’s exactly what organizers of the Alabama 650 like to hear.
They know the state has the most “experience-diverse” river trail in the
country, and they want to share it with as many people as possible. “In
Alabama, we’ve got more navigable waterways than any other state except
Alaska,” said Jay Grantland, executive director of the Alabama Scenic River
Trail. “There’s everything from whitewater to flat water, big lakes and small
streams. There’s just about every type of water you’d want to paddle on
throughout that river system.”
Trail Angels
The success of the race, which boasted a $22,500 prize split among
winners in three divisions, relied heavily on volunteers known as “Trail
Angels,” including Max Jolley, who lives at Powell’s Campground on Logan Martin
Lake. Competitors were required to stop at nine portage locations along the
Coosa and Alabama Rivers – Weiss, Neely Henry, Logan Martin, Lay, Mitchell and
Jordan dams, and Robert F. Henry, Millers Ferry and Claiborne lock and dams –
as well as two checkpoints.
“The volunteers were one of the most important factors of making
this race successful all along the 650 miles,” Grantland said. “As the days
roll on, the racers get further and further apart so we had to rely on the
volunteers to man those different portages to make sure everyone was safe and
performing fairly.”
While some racers had professional crews to help carry their boats
and gear around the dam, others had one person or relied on volunteers. To keep
it fair, the racers had mandatory rest breaks of 30 or 45 minutes, so race
officials or volunteers had to track the time they arrived and left each
portage.
“Apparently this long-distance paddling is a thing out in the
world,” Jolley, who volunteered at Logan Martin Dam, said with a laugh. “It was
exciting, and it was a fun learning experience for me. I got to talk to each of
the kayakers and the crews and learn some of their strategies, and we helped
get the kayaks out and made sure everyone had some food and water. I can’t wait
to do it again next year.”
Jolley especially enjoyed the digital spectator experience. Thanks
to GPS transponders, race officials and anyone who was interested could track
the racers on the Alabama Scenic River Trail’s website and Facebook pages. “We knew where everyone was at every minute,”
Grantland said.
Competitor Salli O’Donnell was in the lead for most of the race,
and Jolley was keeping tabs on his computer to see when she was heading his
way. “When I saw she was getting close, I went out and took a picture of her,
and then I jumped in my truck and headed down to the dam,” he said. Because
Logan Martin was one of the first portages, the racers were still fairly close
together. Jolley said he stayed at the dam about seven hours and saw most of
the kayakers come through during that time.
Jolley and others also posted about the race on social media,
which helped stir up excitement among lake and river enthusiasts who offered
encouragement from docks and boats. “Every one of the kayakers, almost to the
person, were talking about how great it was seeing people on the lake cheering
them on,” Jolley said. “They didn’t expect that.”
Johnson, 41, said it was a game-changer for him. “The people were
awesome,” he said. “When you have people on the banks screaming your name and
cheering you on, it’s an instant boost. It always seemed to happen just when
you needed it most. If you’re just paddling for 650 miles, and you’re not
talking to anyone or seeing anyone, you’re just paddling. This made me feel
like a racer.”
Jolley said he was thrilled with the racers’ reaction to the
hospitality on the lake. “That made me feel better than anything,” he said. “I
wanted Logan Martin to be remembered for the people and the beauty of the
lake.”
He was also impressed with the attention to detail the organizers
put into the race. “A lot of planning and strategy went into it, I’ll tell you
that,” Jolley said.
Behind the Scenes
Grantland said the idea for the race came about in early 2018
after he and some of the nonprofit’s board members had been to an outdoor
adventure show in Ontario to promote Alabama’s recreational offerings and the
river trail.
The Alabama Scenic River Trail got its start about 12 years ago
when Fred Couch, an avid paddler from Anniston, spearheaded the efforts to
divide the 650-mile stretch of water into four sections and provide guides for
each one with information on parking, camping, launch sites and emergency phone
numbers.
“It was great for families because it gave everyone peace of
mind,” Grantland said, adding that the guides are available on the website.
“They could take the kids camping without having to do all the homework and
figuring it all out on their own. It started bringing in tourists.”
That core 650-mile section got so popular that officials from
other areas wanted to add information about their waterways, too. “Here we are
almost 12 years later, and we’ve gone from 650 to right at 5,600 miles” of
navigable waterways, he said.
The impact has been a big one. “It’s definitely a quality of life
benefit,” said Grantland, who started paddling when he was 10. “You can get the
children outdoors and away from the TV.” There’s an economic benefit, as well.
If you’re trying to attract businesses or corporations, they’re looking for
areas with a good quality of life for their employees.”
Returning from the adventure show, the group brainstormed ideas
for promoting the river trail out. “We wanted to put it out there to the
world,” Grantland said. “That got the ball rolling, and then I started
Googling. I have a master’s degree from Google in paddle racing.”
Serious planning began about this time last year, and Greg Wingo,
who has a background in adventure racing, was hired as race director. “Between
my experience in paddling and his experience in adventure racing, we were able
to put together a pretty good race,” Grantland said. “It took a massive amount
of coordination.”
Pushing limits
Racers could enter in three categories: male solo, female solo and
two-person teams. Eighteen racers registered (some individually, some in
teams), but only four finished the race: Johnson, O’Donnell and teammates Ryan
Gillikin and Susan Jordan.
“This year, we really
didn’t know what to expect, and we took anyone who wanted to register,”
Grantland said. “Obviously, some didn’t have the ability, but it was fine
because it brought a lot of attention to the race.”
Word is spreading about the event, one of a handful of
long-distance paddle races, and Grantland says he expects they’ll have to put a
cap on the number of competitors next year. In addition, racers will have to
qualify by completing one of several pre-requisite races prior to registration,
which opens in January.
Next year, organizers also hope to host a 65-mile race in
conjunction with the Alabama 650. Paddlers who can finish it in 24 hours will
qualify for the 2020 Alabama 650.
Johnson said he’ll be back and is doing his part to spread the
word. “We’ve got some world-class paddlers who are going to race next year,” he
said. “I personally thought it was the best thought out, well-planned race I’ve
ever been in.”
It was one of the hottest, as well. Alabama recorded record-high
heats for many of the race days, and Johnson felt the effects. “The first eight
miles of that race to the first portage, I overheated and got heat exhaustion
and couldn’t paddle,” he said. “At five or six miles in, my mouth was dry, and
my arms were like lead. Everybody went past me, and it took me 500 miles to
catch Salli.”
Along the way, he had plenty of time to enjoy the solitude, the
views and the wildlife. “I felt like I was in a saltwater aquarium there were
so many fish jumping in front of my boat,” he said. As he got closer to the
Delta area, the fish gave way to alligators. “I saw them one after another
after another after another,” he said.
Despite the mental and physical exhaustion, Johnson said he never
thought about giving up. “I have an 8-year-old daughter, and I would never come
back to her and say that I quit,” he said. “You’ll never know anything about
yourself if you quit. If you don’t push through that wall of misery or pain,
you’ll never know what you can actually achieve. Our human bodies are only
stopped by our minds, that’s it.”
Rock & Rolling, high flying, surfer judge hits the waves
Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Graham Hadley
Most weekdays, you’ll find him donning a black robe, gavel in
hand, poised to rule in a court case. In those somber surroundings, it’s
difficult to imagine what the judge might do for a little R&R.
But after the day’s work is complete, it’s as if Superman has
just stepped into that iconic phone booth. He transforms into one rockin’ and
rollin,’ high flyin,’ lake surfin,’ incredibly cool dude.
Pick your passion. St. Clair County District Judge Alan Furr
does, although you’re never quite sure which one it will be.
Electric guitar in hand, that’s him on a Saturday night, a
natural at leading the band, The Wingnuts. The band got its start in an
airplane hangar in 2010, its members mostly pilots, including Furr. Since then,
they’ve built quite a following, playing oldies and Rock & Roll for
audiences across the region.
That might be enough to keep most busy, but not Furr. He’s
made the cockpit selfie with wife Sandra locally famous on Facebook. It’s not
uncommon to see the Furr’s take to the skies for short hops and long treks.
His
newest past-time adventure puts him and Sandra out on their beloved Logan
Martin Lake, a stone’s throw from their home on Cropwell Creek. They’re not
quite hanging 10, they admit, but to them, it’s close. At 60-something, they’re
nothing short of inspiring with their wake surfing prowess.
“Sandra
and I bought our first board and started learning to wake surf around 2010, but
we didn’t have a good surf boat, so the learning was difficult,” Furr said.
“Consequently, we both primarily stayed with slalom skiing, and I also rode a
wakeboard. Now that we are in our mid-60s, we figured we needed to concentrate
on a ‘milder’ form of water sport.”
In
2015, they bought a MasterCraft NXT20, which is designed for wake surfing. “So, for the past couple of years we’ve been
surfing on Logan Martin,” he said. It requires a boat that is set up with a
“surf system” and ballast, a wake-surf board, and “the willingness to give it a
try.”
How it works
So
what does it take to wake surf? When a boat moves through the water, it creates
a wake. When the hull of the boat displaces the water, it goes back to where it
previously was.
That
constant flow of water creates a constant wave, and the surfer trails behind
the boat on its wake without actually being pulled by the boat.
You
get up on the wake with a special board and tow rope, similar to skiing, but
that’s where the similarity stops. When the rope gives some slack, it’s time to
drop the rope and go wake surfin’ with the Furrs.
Let’s go surFin’ now…
Sandra
goes first. With the board parallel, and her heels atop the side, she waits for
the start. He throttles the boat, and up she pops, giving a twist and allowing
the board to get perpendicular with the back of the boat.
Once
the driver tightens the rope and gives it a little bit of throttle, the water
behind the board pushes the board up, and you just stand up.
Only
a few feet behind the boat, she concentrates on the wake, her balance and
finding the “sweet spot.”
“You’re
trying to get a speed on the board that matches the speed of the boat,” Furr
explains. “You find that sweet spot that matches the speed with the boat.”
“And
when you can feel it,” Sandra adds, “you can actually feel the wave pushing
you. It’s the coolest feeling, and when you feel it, you know it.”
She
hits the sweet spot, and she drops the rope. Then, it’s like watching the old
Beach Boys tune, Surfin’ Safari, in motion.
Everybody’s learning how…
Before
getting a special boat, “we fooled around for a year or two,” learning what to
do, Furr said. “We could get up and hold the rope, but we couldn’t get slack.
This boat is what really made the difference, and also that board.”
They
transitioned to the new boat, and that’s when it all started coming together
for them. “I always thought I’d like to surf, but this is as close as I’ll ever
get to it,” he said.
He
went a step further, pointing out the benefits of his brand of surfing. “First,
there are no sharks.” In ocean surfing, you must swim out on your board. “With
this one, you just start the motor.”
The
Furrs haven’t tried those fancy moves yet, like the Fire Hydrant and 360s, but
there are plenty on Logan Martin who do, he said.
To
which, Sandra quickly retorted, “Yeah, but they’re not 63 and 64.” For the time being the Furr’s will stick to
“carving” the wake, although conquering the 360 is on their bucket list.
“A
lot of people are getting into it. We just chose it because we’re getting older
and wanted something to do – a little more low impact,” Furr said.
“There are several wake surfers here in Cropwell Creek,” he
added, “and I’m sure there are many all over the lake. We are by no means the
best…but we’re probably the oldest.”
Coosa Riverkeeper and lake associations work to protect treasured waterways
Story by Paul South
Submitted photos
Even in the bleak midwinter, in a season of heavy rain and rising
water, Gene Phifer, Linda Ruethemann and Frank Chitwood can almost set clocks
by the nature’s magic on the Coosa River.
For Phifer, president of the Neely Henry Lake Association, the
White American Pelican returns to entertain each winter, nesting near Phifer’s
Neely Henry Lake home. For Ruethemann, a board member and past president of the
Logan Martin Lake Protection Association, small black ducks – Ruethemann calls
her feathered neighbors “diving ducks” – plunge for food under the Army khaki
green water in the mornings, delighting a human audience.
And for Frank Chitwood, the Staff Riverkeeper and founder of the
environmental watchdog group Coosa Riverkeeper, anytime is a good time on the
river. But the special times are when the sun rises or sets, painting an
ever-changing pallet, the moon is full and glowing, or in those seasons when
colors, not crowds, clamor for attention.
The lake associations and the Coosa Riverkeeper are united in a
singular mission – to protect the Coosa River system that runs through Alabama,
downstream from the river’s headwaters at the confluence of the Etowah and
Oostanaula rivers near Rome, Ga. The heart of the mission – to protect the
quality and quantity of the waters of Coosa and its six lakes and by extension,
the overall environment and economy.
Phifer calls Neely Henry, the Coosa and its sister lakes, “a
treasure.” The three organizations are carrying on a love affair with the
water.
“It’s really a treasure to have something like this, Phifer said.
“There’s no other way to put it. We’re so fortunate. We have a river system
that flows through the center of Gadsden and then on downstream. With a river
like this with all the recreational and all the aesthetic and environmental
benefits of it, goodness, it’s a treasure to have this. You don’t see this when
you go across the United States.
Native peoples called the
Coosa home long before Hernando DeSoto became the first European to see the
river in the 16th century. Neely Henry and Logan Martin were
man-made bodies of water, the result of Alabama Power’s construction of
hydroelectric dams in the 1960s. While these days, the river and lakes are in
better health, there was a time in the not-so-distant past when Logan Martin,
Neely Henry and its parent river were a dumping ground for all manner of human
refuse from beer cans to busted refrigerators.
“The river system years ago was a biological eyesore as far as the
way the water was being treated at that time. Something needed to be done,”
Phifer said. “Things weren’t being done the way they should have been done by
residents and the communities. Renew Our Rivers moved to the cities and
counties, and a groundswell of law enforcement, schools, businesses and the
media got involved, too. Etowah, St. Clair and Calhoun all got involved.”
The result was Renew Our Rivers. Started in 1998 on Neely Henry
and quickly spreading to other Alabama waterways. On Neely Henry alone, some
500 tons to debris has been cleaned out of the river. On Logan Martin, the
first year saw tons of debris pulled from the lake. The amount has decreased
over the years, thanks to increased awareness throughout the water system.
Team work
Keeping the Coosa River system clean is only part of the story.
For example, an all-volunteer army of trained Logan Martin residents take to
the river monthly to test the waters. The effort springs from an Auburn
University initiative called Alabama Water Watch.
Since 1996, the water tests
have been carried on come rain or sun, sleet or snow. Ruethemann is a trainer
for the testing effort, which looks for warning signs in the water. “You don’t
have to be a chemist to be a tester,” she says. “If you can follow a recipe,
you can do this.”
Testers don’t worry much about weekly reports but search for
trends in quality.
“When I’m out testing and someone sees me, they say, ‘Is the water
good?’ And I can tell you what the numbers are today. But what you’re really
looking for are the trends,” she says. “Is the water quality getting better? Is
it getting worse? Do you suddenly see changes in certain areas of water quality
that we need to take notice of and say, ‘Something’s changed here, what is
that?’ Then you start going upstream to where the issue started.”
Like the associations, Coosa Riverkeeper is focused on water
quantity and quality. Chitwood, founder of Coosa Riverkeeper and the retiring
staff riverkeeper for the organization, patrols the waters in a quest to
safeguard the river. He founded Coosa Riverkeeper in 2010 after volunteering
for other Riverkeeper organizations around the country.
Like the Neely Henry and Logan Martin citizen groups, Coosa
Riverkeeper is an advocate for the river system. While unlike the other
organizations, Riverkeeper has a small paid staff, the goals of the groups are
the same.
“What we do is patrol the river, educate the public and advocate
on behalf of the river. Citizen-based, nonprofit,” Chitwood said. “We do a lot
of the work that people expect the government does, but they don’t. In a sense,
we are a watchdog organization. We do things like monitor water quality to make
sure it’s safe to swim and to fish. We respond to citizen complaints. We go and
speak to school groups or civic groups about the river and its importance. We
monitor pollution sources and seek to reduce those sources of pollution.”
The public perception of the organization among river residents
has changed since its early days.
“When we first started, not many people knew what the Coosa River
was,” Chitwood said. “They thought of it as individual lakes. So, we talked to
people on Logan Martin about the Coosa and they’d say, “We don’t know where
that is, and we’d say, it’s right here.” That has changed a lot. They are more
aware of the connectivity between systems and between the lakes and how we’re
impacted by what people upstream of us are doing. That’s one big change.”
The other is changing the general perception that the Coosa is
unsafe for swimming because it does have such a polluted history, especially on
Logan Martin because of the PCB issue. What we did was start a program called
Swim Guide, where we do water quality testing all over the river every week in
the summer. We post that information free so people can see if it’s safe or not
to swim that week in their location, instead of just speculation and hearsay.
That has been really huge. A lot of people have been reassured about the safety
of swimming in the river. But a lot more people are assured about the safety of
the water.”
And Coosa Riverkeeper isn’t shy about using the legal system to
protect the waterway.
While the lake associations closely monitor water issues and
advocate and educate on behalf of the river system to schools, civic groups and
government agencies, Coosa Riverkeeper will put its legal muscle behind its
efforts.
“That’s why I’m really proud of our group because we’re standing
up and doing something about it. And we’re making progress. It just takes
people to stand up against industry and the government that are insanely
powerful in Alabama and say that’s not really how we want things to happen in
Alabama,” he noted.
“There are people out there that they know what they’re doing is
not right. And they know that what they’re doing has an impact. But if they
don’t get fined for it and they’re not going to spend however much money it is
to do the right thing, there’s no consequence. It takes more than one approach
to really address all these issues. That’s what sets our group apart. We’re
willing to go toe-to-toe with industry, and we’re willing to call in the
lawyers and file a lawsuit. There aren’t a lot of groups willing to do that. I
think that we have to be willing to do that. If we don’t, we’re never going to
change the status quo.”
Perhaps the dominant issue – one that would impact the three-legged
stool of the lake associations’ mission to protect water quality, quantity and
property values – are the so-called “Water Wars” among Alabama. Georgia and
Florida.
In an effort to get more water for a thirsty, growing Metropolitan
Atlanta area, Georgia wants to dam the waters that flow into the Coosa, which
is downriver from the confluence of the Etowah and Oostanaula. Its impact
reaches far beyond the Coosa, to the Tallapoosa and the Alabama Rivers. The
Alabama is a navigable waterway, critical for barge traffic to the Port of
Mobile.
Choking the flow of water to the Coosa, however, would damage a
fragile ecosystem and parch the local economy. If you want an idea of how
brittle the Coosa and its lakes are, consider indigenous beavers in the wake of
February flooding. While it’s the opposite effect compared to lower water
levels, the lesson here is environmental impact.
“Any change in the water level is going to affect the
environment,” Ruethemann says. “While it’s the opposite of that, in the flood,
beavers were wandering in people’s yards, and they were scared, not sure where
to go.”
All of the Coosa advocacy groups are closely monitoring the
mountain of litigation related to the water wars, Phifer said.
“We can’t continue to lose a lot of water without damaging us
downstream in dry season. When nutrient levels in the water get too high, you
have the potential for the nutrients to cause rapid algae growth and when the
algae die, it sucks oxygen from the river system, damaging quality of life for the
river. When you have dissolved oxygen, it becomes a pollution problem.”
In the years ahead, if the waters of the Cahaba – from which
Birmingham derives much of its water – begins to run dry – there is concern
that a parched Magic City might turn to the Coosa for water, putting the Coosa
in the crossfire of two fronts in the water wars.
“That’s not just a battle for Alabama, Florida and Georgia, but
there’s going to be a battle between Birmingham and the Coosa,” Chitwood says.
“It’s only going to be so long before Birmingham comes for the Coosa. They’ve
talked about it before.”
“When I train people in these (water testing) classes, I tell
them, water in not a limitless quality,” Ruethemann says. “You can’t make new
water. People say, ‘Why don’t you go to the Birmingham Water Works and get more
water? Well, where do you think they get that water?”
One of her water testing students took a biblical view, she says.
“Yup, that’s the same water that floated Noah’s boat.”
Ruethemann adds, “As it gets more limited and as we have more
people, and we start growing more in urban areas like Atlanta and in the
outskirts of Birmingham, people are going to be fighting for that limited
amount of water.”
Other development-related issues, like sediment runoff from
construction sites, sewerage and stormwater runoff concern the Coosa River
organizations of Weiss, Neely Henry, Logan Martin, Lay, Jordan and Mitchell
that make up what Ruethemann calls, “The Coalition.”
But another point of advocacy for Coosa Riverkeeper and the Neely
Henry and Logan Martin groups is the development of a statewide comprehensive
water management plan. Currently, Alabama is the only state in the Southeast
without a water management blueprint.
“In my opinion, (if) we get to a courtroom, it’s hard for us to
say (water) is of utmost importance when we don’t have a plan together. I think
that plays against us tremendously.”
What happens to the Coosa if Alabama loses the water fight?
“We always think the worst. I think human nature is (to think)
that everything will fall apart. I don’t know. There are many places on this
lake that if the water stayed at 460 (feet), that a lot of people would not
have waterfront property at all. You’d still see the diving ducks and the
pelicans, but in these narrow sloughs, a lot of people would not have
waterfront at all.”
Water quality and quantity should be on the minds of folks along
the Coosa and across Alabama, as neighboring Georgia builds more reservoirs at
the headwaters of the river.
“I would bet you if you talk to 90 percent of the people in this
state, they don’t even think about water, Ruethemann says. “They turn on the
faucet, and it’s there. They go to the beach or lake or river of their choice,
and it’s there. We have a lot of water in Alabama – today.”
Should they think about it?
“Oh yeah,” she says. “At some point in time, it’s going to become
an issue.”
Meanwhile the groups
collaborate, educate and advocate for the river system, pushing for clean,
ample water, effective policies and responsible development. The reason is
simple. “Anyone who spends time on our waterways in Alabama is going to
appreciate them,” Chitwood says. “You’re not going to go kayaking on Big Canoe
Creek and say, ‘Who really cares about that creek? ‘You’re going to say ‘Wow,
that’s something worth protecting.”
Logan Martin LakeFest
& Boat Show returns in May with more entertainment, more vendors, more
boats, impressive giveaways and even an extra day to enjoy it all.
The weekend of events May
17-19 will mark the ninth year for LakeFest, an event that celebrates lake
life.
This year, a pontoon boat
and an all-terrain vehicle are among the many giveaways.
The free, family-friendly
LakeFest – to be held at Lakeside Park at the Pell City Civic Center complex –
is the largest in-water boat show in the Southeast, according to event
coordinators Eric Housh and Justin Hogeland.
To date, the annual
fundraiser has generated $250,000 that has been given to about 40 different
charities, said Hogeland, a board member of LakeFest’s parent, Logan Martin
Charity Foundation.
This year, LakeFest will
again have a three-day format after having a two-day schedule for a few years.
“We’re adding back a Sunday this year,” said Housh, who is also a foundation
board member.
The hours of LakeFest are
noon to 9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
During LakeFest, five
boat dealers will display a total of 15 brands of vessels.
“Some of those boats will
be in the water and people (who qualify) will be able to test drive, which is
unique,” Housh said.
The personal watercraft
vendor Speed Zone will have Sea Doos, Yamaha Wave Runners and Kawasaki jet skis
that those who qualify can take for a spin.
“That will be a lot of
fun,” Housh said.
In addition, Riders
Harley-Davidson will show off motorcycles, and enthusiasts will get to
experience the power, speed and thrill through a simulator.
On-site financing to
purchase a land or water vessel will be offered by America’s First Federal Credit Union, LakeFest’s presenting
sponsor.
In the beginning…
Jerry Woods of Woods
Surfside Marina, Fred Casey of Tradesman Co., and Lee Holmes of Sylacauga
Marine & ATV brought the first LakeFest to life, said Mark Hildebrant,
Woods’ son-in-law.
“Jerry was one of the
main forces behind the event,” said Housh. “… He was the brain of the
original idea.”
The goal was to raise
money for charitable causes, particularly Logan Martin Lake Protection
Association (LMLPA), said Housh and Hogeland.
“Jerry’s dream was to
give back to the community and have an event that showcased the lake and lake
life,” said Hildebrant, a foundation board member and current owner of Woods
Surfside Marina.
The event itself would be
free, but sponsorship from boat manufacturers and local businesses would
generate the funds that would go toward LMLPA projects and other community
endeavors.
The inaugural LakeFest
was held at a shoreline subdivision. The event brought together three boat
dealers, about 20 vendors and a crowd estimated at 2,000. Three acts provided
entertainment, with no stage and only a small public address system. About
$2,000 was raised for LMLPA, funds that went toward constructing the wetlands
boardwalk at Lakeside Park, Hogeland said.
The early years of
LakeFest were a struggle because it was a new event, and being outdoors, it was
at the mercy of the weather. In fact, rain canceled it one year.
But Woods and the
foundation board members believed in LakeFest and its mission.
More boat manufacturers
and local businesses gave their sponsorship, and the event expanded
significantly.
When LakeFest relocated
to Lakeside Park, the celebration really blossomed, greatly increasing the
number of acts, vendors, dealers, attendees and the amount of money raised for
charities.
The upcoming LakeFest
will feature more than a dozen musical acts, performing on a 24-foot stage with
professional lighting and sound. On Saturday, comedian Darren Knight – also
known as “Southern Momma” – will make a special appearance.
In addition to the
motorcycle and boat dealers, auto dealers will be on site. The inflatables and
water slides in Kid Zone will keep the younger set entertained on Friday and
Saturday. As many as 50 vendors will sell all sorts of items – from jewelry,
art and furniture to food, food and more food.
One vendor even comes
from Florida to sell crab cakes.
“The food is always a
highlight,” Housh said.
This year’s LakeFest is
on target to be the largest in the celebration’s history.
“We have exceeded our
growth this year,” Hogeland said. “We actually have a waiting list of boat
vendors.”
Housh added that the
space for other vendors is at capacity as well. “We have to turn vendors away
every year. We have to turn sponsors away every year.”
Even a place to dock a
boat has become a premium, Housh said. His advice to those planning to go to
LakeFest by water is to arrive early to secure a spot.
The appeal of LakeFest
draws people from Birmingham, Montgomery, Anniston, Oxford, Huntsville and
event Atlanta, Ga., Hogeland said.
“I like to see people
coming here from other places because this is an idyllic getaway,” Housh said.
He noted that Pell City
is, first of all, fortunate to have a large and attractive Lakeside Park that
can accommodate an event such as LakeFest. In addition to that, it is unique to
have an in-water boat show where people may test-drive models, talk to experts,
and get on-site financing.
“Having LakeFest at Lakeside Park has been a wonderful experience,” said
Brian Muenger, city manager for the City of Pell City. “It is a great
community-building event, as well as a means of promoting the city and the lake
in general. Last year was the biggest event yet. …”
Housh estimates the 2018
LakeFest attendance at 15,000.
“Any time you can bring
that many people to the area, it’s a great thing,” Muenger said. “The lake is
our biggest draw in terms of new residents, and LakeFest provides a huge amount
of exposure for the city.”
LakeFest has provided
about $50,000 for charities each of the last three years and while many
charitable causes have benefited from LakeFest funds, Hogeland said Lakeside
Park and the City of Pell City are two of the main recipients.
“The Logan Martin Charity
Foundation has … been a generous supporter of (the) Fire and Police
Departments, which we are thankful for,” Muenger said. “They have also
partnered with the city to expand the docks at the park, which was a $50,000
project. We are working towards further improvements in the years to come, and
with the continual growth of the event, I know its impact on the community will
continue to expand.”
Tonja Ramey, LMLPA
president, said LakeFest gives exposure to and promotes LMLPA’s work of keeping
the lake clean and teaching about the lake’s impact upon humans, ecology and
economy.
“The primary purpose of LMLPA is to educate
the public on issues and activities that impact the use and vitality of Logan
Martin Lake,” Ramey said. “… (At LakeFest,) we are able to set up a booth,
mingle with the vendors and share information with the visitors about the
importance of making improvements for the safety of swimmers and boaters, as
well as protecting the quality of our lake. And it also gives us the
opportunity to share information and possibly recruit anyone that may be
interested in learning to be a water monitor. Events like LakeFest are
also a great opportunity to sign up new members to LMLPA.”
A legacy remembered
Year after year, Woods’
influence continued to be a positive force in LakeFest.
Then, just four days
before the 2017 LakeFest, Woods died, Hildebrant said.
Hogeland and Housh said
it was very difficult to continue with LakeFest that year, but the group did so
for Woods’ sake.
The activities this year
will begin with a time of remembering Woods’ vision and commitment.
On Friday evening will be
another time of remembrance, as LakeFest honors some residents of Col. Robert
L. Howard Veterans Home in Pell City. The veterans will be transported in a
procession to LakeFest, where they will be treated in the VIP tent (sponsored
by State Farm agents Bart Perry and Brandon Tate) to dinner, followed by a
fireworks spectacular (sponsored by Bennington, a maker of pontoon boats).
Speaking of pontoons, an
18-foot Avalon with a 50-horsepower Honda motor and an estimated value of
$23,000 will be given away Saturday evening. So will an $8,500 Tracker ATV.
“I think that’s going to
be pretty popular,” Housh said of those two giveaways at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
“Everyone who attends
LakeFest gets a ticket free,” Housh said. The ticket allows each person to
register at the LakeFest tent for the hourly giveaways.
Coordinating LakeFest is
an undertaking that keeps Housh and Hogeland rather busy for many months.
Nonetheless, “this is my favorite time of year,” Housh said, noting that it is
gratifying to see the way the community shows support by attending LakeFest.
“One of the perks is the
check presentations to charities,” Hogeland added. Giving those, he said, is
reward for all the work.
Check out Logan Martin LakeFest & Boat Show on Facebook. To get sponsor and vendor information and applications, directions to the park, or a schedule of events, visit loganmartinLakeFest.com. In addition to Housh, Hogeland and Hildebrant, Logan Martin Charity Foundation’s other board members are Fred Casey and Lee Holmes. Judy Carr is the financial officer. The foundation is a 501(c)3 organization.
Bain, Colley set to defend the Alabama Bass Trail Series title
Story by Paul South
Submitted photos
When it comes to fishing, Adam Bain and Kris Colley hold to a
simple truth, the same flame that burned bright in classic literature and on
classic TV.
Whether it’s Melville’s Ishmael, or Mayberry’s Andy and Opie
Taylor, it’s not about victory over another angler. It’s man vs. fish.
“It’s kind of like a little puzzle. You have to figure out what
the fish are doing and the time of the year, the depth they’re in and what
they’re biting,” Bain says. “It’s just you and the fish. It’s not necessarily
you against everybody else, it’s you against the fish. There’s as much
competition there, as there is to figuring out if you can beat everybody else.
You gotta beat the fish.”
Bain from Pell City and Colley of Ashville beat the fish and
everybody else in 2018, capturing the Alabama Bass Trail Championship in their
home county on Neely Henry Lake.
They’ve won twice on the ABT circuit over the years, once at
Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee River, and the ABT title on Neely Henry last
year. The pair finished second in 2017, narrowly missing the ABT title on Logan
Martin, their day’s catch losing by slightly more than two pounds.
Sanctioned by the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, the Alabama Bass
Trail Tournament Series features two divisions. Each division –North and South
– includes five tournaments on five different lakes. As many as 225 two-man
boats can compete in each tournament.
Bain, a Realtor and Colley, who works in the railway industry,
have made waves on the ABT circuit with their winning ways that combine
old-school fishing techniques with high technology in the ever-evolving world
of competitive angling.
While the ABT is considered an amateur circuit, each tournament
champion wins a $10,000 grand prize, with $47,000 in prizes going to the top 40
teams. In recognition of Alabama’s Bicentennial in 2019, the 200th-place
finisher will earn a $200 bonus. The total prize money for the 2019 ABT Series
circuit is $568,000.
But for Colley and Bain, it’s not about the money. While they’ve
knocked around the idea of moving to a higher level of competitive fishing,
family comes first.
“There’s so much money at the local level now that you can stay
around the house and win. But we don’t necessarily do it for the money, but for
the competition. The money is an added bonus. The more money, the more
competition.”
Colley agrees. The rush of the tug on a line is enough.
“We’re both competitive in that we always want to win. It’s not
that we fish against each other, but we joke around and make fun of it. You
know, fishing is fun. Between the both of us, we never take it to the point
where it’s so serious that we take the fun out of it. Honestly, if it ever got
to that point, I’d probably quit.”
That fun and love of fishing has helped hook a strong friendship.
The two have fished together for about a decade. And their fishing style,
forged since childhood on the stained Army-khaki waters of Weiss Lake, Logan
Martin and Neely Henry complements each other.
“He’s probably a little more patient than I am. I like to throw
stuff and wind it in, Bain says of his angling teammate. “I use a spinner bait
or a crank bait. He will take a jig or a piece of plastic and flip it. He
thinks that if I’m up there and catching fish that are active, he can fish
maybe a different part of the water column.”
While most fishermen would probably never admit it, especially in
the age of high-technology depth finders and trolling motors linked to
smartphones and sonar-laced lures, luck takes a hand.
But when Colley is on his game, Bain has a simple strategy.
“When he’s on and when he’s getting bites and catching fish, I
just stay out of his way. He’s kind of the same way with me. It may be his day
a little more often than it is mine. He really does catch a lot of fish.”
Asked his own strengths on the team, Bain quips: “I run the dip
net really well.”
While Colley can flip plastic lures into the tall grasses near the
shoreline or under docks, Bain is the deep-water specialist, hooking big
catches on spinner and crank baits. In the summertime, he generally does well because
he catches them deep,” Colley says.
He adds, “We both kind of fish fast, but we do it different ways.
When you have that and have two ways of looking at it, if one way’s not
working, we’re really quick to switch to another. At the end of the day, you
might fish the same, but it’s somewhat different.”
Like most kids who grow up near the lake, fishing has always been
a simple pursuit. Joy can be had with a cane pole, a box of worms or a cage of
crickets. But as with the rest of the world, technology snagged competitive
fishing in its net.
The days of paper topographic maps of bodies of water are no more.
Water temperature, depth, barometric pressure, the phases of the moon, all
figure into fishing. And the new depth finders make learning an unfamiliar lake
easier,
“They call it video game fishing,” Bain says. “As you’re trolling
around, and you see a fish directly below you on your depth finder, you can
drop a little worm straight down and watch the fish bite on the monitor. There
are people who fish like that a lot. We’ve never gotten into that. Because
we’re from and fish predominately on the Coosa River, which is shallow, the
water stays kind of stained and the fish, most of the year live shallower than
in other river systems. So, to fish competitively, you don’t necessarily have
to fish out deep the majority of the year. Obviously, there are times you have
to go out (deep) to win, even on Logan Martin and Neely Henry, but not as often
(on those lakes) as some of the others.”
Colley is excited by the new technology.
“I think it’s great. It’s changed fishing. It’s sort of created a
wide range of how to catch fish. You see people who fish on the bank and still
win, and then you see people who grew up in the age of technology, and they
know how to use it to their advantage, and they’re able to catch them offshore.
It’s changed the way that everybody fishes because at some point
in time – we’re not the best in electronics – you’ve got to be able to read
them to be competitive. Some of the lengths we go to, you have to know how to
read them, or you’re going to get beat.”
Fishing, it seems, is booming. Bain, who learned angling from his
father and grandfather, remembers fishing junior tournaments with only three
competitive boats. Now fishing flourishes at the prep, amateur, collegiate and
pro level. More than 200 boats compete on the ABT circuit, and some of the pros
show up at those events. And amateurs compete in some of the professional
“open” tourneys.
Bain believes the internet, technology advertising, money and
media coverage have boosted the popularity of a sport that once seemed to be
gasping for air on the rocks. And as a result, the competition is tough
“The fishermen have gotten good. Your average fisherman is a lot
better now than he used to be. Whether that’s the depth finders or the material
that’s he’s able to get to and read about and see the new techniques and all
this stuff, the average fisherman has gotten much better than he was 20 years
ago. It’s got to be the technology that’s doing that.”
Defending champs
Technology aside, Colley and Bain are philosophical as they begin
the defense of their 2018 Alabama Bass Trail Series. Colley doesn’t see a
bullseye on their backs as the new season began.
“It’s not. We look forward to being able to defend. We’re not
going to change anything up. If we go out and do the best we can and if it’s
meant to be, it’s meant to be.”
He adds, “We both have our strengths as far as what we like to do
and how we do it. If it’s a bait or a certain thing he likes to do, he runs the
boat. It just depends on crank or jerk bait like Adam does, or flipping a bait,
that’s more my kind of deal. We try to keep each other up. You’re going to lose
a big fish here and there, and when we do, we just try to make fun of it. We
don’t really get down, we just make fun of and nag each other the rest of the
day.”
Asked if the fishing friends are like an old married couple,
Colley chuckles.
“Pretty much,” he says.
The pair calls the ABT championship their biggest thrill and their
biggest victory in fishing. But even in these days of tournaments and tough
competition, where anglers on the ABT try to land five fat keepers, the story
always circles back to childhood and the thrill of that first big fish, fun and
friendship
“We don’t do a whole lot different than anybody else,” Bain says.
“Kris is an outstanding fisherman. I’m probably very lucky to be fishing with
him. We’ve taken our lumps over the years, but we’ve put a lot of time in and
worked really hard at it. We’ve paid our dues.
“Now
that we do have families we aren’t able to fish all the time during the week,
like we did growing up. But what success we have now, I can attribute to those
days as a kid, fishing for hours, not knowing what you were doing, but just
learning. Eventually, years down the road, that stuff does pay off.”
