WHEN BASS GO TO ROOST WITH GEORGE MAYFIELD

How Lake Dancy Was Built and Stocked

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you want to learn more about any subject, you always talk to the experts. George Mayfield is an expert on bass-fishing lakes like Lake Dancy at The Roost.

According to Mayfield, "Lake Dancy is a 177-acre lake with 3.7 miles of shoreline and 1.3 miles long. The lake was built in the fall of 2000. I stocked the lake in the spring of 2001 with northern-strain largemouths, Florida-strain largemouths, and F-1 hybrid largemouths. I also stocked it with 40,000 coppernose bluegills, and another 100,000 regular bluegills. I loaded the lake with $10,000 worth of flathead minnows. I also put several truckloads of threadfin shad in the lake. I placed 28 piles of riprap in the lake with air lines under each pile, so I could aerate the lake.

"We had an independent consultant study our bass, which are now 2 years old. He said they were growing at a rate of 105 percent per year which is as fast as they can grow. So, next spring, we may have some 5- and 6-pound bass or even bigger for our fishermen to catch. Next year, we also plan to introduce some tilapia, South American fish that are really good food for the bass. We can stock them at a reasonable rate. Anytime our bass are hungry they'll have plenty to eat."

For more information on fishing The Roost, contact George Mayfield at (205) 373-3174, or write to him at The Roost, P. O. Box 509, Aliceville, Alabama, 35442, or visit his Web site www.theroost.com.

TOMORROW: CATCHING INSTEAD OF FISHING