News:
What is Your Organization is doing to
promote our Mission (Read Below)
The
Anatomy of a Successful Event
(posted
on Porcupine Fish Attractors site)
In the
past, we have used this page to give
fishing tips and timely information but
I feel the need to tell you about an
event that was completed last Saturday.
For the past five years, I have had the
privilege of helping at an event called
the Pell City Kids Catfish Rodeo. The
event falls during the week of National
Fishing and Boating Week every year.
This year, Gary
Kendrick and the Coosa Crappie Club
asked to become more involved in the
planning and hosting of the event and
were eagerly granted that by the Pell
City Alabama Park and Recreation
Department. I must tell you that Gary
Kendrick and his wife, Barbara are some
of the most giving people whom I have
ever known.

In the
words of the great Paul Harvey, “Now for
the rest of the story.” While this event
only lasted a few hours, Gary Kendrick
and many others spent countless hours of
planning, calling in favors, and begging
to make what I feel was the greatest
Kids Catfish Rodeo ever in its nine year
history. As I regularly do, I started
contacting my friends last year in an
effort to get their support for this
event. Larry Harper of Porcupine Fish
Attractors committed to this event long
before gas prices started reaching the
$4.00 per gallon mark. Larry showed up
on the Wednesday before the event, ready
to do whatever was needed. He took
hundreds of pictures, helped with
preparing the fishing area, helped kids
fish, and then finished up by being
there for a group that is special in my
heart, Veterans who have lost or are
losing their sight. Larry has a heart as
big as anyone I know and for that I am
thankful to call him a friend.
I must
tell you about others who dedicated so
much of themselves to make this event
the success that it was. Russ Bailey and
Jeff Toben of Midwest Crappie signed on
for this event, many months ago. They
both showed up on Thursday, ready to do
what it took to make this event a
success. Russ came bearing gifts for the
kids as well as doing a great job at the
scales and being the “Master of
Ceremonies.” Jeff did whatever was
needed to provide a helping hand and you
will not believe the video he shot of a
4 year old kid catching a huge Catfish.

This
year, Gary Kendrick came up with a new
idea to tag some of the fish and if a
child was lucky enough to catch one of
these tagged fish, the child would
receive a lifetime fishing license.
Folks, lifetime fishing license in
Alabama are not cheap. Again, Gary
contacted several businesses and was
able to have Metro Bank of Pell City
underwrite one Lifetime Fishing License
if their tagged fish was caught.
As expected, when
our friend Jerry Culberson, best known
as the founder of Anglers Unlimited was
asked if he would like to help, He
stepped up and underwrote two lifetime
fishing license tags through his
company, Preferred Health Services.
The great
Catfish Tournament Team of Phil King and
Tim Haynie showed up early with as much
enthusiasm as I have ever seen. Spending
a few days around these guys brought the
perspective of why we were doing this
event. Phil and Tim made one of the most
valid points when the reminded all of us
that this was about the kids. Kids don’t
care what they catch, just as long as
they catch something. On Saturday
morning, I also saw that it was also
about the parents, the single mom making
sure her kid was there to fish or the
grandparent that has stepped in to make
sure that their grandchild has the same
shot they did.

Phil and
Tim made sure that with the support of
their sponsors like Cabela’s, Triton
Boats, SeaArk Boats, Pure Fishing, and
Kimberly Clark, no child left this event
without something. They brought a ton of
prizes and worked well into the night
before bagging up gifts for those kids
to show up. The neatest attraction at
the Catfish Rodeo was the mount of
Phil’s 103 pound catfish that he had
just got back from the Taxidermist. The
kids were blown away when they saw this
monster hanging from a tree.

Sonny and
Coy Sipes who are sponsored by Blakemore
Bait and B and M Poles have been on
board for five years and just as
expected, they showed up on Thursday
morning and assisted in placing the net
in place and doing whatever had to be
done. On Saturday, these two showed up
with sponsor products and their fish
cleaning skills. I have never seen
anyone clean catfish like Sonny and Coy.
They are two amazing guys. BJ’S Bait
donated several rod and reels as well as
other tackle that was given away. Thanks
to my dad, Joe Thomas Sr, several prizes
were donated by the Governors Office and
the Alabama Department of Economic and
Community Affairs. He also convince
Frank Daniel’s wife, Hayley, to show up
and do face painting for the kids once
they grew tired of fishing. We cannot
forget the Alabama Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources for
their help in placing the net as well as
the Conservation Officers who showed up
on Saturday to assist the kids Something
as simple as bags to put the kids prizes
in became a challenge. My friends at
Simmons Sporting Goods in Bessemer,
Alabama stepped up to the plate as they
have done so many times before and gave
us all the bags we needed.

So my
friends you can see, an event of this
kind does not just happen. It takes
people and companies that are not so
worried about the bottom line but about
the future of our country and the future
of the kids that participated. I am
forever grateful for the generosity of
others to make this event a huge
success. Until next time, keep a tight
line and consider taking a kid fishing.
Thanks,
Joe |
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Water Wars
By BEN
EVANS, The Associated Press
Published: February 6, 2008
WASHINGTON - A federal
appeals court on Tuesday threw out an agreement that
Georgia reached with the Army Corps of Engineers for
water rights to a major federal reservoir outside
Atlanta, handing Alabama and Florida a major victory
in the states' years-long water wars.
The 2003 agreement with
the Corps would give Georgia about a quarter of Lake
Lanier's capacity during the coming decades and is
the foundation of Georgia's long-term plans for
supplying drinking water to the rapidly growing
Atlanta region.
Alabama and Florida
challenged the pact, arguing Georgia doesn't have a
legal right to the federal reservoir, which was
initially built for hydropower.
The withdrawals would
dry up river flows into their states that support
smaller municipalities, power plants, commercial
fisheries and industrial users, such as paper mills.
A district court earlier
ruled in Georgia's favor, but the U.S. Court of
Appeals in Washington overturned that decision
Tuesday, saying the agreement constituted a major
operational change at the reservoir that requires
congressional approval.
"This is the most
consequential legal ruling in the 18-year history of
the water war, and one of the most important in the
history of the state of Alabama," said Alabama Gov.
Bob Riley.
"It establishes that the
decades-old practice of Atlanta taking more and more
water from the federal reservoirs in the Coosa and
Chattahoochee rivers without any legal authority to
do so will not stand," Riley said.
The ruling comes amid
tense negotiations among the states' governors over
water sharing during a record drought.
The talks have been
brokered by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, but
so far have not yielded tangible results.
Although the ruling
raises questions about Georgia's rights to the water
it already is using in Lake Lanier, it would not
harm the state's negotiating position, said Bert
Brantley, a spokesman for Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue.
"Our goal and our focus
has always been on reaching an agreement with our
neighbors and to work this out at the negotiating
table rather than in a courtroom," Brantley said.
He said the state had
not ruled out appealing the case to the Supreme
Court.
Michael Sole, secretary
of Florida's environmental protection department,
called the ruling a victory for the ecosystem around
the state's Apalachicola Bay, which Florida
officials have argued would be harmed by low river
flows.
"It clearly supports
Florida's position that the Corps and Georgia cannot
agree to reallocate storage in the Lake Lanier
reservoir, to provide more water for Atlanta, for
instance, without congressional approval," he said.
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November 7, 2007 Anglers Unlimited Helps
to Host 2nd Annual
Alabama Championship Crappie Tournament
We’ll its
back to the work routine after a great
week of fishing on Weiss and Neely Henry
Lakes in Alabama. Jerry Culberson and
Anglers Unlimited members put on a great
2nd Annual Alabama Championship. We were
able to pre-fish on Weiss on Wednesday,
November 1, 2007. During practice, we
found some decent fish on the lower end
of the lake near Bay Springs. We fished
the river channel and caught several
fish but the bite was slow. We found
that you had to be in heavy cover and
the presentation had to be extremely
slow. On the first tournament day, we
managed to catch only 8 fish all day.
Our largest 7 weighed only 6.02 lbs.
This placed us in 17th place, 4 pounds
behind the leaders, Moody and Blackburn.
David did manage to hook a 45 lb catfish
and we got it to the boat before it
broke the 6 pound test line. Not to give
up, we were on Neely Henry before
daylight waiting for the clock to strike
seven. David had pre fished on Neely
Henry the week before and had caught
some nice fish in the area where we
fished. After the tournament began, we
had 7 keepers in the box within the
first 15 minutes. For the next 4 hours,
the bite was fast and furious. We must
have caught 50 or 60 crappie along with
catfish, stripes, and spotted bass.
Culling our stringer was a constant job
and we had to again weigh fish at the
weigh in. We managed to bring in 7
crappie weighing 10 lbs even. This
brought us up to a tenth place finish.
We would like to congratulate Moody and
Blackburn for the second win in the
second annual Alabama Championship. They
brought in a two day total of 21.36 lbs.
The top 10 are listed below. After the
weigh in, draw prized were awarded to
the participants. Larry Harper of
Porcupine Fish Attractors was present to
hand out some attractors as door prizes
as well as answer many questions from
the participants. Larry even got the
opportunity to fish a little while with
Russ Bailey. When Russ told Larry they
were going to shoot some docks, Larry
showed up with a shotgun! They managed
to catch a lot of fish and Larry was
able to get a two pounder on his first
outing of dock shooting.
2007
Alabama Championship Results
1 |
Brent Moody & Greg Blackburn |
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TN |
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TN |
21.360 |
2 |
Don Travis and Roy Elkins |
Paducah |
KY |
Calvary City |
KY |
21.110 |
3 |
Stanley Steed & Zachary
Steed |
Cave Springs |
AL |
Luke AFB |
AZ |
21.080 |
4 |
Terry Whaley and Carlton
Teague |
Cedar Bluff |
AL |
Gaylesville |
AL |
20.310 |
5 |
Joe Hayes & Phil Trapp |
Cave Springs |
GA |
Cave Springs |
GA |
20.180 |
6 |
Coy and Wilber Sipes |
Pell City |
AL |
Moody |
AL |
18.970 |
7 |
David Stancil and Earl Brink |
Oxford |
AL |
Cumming |
GA |
18.090 |
8 |
Andre Reynolds & Yvonne Burt |
Fort Payne |
AL |
Fort Payne |
AL |
17.870 |
9 |
Bill McCord and Lance
Wheeler |
Cave Springs |
GA |
Rome |
GA |
16.590 |
10 |
Joe M. Thomas & David Morrow |
Pell City |
AL |
Pell City |
AL |
16.020 |

Russ Bailey and the 2007 Alabama
Championship Winners
Brent Moody and Greg Blackburn
After the
weigh in was over, Russ Bailey, host of
Midwest Crappie, and I started a project
that I think will be beneficial to his
viewers as well as anyone interested in
Porcupine Fish Attractors. We shot the
first half of a show that will air in
the 08-09 season. We took the time to
explain how to assemble and put out the
attractors. We are going to shoot the
second half of the show in the spring of
2008 and go fish on the attractors we
put out. I think this will give a unique
view of how well these attractors work.
Until next time, keep a tight line.

Russ and Joe placing an attractor in
Neely Henry Lake
Joe Thomas
Porcupine Fishing Attractor Pro Staff
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Posted on Porcupinefishattractors.com
November 30, 2007
Anglers Unlimited
Holds Work Day On Weiss Lake
Porcupine Fish Attractors is proud to partner
with Anglers Unlimited in their effort to replace Fish Habitats in Weiss
Lake, Alabama. On Saturday, January 5, 2008, Volunteers from Anglers
Unlimited got together and put out over 30 Porcupine Fish Attractors in
Weiss Lake. Anglers Unlimited is an organization who’s motto is: To educate
the public about the importance of fish habitat and it’s role in the
survival of all fish species. To promote conservation and protection of our
rivers, lake and streams for today and tomorrow. To replace lost fish
habitat with new aquatic habitat that will allow current freshwater fish
species to reproduce and survive. Porcupine Fish Attractors is proud to
support Anglers Unlimited and look forward to many great things. For more
information, please visit their website at,
www.anglersunlimited.org.
Also, if anyone is interested in joining a new Crappie Club in Alabama, a
meeting will be held on Saturday, February 2, 2008 at 4:00 PM to make plans
for the coming year. The meeting will be held at Cherokee County Senior and
Nutrition Center, 199 Hospital Ave. Centre, Alabama 35960. For more
information, contact Glen Floyd – cell 256-557-0264, Jerry Culberson – cell
256-557-0023, or Terry Whaley – cell 256-557-8555.
click here for some
photos of the work day. (photos) Until next time, keep a tight line,
Joe Thomas

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