The greatest thing that has happened this week here at Wingate’s was the visit from a badly wounded Iraq War veteran.

After months in hospitals, he is finely able to be out and about. He loves to fish and chose to come here because he went to elementary school with the owners, Beth Sloan and Gale Goodman. Mike Sloan was his guide and in three hours of fishing was able to take eight bass up to 5.6 pounds on traps.

His name was Raymond Tinnon and with his lovely girlfriend, Cheryl Tesreau, was able to do the same thing the next day. Of course, Miss Cheryl outfished him and Mike!

During the same day, Mike Prindle took a party out and landed six fish for a total of 21 pounds of bass on crank baits over in the Creek.

There hasn’t been frost or ice every morning here at Wingate’s Lodge this week. However, the Red Maple, Japanese Magnolia and the Minature Apple are all either blooming or sprouting and the Willow branches are turning red. Let’s hope spring time is near. The Gulf water temp is 48 degrees.

We here in the Tri-States think we have trouble with the Flint-Chattahoochee-Appalachicola River system. Think of this, the Catawba River in South Carolina is 225 miles long, 1.68 million people drink water from it. It has 14 dams on it, 13 are hydroelectric, it cools two nuclear power plants and three coal fired plants. The river keepers entered federal lawsuits when the towns of Kannapolis and Concord wanted to withdraw 36 million gallons a day out of the Catawba and it in the Yadkin and PeeDee River basin. The reason for this is the fact that since 1960 the South Carolina population has increased 947 percent. Sounds like Atlanta.

We will be in Birmingham to watch the Bassmaster Classic this weekend. Hopefully to see Pam Martin-Wells finish close to the top. Maybe in the top 20. Would just tickle me to death.

Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Earnest Timpton of Eidison, Ga., we have a new Georgia state record for Blue Catfish—49 inches long and tipped the scales at 80.4 inches long.

We are seeing Redbirds all over the place now and according to a new study out, this fine bird, who can sit in snow and ice and survive a nite, must eat 10,000 calories a day to survive. To us humans, that would equal 155,000 calories. If I et that much, I’d have to have a wheelbarrow to role my belly around in.

As I’m writing this Thursday morning before I leave for Birmingham, I won’t have a temp and elevation chart this week.