By Robert "Dutch" Linthout

For those of you who have followed some of my fishing adventures...the telephone rang!
I have been writing for a while about fishing in private ponds and commercial fishing lakes and I always hope for that phone call inviting me to some faraway (or close) paradise for bass anglers.
Some time ago Mark told me to get in touch with "The Roost", about a private/commercial 174-acre fishing lake.

After burning rubber trying to get to a phone I got in touch and was promptly invited to come fish and maybe talk some business at the same time. YEEEES!!!
That was on Friday afternoon—guess what? I was to fish this lake the very next day!

The First Trip
I don't think I got much sleep that night and, of, course, I got up way too early. As I drove towards Aliceville, I happened to notice a very nice looking lake on either side of the road. Since I was too early anyway, I pulled out my Flippin Stick, and decided to walk along the riprap and flip the small patches of weeds, that looked absolutely perfect.

Talking about starting the day in a positive mood! I caught 5 bass from 1 to 3 pounds!
More often than not I have been to private lakes that were totally out of balance and not much fun to fish, so I figured whatever the situation at Lake Dancy, I already had my five keepers for the day.
When I arrived at The Roost I was right away taken to the lake. When I arrived at the lake there was an early morning mist and I could vaguely make out some standing timber and brush tops. At that time there was a small 15ft Challenger without an engine and a strange looked rudder/keel. I did not know what to make of this. The trolling motor had one speed only—High!
You know, a boat without an engine is really rather awkward. The nose sort of tilts down a lot as there's no weight on the back of the boat.

When I finally got to the brush tops I could have cared less. A bath tub would have been great too!
I figured to start the day with a Tom Mann's Shadow and see if semi-topwater would get 'em.
Well, when I made my third cast, "Mama" decided that this was too good to pass up, but as she was in a hurry, she ate my Shadow and went "home". "Home" being in the middle of the worst possible brush pile I had ever seen. I did not stand a chance! The fish must have been over 10 pounds and strong as could be. Wow, what a way to start.

But, as I am a slow learner and very excited, I retied and recast in the same spot and I swear that "Mama" got it again and broke me off the second time.
This "even" finally sunk home in this Dutchman's "hard as wooden shoes" head! I decided that maybe 14lb test might not be enough. That's a terrible conclusion - just terrible - imagine! :-)

Hokay, Flippin' Stick then! Successful is not the word to describe what that day was like. Even though I had to content with hard winds and very stormy conditions, I still managed to "flip up" more than 60 bass in slightly less than six hours. One niner, one eight, two sevens, several fives and sixes and over fifty threes and fours! There was absolutely nothing that would have gotten me off that lake that day.

The Second Trip
I went with two friends, this time in my own boat, but again in hard wind conditions. One of my friends brought two broken tip rods which earned him the nickname "Tip Top Tony" but still caught over 30 bass, the biggest about six pounds. My other friend Brock, had over 40, the biggest about a seven and I, who had the front of the boat, caught over 50 but managed to loose two fish over 9 pounds in the heavy structure. And I mean heavy structure! Fish any of the 10 huge log jams, you will not and I repeat - not- catch every fish you hook. I don't care if you fish with 100 lb test. I think that the logjams were basically designed to make you loose fish, so that you would want to come back. By the way I again had "Mama" on but for the third time she went home without me.

The Third Trip
This time I went with Larry, a very accomplished worm fisherman. But, quess what, strong winds! We caught 2 over seven and approximately 75 fish in total. He fished with a 5" lizard, Texas rigged and with 12 lb test. Hey...he broke off as many as he caught, but in the end, he caught the heavier fish. That day I really had a problem with flippin'. They were spooky and hard to get with heavy line.

The Fourth Trip
A Doozy! My son, Kenton, finally was able to get out of some of his classes in College, so we packed our gear and made for the Mississippi border. Lake Dancy is actually half in Alabama and half in Mississippi!

This time the wind worked in our favor. We had so many doubles several times in a row, it became "work". We caught about 150 fish, because we got "into" the timber of the creek. The creek channel snakes it's way through some of the worst tangles of stumps, branches, logs, etc. Most people stay away from the creek channel, because they fear they may not be able to get them "out"!

My boat was full of broken branches, patches of moss and a slew of wildlife, including lots of spiders and one big snake that fell in the water immediately, long enough for the beginning of a heart attack. Sir, that was a beeeg snake!

Fishing, though, was phenomenal! In one hole, as big as my living room, we caught over 50 bass, ranging from three to seven pounds and lost several larger fish we just could not control.

The Lake
Lake Dancy is located in the middle of the 6500 acre Roost Game Preserve, known for its long tradition in cutting edge wildlife management. Lake Dancy was built and structured in the fall of 2000 and stocked in the spring of 2001. This new lake covers 177 acres of prairie soils with 3.7 miles of shoreline. The lake was built around a long and winding creek, surrounded by hardwood timber and brush. None of the woods have been cut down, making an ideal habitat for large fish. Acres of standing timber will not allow a bass boat to "get in", but at the same time provides hiding places were large bass can keep on growing and growing.

Extraordinary care has been given to forage fish on Lake Dancy. The crawfish population, already native to the creek, has exploded and provides a high protein addition to all the other available forage. River shiners and Florida shiners, two species of Bream, threadfin and gizzard shad as well as Tilapia have been released and are doing extremely well in this properly fertilized impoundment.
Most of the bass that is being caught are fat and are known as "football fish", due to well rounded girth, which makes a 14inch bass weigh approximately 1/2pounds!

It is stocked with 50% northern and 50% Florida bass. The subsequent generations (f1) are exhibiting the best that both strains have to offer in terms of catch-ability combined with a phenomenal growth rate(3lbs p/year). SOP? Catch & Release!

I can really recommend this lake but bring a lot of heavy line in the 20 or over class!
Plenty of rooms w/board (really great food) are available, but need to be booked plenty of time in advance.

One more thing: Lake Dancy’s size and amount of diverse structure will ensure fishing success regardless of the season!

To visit the Lake Dancy website: www.lakedancy.com
For reservations or information:
Tel: (205) 373-3147
E-Mail: fish@lakedancy.com