There’s 2 minutes left in the half, Brady connects and the Patriots trail by 6 points.  Yeah that’s right, I’m taking this opportunity to blog during Super Bowl XLVI.  Why?  Because I’ve been so busy since returning from a shoot in Florida!  This is cram-time in the TV business for fishing show producers.  It’s like its the fourth quarter and we need to score four more touchdowns, sort of speak.  Truth is we have four more episodes to produce, edit and ship off to Outdoor Channel in time for closed-captioning by the end of the month.

     (24 seconds left on the clock, Brady connects with Woodhead).

I spent the day writing the script for an episode of Hook N’ Look we shot back in November with BoatUS ANGLER Brand Manager, Steve Levi.  Situated within the CherokeeNational Forest lies Parkville Reservoir (LakeOcoee) a few casts from Chattanooga, TN.  During our shoot, Danny and I captured some incredible underwater footage of schools of spotted bass suspended in submerged trees as well as congregated around stumps on points.  The conditions the day we dove were perfect, bright sun, blue skies and the spots were certainly out and about.

     (Brady connects again with Woodhead, TOUCHDOWN PATRIOTS!!!)

The previous day, one of my personal-best spotted bass inhaled a Strike King Wild Shiner Jerkbait.  This fish looked like it swallowed a softball and weighed in 2 ounces shy of 5 lbs.  Parksville Reservoir is really quite a story considering its recent history.  Twenty years ago this scenic body of water was literally dead.

     (Strike a pose!  Madonna is scoring big with awesome half-time show.)

Past copper-mining practices in the CopperBasin left a legacy of contamination in the lake’s sediment and the result left aquatic life and habitat significantly degraded.

     (What the heck is that on the tightrope?)

In the 1980’s copper-mining ceased and remedial actions have led to improved water quality through the removal of contaminants.  Although sediment quality in some areas remain an ongoing issue, the quality and numbers of spotted bass in LakeOcoee is incredibly surprising.

     (Love watching the Super Bowl commercials!)

When Steve arrived, the clouds began to roll and the jerkbait bite suffered a bit.  I’m confident he’ll be thoroughly surprised when he sees the footage captured from below the surface.  They live there!  “Parksville Revival” - Hook N’ Look Episode #11 - airs on Outdoor Channel March 9^th, 10^th and 11^th.

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