A little history, my great grandfather was one of the surveyors that helped construct the earthen dam that turned the river there when they were building 278. The lake went straight where 278 is now before winding around and heading west crossing about 400-500 yards down. The state blasted a spill way parallel to 278 to turn the river so they could build the road. This will eventually cause problems because since we have had it there has been considerable erosion but it will take a long time. My great geandfather took my dad fishing there when he was little and my dad in turn took me. He remarried after my mom and him separated and told my brother and I if we would change schools he would try to buy it so we could half way between Hamilton and Haleyville. So in 1987 he bought it from the timber company who had wanted to sell it as it’s very unproductive timber property. They literally drew a map around most of the lake and told him he had to buy 100 acres of nothing but water front, and lake so he did for a heck of a deal. We cleared the property which had been kind of a community party location for years. We went through every trespasser nightmare imaginable, from torn down gates, to stolen cars, to public petitions for the county to declare imminent domain for everything from a brilliant water supply, to a water station for the local volunteer fire department. We actually woke up one morning to the county commissioner pushing a road across private property with a dozer. My dad ended up halting the dozer at almost gun point, until the county attorney was finally reached who informed the commissioner that if my dad would be so kind to let him get the dozer out of there and not press charges that we would never have a problem with them again. From this we went to finding an airplane that crashed into the lake when I was 14 and sank on New Year’s Eve. It was there 31 days before we found it, and it had killed a dentist and his husband in the crash. Their plane was in the lake the entire time not 100 yards from the road and no one knew. My dad ultimately remarried and his wife was a city girl and hate being out there, so he decided he needed to sell it. I was heart broken but as I had just finished college and was working in Auburn and really didn’t need to buy it although looking back I should have I could have bought the property and a 3300 sq ft house for $125k but didn’t see how in the world I could make that work. Fortunately a family member bought it, my dad told them upfront the locals would tote you off if you didn’t stay there and be meaner that the devil him self to those who trespassed. Well they didn’t so the house was stripped and completely destroyed in short order. I traded another piece of real estate for it as my cousin who had it doesn’t have the stomach to deal with thugs that try to run over you and such. I will begin working on it in the next year. Or two to get it cleaned back up the house burned down and a cabin,barndo, or something built back there for the weekends.

Over the years we have killed a few deer there(the largest probably wouldn’t score 90 inches) caught hundreds of pounds of catfish, bass, crappie, and some huge gar. The snakes there are indeed something, I was bit by a cotton mouth getting into the boat when I was 15 it was a dry bite lucky. Shortly after we bought it my grandfather wanted to go night fishing for crappie so we hung two Coleman lanterns on poles from the boat. Shortly after dark there were snakes everywhere and they were all swimming toward the light. I shot a box of 20ga shells through a single shot shotgun before we could get off the water it was truly crazy. We have had everything from central units, to race cars, to bullets stollen from a gun there. I have game camera pictures of a couple of nice ones over the years but the lake throws them off as there is nothing to draw them down unless it’s a dry year. The lake is surrounded by cutover and set pines so the only deer we kill are usually ones that have been spooked by the surrounding landowners or hunters. We get a few does swimming the lake this time of year when bucks are chasing but they are always running 900mph or in the water it seems.

I know the argument rages here about black painters but we have legitimately saw a big cat there, 40 yards 7 am broad daylight climbed down out of a tree and walked through a green field. I have a game camera picture of what the best we can tell is a black bear, but it’s not a great picture was from the days of film game cameras. There are river otters and beavers a plenty if anyone is interested in trapping them shoot me a pm.