We had to alter our original game plan because of a freezing cold front blowing into Florida and Georgia. Larry has a tournament in a few weeks in Alabama and the temps were calling to be 15C warmer there, so we decided to make the 2 hour drive to Alabama and prefish Martin Lake a bit.
First stop was the Cracker Barrell...a must eat breakfast spot for me when traveling in the states.
Next stop was the local bait shop in AL for a licence...non-resident 7 day licience-$11. I was shocked to see goldfish for sale in the bait shop...great striper bait the staff told me. 
Danny fishes the Bassmaster tour with Larry and asked to join us for the day. He just had a new hot foot installed in his Ranger and wanted to try it out. After reaching the ramp, the three of us quickly had the boat in the water and our morning fish was soon to begin. Larry was fimilar with the lake and after a fun 76mph cruise up the lake, we arrived at one of Larry's spots.
The lake is a flood control lake and they keep it very low at this time of the year. It was down a good 50 feet from shore and the high water marks on some of the shore rock faces and docks commonly reached 10-15 feet above my head.
The lake was completely sand and stone. No weed growth at any time. We casted 3inch plastic crayfish and slowly retrieved them. Danny and I rigged them on a 3/8 ounce jighead and Larry fished them on a Carolina Rig. Danny got the morning going with the first spotted bass of the day.
I took the time to look over these spotted bass. It was my first time seeing/catching them and I was curious. They are very similar to LM bass, but have a little smaller mouth, a few teeth on their tounge and apparently don't reach the mature size of a LM. Larry definately had the hot stick for the morning. Here's one of his many...
I was the last to boat one. I think I was fishing the jig a little quick and once I slowed it down,I had my very first spotted bass in the boat. Only a wee fella, but my first!
The cold air and dirty water made for some tough fishing. We didn't find any of the 3-4 pounders that commonly reside in these waters, but we managed a few. Larry was champ for the morning with 7, I boated 4 and Danny managed 1. Larry has already began his fun with Danny about being out fished by the funny talking Canadian.
Two real fun guys.Here's a little piece of equipment I acquired from Larry. Danny and Larry both had these and were happy to let me try it out. They're called Fish Headz are are for wearing while at high speeds when it's cold or raining.
They are extremely light and the viewing sheild is fog and glare resitant. These things are fantastic and I had to have one. I can't count the times in the Spring and Fall that I've nearly had my face ripped off by cold and rain while trying to jet across open water. I'll get a ton of use out of this. They are only available at a few select spots in the US at this point...but they're looking for dealers.
$110-$135 USD...ouch.Agian, no bigguns, but an awesome day for me. You can't help but learn whenever you fish with guys of this calibre and I'm so thankful they took the time to take me out for my first spotted bass expeeience. Larry wants me back down when the weather warms so we can do it again. I of course accepted.
It's a whole different world down there and I'm looking to return the favour this summer by playing host to him and a friend for a little smallie and rainbow fishing on Lake Erie.
....but it's nice to see water with no snow....as far has one of those white things....i don't think so, and you said we look funny wearing orange floater suits....