Category Archives: Book Reviews

Keys To Catching Clarks Hill Bass

Keys to Catching Clarks Hill Bass eBook

Ten spots on Clarks Hill Lake for each month of the year, with GPS Coordinates, description, lures to use and how to fish each one
By: Ronnie Garrison – ISBN: 978-1-940263-00-7

From Georgia Outdoor News Map of the Month series of articles and the eBook series “Keys to Catching Georgia Bass”

How to Use This Book

The articles for this series of books, Keys to Catching Georgia Bass, were written over a span of 15 years. Conditions change but bass tend to follow patterns year after year.
For example, Clarks Hill has gone through a series of years with low water then full again. After a couple of years of low water, grass and bushes grow that will be flooded in shallow water when the lake fills. But after a few years that cover rots away. Bass will still be in the same areas, you just have to fish the cover in them that is available when you fish.

Some years the water is clear and some years stained to muddy during the same months. The patterns and places in these articles will still work, but you may need to adjust the color of the bait to the conditions.
New baits and tackle companies come along every year but you can always find old favorite baits or similar baits from a new company that were produced by a defunct company, or use the new ones that are similar in action.
The GPS Coordinates given for each spot will get you very close to what you want to fish. An old brush pile on the coordinates may be gone, but you can bet another one will be in the same place or very nearby.

Some spots are on more than one map for more than one month. You can bet that is a good spot, if more than one good fisherman chose it! Some spots are good year round, over many months.

The eBook is $4.99. I may have some copies printed but the price would be about $10.00. If you want a printed copy please email me at ronnie@fishing-about.com to reserve a copy if I do have them printed.

Stupid Claims Made while Blaming Guns for Violence

Here they go again.

It never fails – a gun is used in a high visibility shooting like in Orlando last week, and the democrats and others immediately want to ban guns. I would be more willing to listen to them if they didn’t make silly, inaccurate statements and tell plain flat out lies about guns.

If nothing else, the claims that the killer last week was anything but a terrorists makes those making that claim lose all credibility with me. When they further say something stupid along the lines that automatic weapons should be banned I know they are not rational.

Private ownership of automatic guns has been almost completely banned in the US since June 26, 1934. The federal law that went into effect 82 years ago means, if you want to buy an automatic gun, you have to get a special federal firearms permit for each one you want. And those permits cost $2000 per gun! The law is so restrictive that, even after the FBI investigates you and approves you for a permit, you can not carry that gun across state lines without getting permission each time.

The “gun show loophole” is another myth pushed by the gun banners. It is common to hear something like “If you buy a gun at a gun show you should have to go through the background check.” You do, under current law.

To sell guns you have to possess a federal firearms license (FFL) and run a background check on every sale. Saying the gun show needs to run a background check is like saying a mall should sell you shoes. Just like at a mall, businesses rent spaces and sell their products. So you can buy shoes from a business that sells them in the mall just like you can buy a gun at a gun show from a business that sells them, and they have to run the background check.

How about those “private” sellers or “unlicensed gun dealers” many whine about? An individual can sell a personally owned firearm without a background check at a gun show or anywhere else.

How many guns can an individual sell before they must have an FFL? Federal law makes it a felony to buy even one gun to resell without an FFL. So its pretty hard to get inventory without becoming a felon if you want to become an unlicensed gun dealer.

Facebook as gotten into censorship over this in a big way. Several of my friends and I posted or shared something comparing so called “assault weapons” and hunting guns. It listed all the ways they are the same and the ways they are different. It pointed out the only difference is the way the gun looks. Nothing but a list of facts, but apparently the powers that be at Facebook disliked it and censored it from all our pages.

If you can’t provide facts to back up your opinion, censor the facts that go against your prejudices.

One brain dead congressman claimed the gun used in the killing in Florida could fire 700 rounds per minute. Even if you know nothing about guns you should be able to see how stupid that is. That amounts to almost 12 rounds per second. Any rational thought given to that number shows it is not possible, just another irrational claim to scare people about guns.

All the silly claims about banning guns to protect you and to keep terrorist and criminal from getting them is nothing but an effort to distract you from the real problem. Take the shooting in Orlando. The guy had been checked more than one time by the FBI and cleared and taken off the ‘no fly’ list. The FBi was notified a man was trying to buy level 3 body armor – the highest level “bullet proof” vest civilian can buy, but they didn’t follow up because they said they didn’t have enough information. It turned out to be the mass shooter.

Even if there was some way to stop selling guns some folks imagined to be “semiautomatic assault style weapons,” which means any gun some find objectionable because of their looks, and confiscate the millions already in private ownership, what effect would it have? Those kinds of guns are totally illegal in France. Yet 130 people were killed by terrorist using them last November. The got them into the country and to a concert and other public places in spite of the total ban.

Geraldo Rivera said on the news last Friday that we need to do something about “semi machine guns.” President Obama aaid the terrorists had “a Glock with a lot o clips in it.” With gun banners saying stupid things like that, it makes me totally ignore them since it is so obvious they do not know what they are talking about.

Does BassMaster Still Send Out Unsolicited Books?

A few years ago on a Wednesday I received a book “Advanced Bass Fishing Skills” in the mail from BASS. There was also a cute little medal of some kind with it. The letter with the book starts out “You must be wondering why we sent you this book.”

NO, I know exactly why BASS sent it – they hope I will send the requested $9.95 for this book, which also signs me up for a book club. They will keep sending me books every month or so and charging me an unspecified price. It is amazing how fast those book club books build up and how much you will end up paying for them.

I will not pay for it, nor will I return the book. The letter does state that I do not have to pay for the book or return it, which is nice for them to admit since that is the law. You do not have to pay for or return anything sent to you that you did not request.

I have received something like this from BASS for the past five or six years and I refused to pay for any of it or send it back. Looks like they would learn, eventually.

Do you ever received unsolicited material like this from BASS or other fishing groups? If so share your experiences in the comments section

My Favorite Outdoor Books

The Quest and the Quarry
by Gordon Hutchinson

“The Quest and The Quarry” written by Gordon Hutchinson shares with those fortunate enough to read it a feel for growing up in the south and how important family and traditions are to southerners. Well written and easy to read, the book leaves you wishing it was longer. It is more about hunting than it is about fishing but it is an excellent book for anyone that loves the outdoors. The Quest and The Quarry was selected for an “Excellence In Craft” award from the Southeast Outdoor Press Association in 2006.

Fishing For Catfish
by Keith Sutton

Keith Sutton knows catfish and his book will help you understand them and how to catch flatheads, blues and channel cats.

Fishing Georgia
by Kevin Dallmier

Kevin Dallmier was a Georgia fisheries biologist when he wrote this book. It has excellent tips on where to fish in Georgia to catch all freshwater and saltwater species in the state. It also includes profiles of fish found in Georgia.

The Everything Fishing Book
by Ronnie Garrison

Yep, I wrote it in 2002. Lots of what I think is good information for the beginner fisherman, from tying knots to finding places to fish.

Review Of Book “Backcountry Lawman”

Cover of Backcountry Lawman

from The Fishing Wire

The book “Backcountry Lawman-A Unique Look Into Florida’s Wild History” is a good read.

“Backcountry Lawman” recounts the adventures of Florida game warden Bob Lee during the rough-and-ready years when the state was loaded with fish and wildlife poachers.

Bob Lee’s Backcountry Lawman is a fast, fun read that anyone who has spent much time in the Florida outdoors will thoroughly enjoy. Lee was a game warden with what’s now the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission for some 30 years, at a time when the state was going from pretty much anything goes in the woods to the modern conservation ethic.

Not surprisingly, as a “woods cop” he butted heads with a variety of colorful and sometimes dangerous characters including all sorts of fish and wildlife poachers along the St. Johns River, and also was challenged occasionally by the elements and the animals in a state that was still very wild. It’s an interesting look at Florida’s history from a unique perspective.

The book is 250 pages long, but you may read it in one sitting if you know and love the Florida woods; there’s a confrontation and a climax in just about every chapter as Lee recalls midnight chases by boat, truck and on foot.

Lee is a natural story-teller and has a novelist’s eye for the telling detail, the smells and sounds and sights of the woods, rivers and lakes of northeast Florida. An interesting affection for some of the law-breakers shows through, as well-Lee obviously respects truly good woodsmen, which ever side of the law they happen to be on.

And when he goes on a trail, it’s a real education for anyone who ever wants to track a deer, a hog-or a man-through the woods. Lee was so good at it he eventually became the FWC’s man-tracking instructor. The book is a nicely illustrated hard-back with black & white photos from Lee’s working era, beginning in 1977. It’s $24.95 from University Press of Florida, www.upf.com . It can also be ordered as an eBook and found in print at most brick and mortar bookstores.

To learn more visit the author’s website at http://bobhlee.com/

Keys To Catching Georgia Bass E Book Series

The Ebooks below are each about one lake in Georgia. Each one contains twelve chapters, one for each month of the year. For each month there will be a map of the lake with ten bass fishing spots on it, GPS coordinates for each and a description of how to fish it and what to use.

There is also an introductory section with a little information about the fisherman that gave the ten spots and how to fish them. The fishermen include area guides, professional bass fishermen from the area and local fishermen that fish the lake often. Their tips on lures and fishing methods will help you catch bass any month of the year.

You can read the books on your computer, ebook reader and smart phone. You can also print out the whole book or a chapter to take with you on a fishing trip – click the link below the list for instructions.

Book 1 – Clark’s Hill Lake – ISBN# 978-1-940263-00-7

Book 2 – Lake Lanier

Book 3 – West Point Lake

Book 4 –

About Fishing

Welcome To About Fishing