Two fishing trips in the past week were to very similar but very different lakes. A week ago yesterday I fished Lake Guntersville for my March Map of the Month article. Guntersville is one of the most famous, if not the most famous, big bass lake in the US.

Guntersville is a big lake on the Tennessee River in north east Alabama, about 3.5 hours drive from Griffin. It has huge grass filled flats that are bass factories, and fishermen flock to the lake year round.

I fished with Brad Vice, a college team fisherman from the University of North Alabama. He is a very good young fisherman and knows the lake well since he lives in the area and has been fishing it all his life with his grandfather, father and two uncles, all of them bass tournament fishermen.

You hear about the great catches there and there are many outstanding catches in tournaments. But you don’t hear much about the lake being the toughest one in Alabama for club fishermen to catch a keeper in their tournaments, according to the Alabama creel reports.

Brad and I had the typical experience, fishing from daylight to dark and getting three bites. But the two bass he caught weighed 3.5 pounds nd 6.5 pounds, and the one I caught weighed about 2.5 pounds, all good fish. You can catch big bass there, but it is hard to catch many bass.

All three bass we caught hit rattle baits fished in grassbeds from four to ten feet deep. That is one of the best patterns this time of year. Brad caught his two on a red bait and I caught mine on a gold rattle bait.

On Friday I went to Lake Blackshear for my March Georgia Outdoor News article. Blackshear, about two hours south of Griffin between Cordele and Americus, is the prettiest lake in Georgia in my opinion. It is full of shallow grass beds and cypress trees. It looks like you should catch a bass no matter where you cast.

I fished with Jimmie Troxell for eight hours on a very cold day. The bass at Blackshear don’t respond well to cold – we never caught a bass. Jimmie has been fishing the lake for over 50 years, guides on the lake for bass and wins many tournaments there Just goes to show you no matter how well you know the lake, it is still fishing, not always catching.

Last weekend there was a tournament on Blackshear that was won with five bass weighing 22 pounds. One of Jimmie’s friends won it and told him where he caught them. We fished there – no bites. But it shows the kind of catches Blackshear is capable of producing. A few years ago Jimmie has a five bass limit in a tournament weighing 28 pounds to back that up!

Veterans State Park has everything you need for a vacation, from camping to cabins, a good boat ramp and even a golf course. It would be a great place to head for a few days to get away from it all – at least all that you want to get away from!