By Chace Nelson

I wanted a bass fishing trip for my 12th birthday. My dad and I had been thinking of many different places to go. We had thought about Toledo Bend, Lake Guerrero, (in Mexico) or Lake Okeechobee. Then my dad called Mark's Outdoors and spoke to Matt Holland who had some suggestions on where to go. He told my dad about a new bass fishng and hunting lodge called Leavellwood. He had been there a couple of times and it would be the perfect place for our trip.

The next night my dad called me over to the computer. He was reading an article about a young boy and his dad fishing at Leavellwood. They caught a lot of fish, including an eight-pounder. When I read that article I immediately knew where I wanted to go.

Four days before we left we went to Mark's Outdoors to get stocked up on worms, lures and advice. Matt Holland knew just what we would need for our trip. He told us that the fishing had been slow during the dog days of summer but felt that the timing couldn't be better, except possibly in the spring.

On Thursday, October 19, I checked out of school at two o'clock so we would have more fishing time. The ride to Leavellwood was about one hour and 30 minutes. The whole way there we talked about how much fun it was going to be. Once we got to the lodge we met Trey and Pam Montgomery, the owners of Leavellwood, and Chip, who was our guide for the next couple of days.

It was about four o'clock when we got back in the car and headed out fishing. Just a short drive from the lodge the first lake we saw was the House Lake. It was about six acres. Not to far from that was another lake called Fantasy Island. It has an island in the middle. Then we saw the lake that we would be fishing that afternoon, Lake Leavellwood. It was 35 acres of the best looking bass fishing I have ever seen. All we had to do now was to get our gear into the boat.

On my first cast I reeled in a nice bass. I could tell that we hit the lake at just the right time. We had caught about 20 fish before we started moving toward a tree called the "Y" tree because of its shape. One of my first casts was right in the front of the tree. I felt a bite and set the hook.

After I got it reeled in we thought it weighed about three and a half pounds. We stayed there a little while longer and caught a few more fish. At about seven o'clock Chip said we had better head in for dinner. In that short afternoon of fishing we caught a total of 30 fish!

The dinner that night was fantastic. Pam fixed up the best meal you could possibly want. At dinner we met a man named Mr. Frye. Mr. Frye was 95 years old and had fished all over the United States. That day he was fly fishing on the House Lake. He certainly kept us entertained during dinner with stories about all his years of fishing.

We brought my Calcutta reel back to the lodge because it was making a funny noise. After dinner we decided that the noise we were hearing was just frayed line from the intense action of the afternoon. Then I asked my dad if I could take a couple of test casts in a little pond right by the lodge. Right when I was about to come inside I decided to take one more cast. When my plastic worm hit the water I felt a bite. I set the hook as hard as I could. It stayed on top of the water jumping most of the time. When I got it in I could not pick it up on the dock, so I decided to drag it in on the shore. Then I picked it up and showed my dad. He said it weighed about five pounds. I quickly put the bass back in the water. Then I decided that we should get ready for bed since we were going to get up early the next morning.

The next morning we got up at about six o'clock. We were out on the lake just before daylight. The fishing that morning was great. We had caught about 35 fish when we decided it was time to head in for breakfast. Breakfast that morning tasted fabulous. After breakfast we went back out fishing again. Since it was in the middle of the morning the fishing wasn't quite as good as it was early in the morning. We still caught around 15 fish. We headed back for lunch at about twelve o'clock After lunch we took about a one-hour break. An hour was all I could stand without being on the water. At about two o'clock we started out again. It was about three o'clock when the fish started feeding well. That afternoon the fish were biting like crazy. We found out that the fish were on the head of the structures in big schools. Once we found a spot where they were, all you would have to do to catch one was just drop your line in the water.

That afternoon we would catch fish one after another. The average weight was about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds. At seven o'clock that night we started to head back to the lodge. We caught 43 bass that afternoon. As usual the food that night was great. We enjoyed talking about our catch with the Montgomerys and Mr. Frye. After dinner we watched a little bit of TV, played some pool, and then went to bed.

The next morning we got up around six o'clock. We were on the lake about 20 minutes before daylight. The bass that morning were biting good. It was like the night before, sometimes all you would have to do to catch one was just drop your line in the water. One time my dad sat his rod down on the boat to do something. His worm was barely dangling in the water. When he looked up a bass had just bit his worm and was dragging his rod into the water. My dad had just enough time to grab his rod and reel in the bass. That morning we caught a total of 35 bass. After breakfast we went back out fishing. The sky was overcast, so the fishing was just as good as it was in the morning. We had caught 46 fish when we thought it was time to head back.

After we ate lunch we packed our bags and prepared to head back out for one final round of fishing before we had to head back to Birmingham. We were adding up the amount of fish we had caught when Mr. Montgomery said that we had set the record for the most fish caught in one day. He said that the record was set by a pro that caught 121 bass. He said we caught 131. I was very excited that we had set the record. After saying good bye to the Montgomerys we went back out fishing for the last time. The fishing was even better than the time before. My dad was still adding up our catch and decided there was no way we could have set the record. He said that we must have accidentally added up the first afternoon's catch to yesterday's. At first I didn't believe him but I finally agreed that we made a mistake. I was a little disappointed that we didn't really set the one-day record.

The fishing action that last afternoon was just unbelievable. With about an hour of fishing left, I began to add up the amount of fish we had caught that day. We were only 13 fish away from really tying the record. When I cast my line out by a log, I brought in a fish. At the same moment my dad brought in a fish. We kept on catching fish from this same spot until we had tied the record. We caught a couple of extra just in case we had made another mistake with our addition. So, we went from thinking we had broken their single-day record to realizing that we had made a mistake to really breaking it!

What a day of fishing. All too soon, my dad said we should probably head back to Birmingham. It was tough leaving, but I said OK. The whole trip we caught a total of 256 bass. Now that was a trip of a lifetime.