Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2B
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2008
Outdoors With Skipper
An unusual fish which ended up on the grill
I t all started off last Friday
morning by my being able to
mow the yard and till up the
garden for the first time, before
the rains came later that afternoon.
Then I called my office, check
ing on any incoming calls, and
found out I had a voice mail leav
ing me a nice fire protection order.
I had also received a big order on
Thursday the day before, along
with a tax refund check. So things
were going along great for the
past couple of days.
Around noon on Friday I headed
up to the Soque River to see what
was taking place there. It had
started to rain a bit when I arrived
but the water had not muddied up
yet. My first fish was a stocker
size which I quickly released.
Trying different casts and posi
tions, I soon hooked up with a
bigger fish. The line was pulled
rapidly off the spool, as the drag
did its job.
It was a nice
fish, but
an unusual
one, as I
saw its out
line in the
swift water.
I moved
closer to
the water
to bring it
in, as I was
lacking my
net. The trout looked like a foot
ball.
Instead of being long it was
more round in shape. I gently
brought it to the edge of the river,
and reaching down worked on
reviving it. The water was freezing
on my hand, as I worked with the
fish. Each time it wanted to belly-
up when I would try to release it. I
certainly didn’t want to have a fish
like this just float on downstream
to die. I figured, that being so
large and so unusual in shape the
fight had just plum worn it out.
This fish would have to go into
the ice chest and onto someone’s
table. With no more activity, I
headed to another spot and had it
all to myself, with the rain com
ing down. I had heard it had been
stocked so I wanted to check that
out.
With no vehicles there, I figured
it hadn’t, but worth a try anyway.
At my second spot, I hooked onto
what I believe was a fish, as I saw
a flash of white. My four pound
test line broke. Normally, I use
six. Perhaps the line was frayed or
it was a big fish. I like to think it
was a big one.
I tried different things but
couldn’t get another hit from any
size fish. Well, time to head home.
I stopped by Homer Hardware,
and found there was a taker for the
fish. It weighed five pounds, and
would be good cooked on a grill.
I checked this morning and the
cooker reported that the fish tasted
real good, even though it wasn’t as
pretty as most trout are.
Well, how pretty a fish is has
nothing much to do with how
good it tastes. This fish proved
that. Friday was great, Saturday
was filled with my weather radio
sounding every hour, as we kept
alert and prepared to take shelter
in the stairs. Thank goodness we
didn’t have to.
Turkey season opens this
Saturday. Let me know about the
gobbler you get.
Skipper Smith is an outdoors
columnist for The Banks County
News. His column appears
weekly. Let him know about your
hunting or fishing adventure at
706-677-1520.
AN UNUSUAL CATCH
Skipper Smith, outdoors columnist for The Banks County News,
shows off this odd-shaped catch he reeled in this past week
end.
LI
skipper
smith
JUNIOR VARSITY DIAMOND LEOPARDS
Members of the 2008 Banks County High School junior varsity baseball team include, front row,
from left, Trent Mathis, Eli Autry, Jessy Hudgins, Cameron King, Brandon Ruark, Jared Clark,
Jay Coen, and Seth McEntire; (back row, from left) Coach Brent Howell, manager Michael Alford,
Cody Gowder, Brian Mathis, Kieffer Hellmeister, Tim Cox, Kris Hellmeister, Jason Sexton and
Andrew Berry.
Junior Varsity Baseball
Leopards fall in high-scoring contest
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Banks County High School
junior varsity baseball team had
plenty of offense in a matchup
against Lumpkin County earlier this
month.
Unfortunately, host Lumpkin
County had even more pop in its
bats. By the time the day was over,
Lumpkin had emerged with a 17-7
win. Despite the setback, BCHS JV
coach Brent Howell saw improve
ments from his team from its open
ing game to the second.
“Our players came out and made
the right adjustments at the plate and
put seven runs on the board by the
fourth inning,” the coach said.
The inning that would cost BCHS
was the bottom of the fourth as
Lumpkin pushed 13 runs across.
“It was a very tough inning for
us,” Howell said. “We had a tough
time getting outs. We would throw
a strike and then make an error. Our
players learned a lesson in the game,
however. If we give up more than
three outs in an inning our opponent
will make us pay.”
Keiffer Hellmeister was 2-for-2 at
the plate for the JV Leopards with a
double, single, run scored and RBI.
Kris Hellmeister was 2-for-3 with a
double, single and RBI.
Eli Autry finished the game 2-for-4
with a double, single and two runs
scored while Jason Sexton added a
2-for-4 performance with two runs
scored. Also contributing offen
sively were Brian Mathis (1-for-2,
RBI) and Jessy Hudgins (1-for-2,
run scored).
Autry, Seth McEntire and Cameron
King each pitched for BCHS.
“We will continue to learn and
improve,” Howell said. “It is not
how we start but how we finish. I
want to see us improve from game
to game. The guys played hard and
are eager to get back to work to get
better.”
BCHS Class of 1995 establishing memorial scholarship
The Banks County High School
Class of 1995 is establishing a
scholarship in memory of classmate
Shawn Smith.
Smith, who was a standout athlete
for the BCHS Leopards, died fol
lowing a car accident last summer
while attending a basketball camp in
Alabama with members of the North
Oconee County High School team.
The annual football game between
BCHS and North Oconee has been
named the Shawn Smith Bowl in his
honor.
Those wishing to make dona
tions or obtain additional informa
tion can contact Nicole Blalock at
706-658-7014 or Heather Cotton at
706-654-7683.
A fund has been established at area
Freedom Bank locations.
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