By Jerry (Beau Jack) Vaughn



When our church, NorthPark, decided to hold a Hunter’s Expo, naturally we wanted our grand prize to be something special. That something special would come in the form of an all expense paid trip to the world’s largest privately owned lake located on SeHoy Plantation in Alabama. The Lanier family, owners of Enon Plantation, purchased SeHoy several years ago, giving them approximately 30,000 acres full of the South’s best deer and quail hunting, and yes, lakes full of largemouth bass.

I first met Cam Lanier when I was in the tree stand business. Over a period of several years the Laniers purchased hundreds of Beau Jack stands. I was there when Mossy Oak was filming a hunting show. They videoed a guide hanging a Beau Jack stand, and decided to time him. Trey King put up 20 feet of stick and hung a stand in four minutes. Now that’s gettin’ it!

Even though I left the tree stand business, I remained friends with Cam, Head Guide Fred Law, Guide Trey King and Bobby Booth.

Without hesitation, I called Cam and asked if he would donate a fishing trip for my church, NorthPark. “When do you want to come, Beau Jack?” he replied. We set the date for September 20th and 21st.

Our Hunter’s Expo was a great success. The trip was won by Sammy Foy but later that night he gave his trip away to his nephew, Tyler Temple, who Sammy said, “lives and breathes bass fishing.” Man, he was right! I think everybody needs an Uncle Sammy!



Anxious Angler



Thursday Tyler came early! To say he was fired up is like saying Tiger Woods plays golf. Enon is located near Union Springs, Alabama, about 30 miles southeast of Montgomery. We arrived at SeHoy about noon and told Nan we were there. I found my old friend Bobby Booth. He came over to the lake and told us what lures he had caught fish on the day before.

We started out where I had caught fish in the past but it was just too windy to fish there. Next we tried some blow downs out of the wind. We caught a few but I knew there were a lot better fish in this lake. We moved to a spot near the dam that Bobby had told us about. The fish were not the size we were looking for. We went on down the dam; I was telling Tyler how I had seen bass in the three to six pound class school on this lake. And just as I said that, up they came and started to bust everywhere! Tyler grabbed a Spook and cast in among all those fish. A bass about four pounds knocked it completely out of the water three times, and I got it all on film.

Tyler quickly cast back. At the first twitch a six pounder exploded on it and the fight was on! Got it on film! We caught and released three to six pound bass until dark, school after school coming up time after time to bust shad.

We went to the “big house” at Enon to spend the night. We were treated to fried quail, sweet com, green beans, new potatoes and homemade rolls; Southern cooking at its finest!

We had decided to rise at 5:00 a.m. I thought I heard a knock on my door to get me up. I got up, dressed, looked at my watch. It was not 5:00; it was 4:00. Oh well! I went to the kitchen, made some coffee and went out on the back porch.

The wind was howling. Not good for fishing. Sitting there, looking at the Spanish moss hanging from a huge live oak tree and acorns blowing down by the hundreds, I started thinking about the many times I had sat drinking coffee and waiting for it to get light enough to go hunting or fishing. I thank God every day for giving me some more time to enjoy mornings just like that.



Time To Go



I woke Tyler up at 5:00 just as we had planned, drank some coffee, and headed to the lake. The cooks had prepared a sack breakfast of link sausage and biscuits and a lot of sweets, just like we like it.

Even though it was windy and we couldn’t fish all the places we wanted to, we still caught plenty of bass. We located a ridge that was holding bass tight to cover and managed to catch ten or so. At 11:30 it was time to head back to the big house for barbecued chicken for lunch.

Going back to SeHoy to Cam and his staff, we met Ronnie Smith of Ronny Smith Outdoors. Enon has a first-class hunting operation. Quail or bow hunting for whitetail, there is no place like Enon. True southern hospitality! The times I got to hunt there I saw more rack bucks in three days than I would see anywhere else in three years. It’s that good!

So next year mark your calendar for the month of August. NorthPark will be having its annual Wildlife Extravaganza. Who knows what kind of hunting or fishing trip will be given away, or what nationally known sportsmen will show up. If you would like to book a bow hunt at Enon, here is the information: Enon Plantation, 1442 St. Mark Church Road, Hurtsboro, AL 36860. Office line: 334-253-2100; Fax: 334-253. Website: www.enon.com.