"Camelot," of course, is a reference to Arthurian legend and the Knights of the Round Table.īell measures about 40 surface acres, and it's the current headliner in his lake lineup. John Bell was an important personality in the area decades before Frazier arrived, so he kept the name when he purchased some of the old Bell place. The name "Camelot Bell" comes from two references. (Photos courtesy of Camelot Bell) THE LAKES Camelot Bell offers some of the best trophy bass waters in the nation-all to yourself, or with a buddy. Most of the bass he sells weigh between 1 1/2 and 4 pounds, a great start to any new bass water. Instead, Frazier removes 30 to 40 pounds of bass per surface acre each year and sells them to "aquapreneurs" who want what he has-a spectacular trophy fishery with superior genetics. I need them to be taken out."īut these culls are not wasted.
"Those fish are competing with my big bass for food. "I don't want anglers releasing any small fish they catch," Frazier said. Here, only the biggest fish are released. Long the standard at virtually all managed fisheries in the bass world, it does not work at Camelot Bell. One of those hard decisions involves catch-and-release. "You can manage for numbers of bass," he says, "or you can manage for the biggest bass possible, but you can't do both on the same body of water." (Photos courtesy of Camelot Bell) THE SYSTEMĪpart from superior genetics, a big part of Frazier's system is simply the commitment to stick with it and to make hard decisions. Since bass at Camelot Bell are the only real predators in the water and have an abundance of high-protein food available all year long, they grow 3 to 4 pounds per year. Even so, Frazier’s success has been remarkable. The biggest largemouths ever recorded have been either pure Floridas or intergrades between Florida bass and their Northern cousins. The tendency of Florida bass to grow to sizes that others in the Micropterus genus cannot reach is well-established. His investment started with building the 40-acre lake that Frazier calls "Bell." With the help of a biologist friend, he stocked it with 250 pure Florida bass and plenty of food. These include threadfin and gizzard shad, bluegill, redear sunfish, crawfish, tilapia and even rainbow trout that he stocks in winter.Īs Frazier explains with understatement, "You can spend a lot of money at this game!" The lakes at Camelot Bell feature pure Florida bass (Micropterus salmoides floridanus) and a variety of forage that Frazier oversees with an ever vigilant eye and an iron fist. "I didn’t want any other predators or any other strains of bass getting in the way." The game also boasts that the fish in the game act realistically to their real-life counterparts."First of all, it was critical that there were no creeks or streams draining into my lake," Frazier says.
Players can also assemble their own set of authentic fishing gear including rods, reels, bait and various equipment. Once the player casts their line, the view will change to a split screen with the original view on the top with a underwater view on the bottom to view the bait and an approaching fish.Įach lake has a different criteria to meet such as a weight limit, time limit, etc., to advance to the next lake and ultimately compete in the major tournament. The player picks a location to fish using an overhead map where the player is then taken to a behind the person perspective to cast their reel. The gameplay is reminiscent of Super Black Bass. In Mark Davis' The Fishing Master, the player can take control of fishing legend Mark Davis and fish in five different lakes and even compete in a fishing tournament to win a trophy.