If kicking back and fishing from your own pier seems more appealing some days than taking the boat out on Lake Norman, you now have an option. There's a new business servicing the Lake that guarantees a successful day of fishing around the dock.
Fishing Hole Builders of Charlotte is in the business of creating habitats around docks and piers that will attract and generate plenty of any kind of fish found in the Lake.
And, according to John Swinford, president of the company, the habitats he builds are OK with Duke Power. Swinford said he does have to notify Duke Power when he works around a pier giving them the pier number and what kind of fish habitat he builds.
Swinford said he started the business because some people would tell him they have nice places on the Lake but they don't fish. As a bonus, Swinford said he throws in a fishing lesson if the homeowner is interested.
Swinford said he saw people living on Lake Norman but not enjoying everything about the Lake that they could.
On Sturday, Swinford and his son, Cory, were working around a dock at a house on ***** Drive in Cornelius. The homeowner, **** *****, said he wanted a habitat where crappie would be abundant so he could fish from the dock with his grandchildren.
"I like to fish," **** said. "Me and my grandkids want to be able to fish from the dock."
Swinford has designed what he calls "PVC trees" that he sind in strategic places along the bottom of the Lake around the dock area to attract fish. The PVC trees are anchored to the bottom with bricks. Sometime he also uses old Christmas trees with the PVC trees, usually at the homeowner's request.
Swinford declined to reveal too much about the specially designed PVC trees or his process for fear of giving away his "secret" for building a healthy habitat.
He learned to build fish habitats growing up on a lake in Alabama.
"We had the largest bass in the lake under our pier," he said. "I've been doing this since I was a kid."
The first thing Swinford does before placing anything on the Lake bottom is don scuba equipment to dive down and "map out" the floor around the pier or dock. He then takes the map back to his office and makes a more professional, computerized version to show the homeowner what needs to be done.
When he finishes a job, Swinford said he guarantees the homeowner that he or she will be catching fish soon.
"If you're not catching fish within a reasonable amount of time I will come back and fix it," Swinford said.
His idea for Fishing Hole Builders started about a year ago, Swinford said. If he had to give advice to other entrepreneurs, he said it would be to be "patient."
He also recommended utilizing the Internet as much as possible for logos and other business needs.