Mike Hayes has gained a reputation over the years almost as strong as that of Reelfoot itself. His Blue Bank Resort and accompanying restaurant is as revered as the duck hunting. This reputation also helped him land a spot on the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission. From the resort's beginnings in the 1940s when his grandmother ran the hotel at Reelfoot and his father built Blue Bank Resort in 1958, Hayes has been around duck hunting. Mike guided his first group of hunters when he was 12 years old.

You could call Mike Hayes a workaholic, but you could also call him a duckaholic at certain times of the season. He said usually right around Christmas is when he leaves some of the responsibilities of running Blue Bank Resort with others and takes to the duck blind. That's when he said they traditionally get a big push of mallards and that's what he waits for each season. The week or so before the winter holiday is when bunches of mallards normally arrive with the last big migration of the season.

Hayes likes foggy mornings and those associated with the first good cold front just before things start to ice up. The first 15 to 20 minutes of shooting time is always good at Reelfoot. After that first solid volley, some hunters hang it up for the day, but Hayes will stay in the blind for what the rest of the morning provides. He said between 10 and 11 a.m., the mallards that have rested on the surrounding refuges get out and look for other food sources. That's when you get the less pressured birds moving around, and Hayes said he's had some really great shooting at midmorning flights of greenheads -- and that's what he lives for between hosting customers from all over the country seeking what Reelfoot has to offer.

KENTUCKY LAKE
For somewhere around three decades, Steve McCadams has been guiding for ducks and geese on Kentucky Lake. Last season was somewhat of a comeback year as duck movements were up and down with plenty of highlights. McCadams said last year got off to a good start as the late November and most of December period saw good numbers of ducks in the area.

He had a good December, thanks in part to several early cold fronts that descended before Christmas, sending new ducks and stimulating movement from ducks already in the Kentucky Lake zone.

"Cooler weather and relatively dry conditions across much of the West Tennessee area and along the Mississippi River is a good scenario for me on Kentucky Lake," McCadams explained. "We always have water here and when it's dry elsewhere our duck numbers increase dramatically so that makes for good hunting here. I saw large numbers of green-winged teal and gadwalls linger in the area up past Christmas with a nice increase in mallards and pintails early in the season."