Joel Tower, audio technician for the River Returns film, steals a quiet moment from filming to cast for fish during the river expedition. He had no luck. The River Returns web documentary team fared better fishing for bass on Lake George.

Bass boats fill the slips of a dock on Lake George in Georgetown, a mecca for sportsmen lusting for trophy lunkers. Bass fishing on the St. Johns River fuels the economy of this region. The bass fishing industry is wholly dependent upon a river ecosystem that is stable and healthy.

Capt. Adam Delaney, dock master at the Georgetown Marina and St. Johns River bass guide, scoops various sizes of shiners and mud minnows from a tank into a bucket that he dumps into a hold on his boat. If clients want big trophy bass, he uses his biggest bait; if they simply want to catch lots of fish all day, he uses medium-sized bait. While he doesn't guarantee big bass, he does guarantee catching fish.

Adam Delaney is a fifth-generation Floridian who has been working for eight years as a bass guide on the Lake George region of the St. Johns. While fishing has been good, Adam believes that there needs to be a balance between the economic benefits of development along the river, and protection of this precious resource on which greater numbers of people live, work, and play.

Adam, joined by writer Maryalice Yakutchik and producer Kevin Sparkman, steers his bass boat off of Lake George and into Salt Spring run in pursuit of bass. This is the view from the Alli-quacker, Adam's aptly-named gator-and-duck hunting boat.

On any given day during the peak of the bass fishing season, numerous boats -- some modest little runabouts, others glittering fiberglass racing machines -- jockey for position around the primo bass beds in Salt Spring run.

A successful fishing guide always has a few tricks up his sleeve. Here, Adam locates and marks bass nests with garden stakes. He explains that when egg-eating mud minnows are trolled slowly across the nests, the furious parent bass chomp down and spit them out -- but hopefully not before the fishermen can set their hooks and reel them in.

River Returns writer Maryalice Yakutchik, a first-time bass fisherman, responds to patient coaching from Adam.

Maryalice reels a bass toward the side of the boat.

As a globetrotting journalist, Maryalice has had close encounters with everything from tigers to venomous snakes. Yet, this is her first bass and fishing isn't her forte. Maryalice gingerly unhooks a bass, the mouth of which could accommodate her fist. Adam estimates it's four pounds, but Maryalice vehemently disputes that weight, insisting it's closer to six.

Adam and Maryalice discuss the condition of the bass she caught. Adam describes the fish as "healthy, and thick through the tail and shoulders," and adds that it's got "nice slime." Although she knows that Adam probably says that to all the bass, Maryalice beams with pride at her catch.

Although Adam tempts our taste buds by saying how delicious these St. Johns bass are, without a trace of the mossy taste normally associated with lake bass, we release everything we catch.

Salt Spring is one of several warm springs (72° F) in the St. Johns basin that attracts manatees seeking refuge from the cooler river waters. Kevin Sparkman watches as one of the slow-moving marine mammals passes by Adam's boat.

Late in the afternoon, after a successful day of fishing, Adam and Maryalice head back to the Georgetown Marina across Lake George -- encompassing 72 square miles, it's second only to Lake Okeechobee in terms of size of freshwater lakes in Florida.

Fishing is vital to the economy of this region of Florida, both indirectly and directly. Lodgings and restaurants depend on fishing to lure customers to them. And bait fishermen, like this one throwing his cast net, depend on a healthy St Johns River for their livelihoods.

J.W. Hutchinson is a third-generation commercial fisherman on the St. Johns. He's got fishing in his blood and that's the reason he's able to succeed. He says, "If you haven't been raised in it, you would probably starve in a week."

J.W.'s wife, Linda Hutchinson, spends her Saturday morning vacuum-sealing catfish before freezing it for shipping; they sell crabs and catfish to wholesalers, as well as over the counter at their own local retail store, Lakeside Fish Company.

The Lakeside Fish Company process thousands of pounds of catfish each year, for retail sales, restaurant sales and for festivals. A machine removes the skins, leaving the pink flesh ready for seasoning, battering and frying.

The dry-erase board in the Lakeside Fish Company displays the daily prices to retail customers.

Catfish caught in the St. Johns River and cleaned by J.W. are displayed in the retail section of the Lakeside Fish Company.

Linda wraps a catfish order for a customer. The health of the river is key to protecting this economic and cultural aspect of the St Johns River.

The fish-mooching pelican is a common site to St. Johns fishermen, especially when they are cleaning their catches on docks and piers along the river.