For the second tournament in a row, LERA Bass Club competitors braved interesting conditions brought on by a tropical storm. This time around Tropical Storm Debby was stalled about 250 miles west of the Lake Tohopekaliga tournament site and produced constant, albeit of varying intensity, rains and gusty winds throughout the day. Ten boats accepted the challenge and launched onto Lake Tohopekaliga out of Whaley's Landing on June 24. Bob Barnette, of Port St. John, and Dwayne Haga, of Titusville, lobbied to shorten the tournament to 2 pm due to the inclement weather prior to the start of the event. Their request was denied and they would take advantage of that ruling more than anyone else. They sacked a five fish limit totaling 20.34 pounds to win the event. Their catch included an 8.87 pound lunker Haga caught around 2:45 pm which ended up being the tournament's biggest fish and propelling them to the win. Mike Hampton, of Malabar, and Tim Kopf, of Melbourne, took second with 5 fish totaling 16.05 pounds. Mike Calloway, of Titusville, and Cliff Semonski, of Oak Hill, finished third with 5 fish for 14.28 pounds.

Twelve teams competed in the LERA Bass Club's May 27th tournament at Lake Kissimmee. Tournament participants had an extra variable to deal with as Tropical Storm Beryl was about 200 miles north of the event. The storm produced a windy afternoon with 2-4 foot swells on the lake and passing showers around weigh-in time. The team of Jimmy Blount of Rockledge and his son Ryan Blount of Cocoa were not dismayed or thrown off their game. They sacked a tournament limit of 5 fish that weighed a total of 13.90 pounds to win the event. Larry Cruce of Titusville caught his own 5 fish limit weighing a total of 11.38 pounds to earn a second place finish without a partner. Mike Calloway of Titusville and Cliff Semonski of Oak Hill weighed 4 fish for a total of 10.77 pounds to finish third. Raymond Taylor of Palm Bay caught a 5.75 pounder earning him Big Bass honors with the tournament's biggest fish.

Cliff Semonski picked the wrong month to be out of town for work.

Nine teams made the trek to the massive and plentiful waters of the fabled Lake Okeechobee to compete in LERA Bass Club's April 28-29 event out of Harney Pond Canal. The lake did not disappoint as competitors brought seventeen five fish limits to the scales including five bags over twenty pounds and ten fish over six pounds.

Mike Calloway and David Moore, both of Titusville, caught 25.97 pounds the first day and 21.50 pounds the second day to win the event. Their two day total of 47.47 pounds broke a 9 year old all-time club record for total weight by a little less than a pound. Their first day weight of 25.97 was the heaviest bag of the tournament and ranks 4th all-time for heaviest single day total weight at any LERA Bass Club tournament.

Mike Hampton of Malabar and Tim Kopf of Melbourne earned second place with a two day total of 41.48 pounds. Leslie "Cork" Hope of Rockledge and Bill Bryant of Melbourne made a tremendous comeback on day two to finish third with a two day total of 30.14 pounds. Hope/Bryant weighed the heaviest bag on the second day, 21.54 pounds, which included two fish over six pounds.

The biggest fish of the tournament was a 7.50 pound lunker caught by Daville Williams of Palm Bay on the first day. David Moore's 6.70 pounder was the biggest fish of the second day.

Twelve boats launched onto the pea soup colored waters of the Harris Chain's Lake Eustis to compete in LERA Bass Club's March 25th tournament. As often happens on this chain of lakes, it was feast or famine for the competitors. It appeared as though Mr Calloway and Mr Semonski got tired of second place, a place they've found themselves in 4 times this season. Determined to not let that happen again, Titusville's Mike Calloway and Oak Hill's Cliff Semonski reigned supreme with a 5 fish limit weighing a whopping 20.44 pounds. Alan Elder of Melbourne and Daville Williams of Palm Bay earned second place with 4 fish totaling 15.94 pounds. Their total was punctuated by Elder's 7.03 pound bucket mouth which was the biggest fish weighed at the event. Eric Amos and Gary Brill both of Titusville took third with 5 fish totaling 12.68 pounds.

Winter Haven's The News Chief newspaper recently ran a lengthy article about the FWC's efforts to control hydrilla on the Kissimmee Chain. The story has some history about the weed's presence on the chain and what FWC has been doing about it lately. The article discusses some of the reasoning behind the FWC's strategy. It's an interesting read if you what to know what's going on. Check out the full article on The New Chief's website.

Ten boats launched onto Lake Cypress on the Kissimmee Chain to compete in the LERA Bass Club's February 26th tournament. A passing warm front produced an increasing ENE wind and cloudy skies which presided over the event with a delightful ominousness that seemed to foreshadow the interesting day two of the top three teams would have. The team of Mike Hampton of Malabar and Tim Kopf of Melbourne out classed the field amassing a whopping 21.46 pound 5 fish limit which included a 7.4 pound lunker by Hampton. Mike Calloway of Titusville and Cliff Semonski of Oak Hill weren't far behind with an 18.55 pound 5 fish limit of their own to take 2nd place. Third place went to Tony Ciavarella of Viera who managed to only bring 4 fish to the scales for 15.21 pounds, but one was a giant 9.90 pounder which was the biggest of the event and the season so far.

The second BFL Gator Division event of the 2012 season was held at C. Scott Driver Park on Lake Okeechobee on February 18th. Surprise, Mike Calloway was in the top 10% of the full 200 boat field again. This time he amassed a 5 fish limit that tipped the scales at 18 pounds 10 ounces to finish in 14th place taking home $530 for his stellar efforts. Mike is now in 4th place overall in the Gator Division standings with 3 events remaining. He's only 21 points off the leader's pace! Awesome stuff Mr. Calloway!

Jim Folks wasn't far behind with 16-6 of his own finishing 26th and earning $340.

No, not every damn story on this site is about Mike Calloway and no I've never written a story about tournament prefishing before and you shouldn't look for another one ever, but this story is different. It's the kind of thing a person dreams about for a lifetime. It's the kind of thing that never really happens to you unless your name is Dean Rojas. You see, Mike Calloway and his pal Lloyd Griffin decided to spend a day on Lake Toho in January to learn something before our club tournament and have some fun. They didn't go home at 3pm. They didn't even go home at 5pm. They fished until the sun went down, and they'll never forget what happened in that last hour of the day.

Twelve teams competed in the LERA Bass Club's January 29th tournament launching out of West Lake Tohopekaliga. One day after the PAA Team Challenge sacked many 20+ pound bags for 3 days, competitors in our event found the conditions tougher on the Kissimmee Chain. Well, that and those guys are just better. Anyway, Jimmy Blount and his son Ryan Blount of Rockledge won their second tournament in a row with a 5 fish limit totaling 11.80 pounds. Leslie Hope of Rockledge and Bill Bryant of Melbourne finished a close second with 4 fish for 11.69 pounds. Their catch was anchored by Bryant's 6.69 pound lunker which earned him big bass honors for the tournament and took over the lead for Big Bass of the Year. Mike Calloway of Titusville and Cliff Semonski of Oak Hill took third place with 5 fish weighing 10.74 pounds.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), which has been battling aggressive non-native hydrilla with herbicide and other tactics across most Florida lakes, is considering allowing the nuisance weed, which can expand by more than 1000% a year, to take root in Lake Apopka to improve the lake's hunting and fishing.