The pre-Christmas jitters were in full force on Sunday the 17th as twenty-two teams arrived at Ralph Chisholm Regional Park on beautiful East Lake Toho to hopefully fulfill their Christmas wishes to catch a lot of nice Florida bass. Unfortunately, the bass Grinch had a lot to say about what happened on the lake that day as the catches were not exactly what we wished for. The fish were small, hard to find and some were hard to hold on to even when you did hook them get them out of the grass and get a net on them.

The early morning temperature was lower than normal but the twenty teams that arrived at Lake Cypress ramp on November 19th did not seem to care about that to much. The ramp was not much of a problem except for the slightly higher water level, the occasional gun shot and several air boats heading out to do some duck hunting. The check in of the club members was completed as soon as Larry Cruce arrived from the Overstreet Landing where he had been waiting for the rest of the club to arrive including his partner BJ Biles.

The weather man said it was going to be windy with rain showers up to around 11 am but he under estimated the wind and just plain missed the rain on Sunday October 29th. The twenty-four teams that arrived at the ramp were happy that the mosquitoes were blown away but that pesky ramp light that SJRWM promised would be working just cannot get fixed. I know that they are working on that hard and it will get fixed they promised. Another great turnout for SCBF's as all but one team made the trip to Fellsmere down 512 to fish our best lake over the last few years.

The flood waters had receeded enough and you could walk out on the dock without getting you feet wet but the rain made sure everyone started out the day a little wet. The new year for the club began early in the morning as the past team members checked in along with teams that changed partners to make up new teams and fill the roster. Then five new teams were added to fill out the years roster making twenty-five total participating teams to start the 2017-2018 year which is the first time that we have ever started out the year with a full field.

photos courtesy of Alan Elder

How do you complete a great year of bass fishing? Yes that's right , you have a Classic tournament on your best lake with the best anglers in the club for all the marbles or bragging rights for the next year. That's how its been for the past 28 years since August 1,1988 for the old LERA club and new SCBF club with only a few minor changes. The last eleven months have seen a lot of highs and lows for the twenty-five teams who participated in this years record breaking club events.

The final regular season tournament of the year for Space Coast Bass Finatics began in the early morning hours at Lake Washington with windy conditions, thick cloud cover, rising water and a good chance of getting rained on during the day. Luckily the wind kept the mosquitoes and bugs down and the rain did not come until after the weigh-in was concluded.

The temperature was high, the wind was low, the bugs were everywhere but the fish were biting and the eighteen teams that participated in the next to last tournament of the year were happy to be there. Many teams reported catching multiple limits, with bass being caught all day and some of the largest fish coming later in the day. The day started out, as usual, with a good supply of donuts, blueberry pies and various sweets provided by Lloyd and Jennifer. Thanks a lot.

The Space Coast Bass Finatics came to West Lake Toho and the results were great as two club records were surpassed and the size of the big bass for the year was increased. The low water conditions, two other tournaments on the same lake and no safe access past the end of the canal into Lake Cypress, did not stop the twenty-one teams from making the best of the day. The best day for the club had been September 27, 2015 at Miami-Garcia with 18 boats and 34 anglers who weighed-in 88 bass for 234.51 pounds.

Congratulations to Bill Groseclose and Fred Reid who came out the winner in the recent Strike Zone Bass Classic at East Lake Toho. Thirty-five teams participated in the end of the year classic out of Ralph V Chisholm Regional Park but the SCBF team weigh-in just enough at 11.14 pounds to come out on top. This was Bill's second victory in the span of two weeks at the lake as he bested all members in the Palm Bay Bassmaster tournament recently. Bruce Evans and his father had 11.11 pounds to come in second place and was anchored by a 4.4 pounder that was the Big Bass of the tournament.