We finally landed on a lake that the club could catch fish on and it was a welcome relief from the last two club tournaments. The improvements around the ramp and parking lot did not change how crowded it gets when twenty-one boats show up to fish with a few others who just wanted to have a nice day on the water. The mosquito population seems to have increased probably because the ramp light works all the time now. The water level and color was ok except the west dike water was dirty and stained due to FWC and SJRWMD work on weed control and erosion. A new No Wake Zone has been established on the west side of the lake which the president made a point to bring before the club along with the penalty should you get a ticket from FWC. There was a lot of pollen floating on the water from the trees and plants doing their yearly part to make us sneeze and breath harder.
The club welcomed two new boat teams and a couple of new partner members to bring the club up to twenty-four for the year. Dave Austin from Port St. Lucia and a TBD partner along with Mike Bell and Bobby Heirs both from Vero Beach joined the club as did Phil Miller from St. Cloud partnered with Keith Braun and Dave Metzler has returned as Dwayne Haga's partner. Please welcome these fine fisherman to the club and get to know them at our next meeting. We are sorry to lose Cliff Semonski, a long time member of the club, who cannot fish the remainder of the season due to a family medical issue. Best wishes for a for a quick recovery and happy outcome. Hope to see you back soon.
The lake was often stingy with fish of good size but there were 19 limits brought to the scales for the day with a total of 6 dead which is by far the most we have had all year long. The afternoon bite seemed to be best as a lot of the bigger girls showed up later in the day and on a variety of baits. The weather conditions could not have been better with a mild breeze out of the north west and air temps in the lower 60's to mid 80's and a steady barometer. The take off went smoothly as all teams knew what to do when Don Hinman called out their boat number. As a reminder to the members you cannot leave the ramp without your boat navigational lights working and you must remain there until sunrise and after all other participants have left the ramp before departing out onto the lake.
First place goes to President Mike Calloway and V.P. William Flood (who just purchased a new boat) who took advantage of the late bite to land 18.80 pounds of bass. Using a yum dinger and a finesse bait carolina rig , they scored most of their weight late including a tournament Big Bass weighing 6.23 pounds, caught by Mike. The big one came with less than 30 minutes left to fish in the tournament.
Past President Karl Kearcher and Brian Davidson earned second place with a good bag. Their bag included a nice 4.94 pound big bass that Karl landed on a finesse worm rig. They reported that they caught fish all day and constantly upgraded to their final weight of 16.57 pounds which was slightly decreased by a dead fish penalty.
Greg Pugesik and Mike Moreno landed 15.48 pounds to take third place. Their bag was anchored by a nice 4.63 pound big bass.
The weigh in concluded with a club discussion about the new scales we need to purchase to replace the 20 year old scales and how much was needed to complete the purchase. The donations from most of the club members brings the total to $ 440.00 which will be enough to buy a new set of scales and we will not have to worry about the scales for the next 10 years. Special thanks to those members who went above and beyond to help the club purchase them and keep the club as the best in central Florida and maybe the entire state.
Our next tournament will be March 25-26 at Lake Okeechobee out of the Harney Pond Canal Ramp.
Just for your information Lake Port Lodge
1077 Lakeport Plaza
863-946-2020
