The rescheduled April tournament worked out pretty good, as the weather conditions were a lot better than the previous weekend. Even with a little wind and quite a large celebration going on in the park by the afternoon. The music and food were in high spirits and a lot of people were celebration a late Cinco de Mayo.
The launch ramp was strangely quite and uncrowded in the morning as the 17, no-no 18, teams finally made it into the water. It was good to see some members who were having a tough time with their health, such as; those painful kidney stones and some who could not made it because that back that just keeps hurting and now needs some surgery or maybe it was just a flat tire that was slowing them down. Daylight broke with a mild wind out of the northeast with broken clouds as the day continued the God of Wind, Zephyr, made himself known in the form of 15 to 25 mph wind out of the east north east so the ride back was a little rough. Once back the parking lot was your next problem, as there was single cars taking up most of the spaces designated for boat and trailer and people were waiting for you to move your boat trailer so they could jump in immediately. I guess the rules for the boat and trailer only parking was suspended for the afternoon. Thankfully all boats made it back without any major incidents and the weigh-in proceeded as soon as the scales were found and set up.
In first place and still leading the AOY points race, is Fred Reid and John Kinchen , who made everyone do a double take at their mega bag limit of 26.52 pounds. This record setting day resulted in the largest single day weight all season long, and a 9.15 pound behemoth Big Bass, caught by John, which takes over the lead in that category for the 2022-2023 season. Their bag also include another giant weighing over 8 pounds and both fish crossing the twenty-two inch length mark. They reported that Junebug worms and Junebug trick worms were their the best baits all day long.
Big fish Aaron Marek and his ringer alternate Greg Clark, made a strong charge but came in second place with a nice limit weighing 20.84 pounds . Their best and biggest fish weighed 7.63 pounds and would have been leading the year except for that other team. Using Junebug speed worms proved to be the answer to a great day on the water, and keep the team in the top ten for the season.
Don Hinman and his alternate Raymond Taylor , were only one pound back with a limit of Toho largemouth bass weighing 19.84 pounds anchored by a 5.60 pounder. Their limit was caught on a variety of of baits including spinnerbaits, chatterbait and moving baits.
There were eight fish measuring over 21 inches and two that broke the 22 inch mark, which was impressive due to the pressure that was on the lake for the last two days. There were also 17 limits of bass and only three dead fish recorded. The big bass was almost a casualty but due to the life saving efforts of Don Hinman and a few good members the big girl did swim off to live another day.
The next tournament will be at Harris Chain of Lakes and is a two day tournament starting on Saturday the 20th, Sunday 21st at the Buzzard Beach Ramp on Highway 441 West Burleigh Blvd, Tavares Recreational Park .
SEE YOU THERE !
