Once everyone made it to the City Ramp at Lakefront Park the club fielded the most boats/teams that we have had this year as 23 teams arrived to battle it out on The Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. the weather was almost perfect except for the passing of a cold front and a drop in temperature accompanied by 10 to 20 mph winds. The lakes were choked with lily pads and hydrilla which Kissimmee Water District was diligently trying to kill off as fast as chemically possible. As soon as Lloyd and Jennifer Hamilton arrived, with their customary load of Entemanns sweets and Jennifer found a good or better place to park the truck , Jack asked where the coffee was to start the day off right. The club members got their sugar fix and President Dwayne gave his customary instructions and time check everyone motored out at 6:35 am. The teams spread out across all four of the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes with hope, determination and a good plan of what will work on these Florida bass today.
The most successful team of all was Karl Kearcher and John Dickinson who had the right plan of attack as they brought back an impressive 18.69 pounds of Lake Toho bass to win first place. Using swimbaits and flippin reeds in Lake Toho, their limit was four pounds more than any other team and included a nice 6.20 pound big bass caught by Karl to top off a nice bag.
The second place honors went to Mark and Kirk Williams, whose 14.68 pounds limit was capped off by a nearly five pounder. Using Magnum speed worms and sinko's in Toho accounted for their limit, but I think that they used some Air Force Recon photos to help scout out the lake.
Taking the long ride thru Lake Toho, past the locks, down a long canal past Lake Cypress, down another canal to Lake Hatchneha, south thru another canal and into Lake Kissimmee, the third place finishers of Mike Neal and Brian Wical returned with a 14.51 pound limit and the second largest bass of the day at 7.02 pounds. Throwing a swim jig accounted for most of their catch.
Ken Winter recorded the Big Bass of the day at 7.27 pounds which he found in Lake Toho using a big hook and a big worm.
Small Creel award goes to Jackie Barber and BJ Biles who were very happy to receive the gift bag from Bitters Bait and Tackle and Stump Knocker Baits, which is what they should have been using all day.
We were happy to see Michael Cunningham arrive at the ramp as this would be his first tournament since joining the club a couple of months ago. Their trailer had problems one month and then a new addition to the Cunningham clan arrived near the next tournament date so this should have been a fun time. Unfortunately his engine developed fuel problems some where south of Lake Cypress and it took five hours for him to get back to the ramp at Lake Toho at around 7 pm that night. Tough luck boys!
Lake Conditions :
air temp: 63-74 degrees
water temp: 71-73 degrees
wind speed: N.E. 10-20 mph
barometer: rising
water color: mostly clear
