The low water level in our lakes have caused the SCBF to rethink where to fish for the next month or until the Spring rain's return the water to a safe level. The month of April was planned for Miami-Garcia but had to be changed to the Harris Chain of Lake's which turned out to be great for some teams and tough for others. The long drive was accented by bad roads, detours, slow traffic and poor drivers along with a (----) load of motorcycles. It was great to see eighteen teams make the tournament which is an indication of the dedication that the club members have toward making the tournaments a success.
President Dwayne Haga and V.P. Dave Metzler used their familiarity of the lake along with some really good Stump Knocker crawdad baits to score a five bass limit weighing 18.29 pounds to claim first place. Flippin these crawdads in the lily pads on the west side of the lake near Dead River entrance accounted for their success and included a nice 5.53 pound big bass to round out their limit.
Rick and Joe Jenkins fished on the east side of Lake Eustis and almost came away with the whole pie but came up 0.27 pounds short in second place with a limit weighing 18.02 pounds. Persistence paid off as Rick used a poppin frog to land the tournament's Big Bass at 6.28 pounds. Their boat motor needed some TLC after the recent Strike Zone Tournament but after cleaning out the East Lake trash everything worked ok.
Third place took a lot of traveling as Mike Calloway and William Flood started in Lake Dora moved to Lake Eustis and then down to Lake Harris to bring back 15.40 pounds. Using spinner baits, speed worms and flippin a Last Cast punch skirts with kinky beaver their limit was anchored with a nice 5.25 pounder.
Small creel was claimed by Buddy and Matt Byrd and was donated again by Bitters Bait and Tackle.
Bill Groseclose and Fred Reid continued to weigh-in another limit, their ninth in a row, including the second largest bass of the tournament at 5.88 pounds.
The only mishap of the day came down on Jeff Merritt and Brian Chapman, who experienced motor difficulties on the way back to the ramp.
Again special thanks to Lloyd and Jennifer Hamilton who arrived with their morning supply of donuts for the club and then proceeded to land a nice limit weighing 12.14 pounds and an eighth place finish.
The club has to change next months tournament at Lake Poinsett due to low water conditions. The choice is West Lake Toho which is about the only place left that is fishable but there is only one problem, the lock will be opened but the sand bar at Cypress will make you stay in West Lake Toho. We will be launching out of the City Ramp on May 21st at first light so make plans, change your schedule and plan to be there because the year is drawing to an close soon.
I would like to celebrate the memories that a great past member left us with as we remember an original LERA member for his benefit to the club. Lloyd Griffin will be a part of club history forever. Good job Lloyd.
LAKE CONDITIONS :
Air Temp: 74 to 92 degrees
Water Temp: 86degrees
Wind: S-SE 10 TO 20 mph
Water Color: Green
