The second BFL Gator Division event of the 2012 season was held at C. Scott Driver Park on Lake Okeechobee on February 18th. Surprise, Mike Calloway was in the top 10% of the full 200 boat field again. This time he amassed a 5 fish limit that tipped the scales at 18 pounds 10 ounces to finish in 14th place taking home $530 for his stellar efforts. Mike is now in 4th place overall in the Gator Division standings with 3 events remaining. He's only 21 points off the leader's pace! Awesome stuff Mr. Calloway!

Jim Folks wasn't far behind with 16-6 of his own finishing 26th and earning $340.

No, not every damn story on this site is about Mike Calloway and no I've never written a story about tournament prefishing before and you shouldn't look for another one ever, but this story is different. It's the kind of thing a person dreams about for a lifetime. It's the kind of thing that never really happens to you unless your name is Dean Rojas. You see, Mike Calloway and his pal Lloyd Griffin decided to spend a day on Lake Toho in January to learn something before our club tournament and have some fun. They didn't go home at 3pm. They didn't even go home at 5pm. They fished until the sun went down, and they'll never forget what happened in that last hour of the day.

Twelve teams competed in the LERA Bass Club's January 29th tournament launching out of West Lake Tohopekaliga. One day after the PAA Team Challenge sacked many 20+ pound bags for 3 days, competitors in our event found the conditions tougher on the Kissimmee Chain. Well, that and those guys are just better. Anyway, Jimmy Blount and his son Ryan Blount of Rockledge won their second tournament in a row with a 5 fish limit totaling 11.80 pounds. Leslie Hope of Rockledge and Bill Bryant of Melbourne finished a close second with 4 fish for 11.69 pounds. Their catch was anchored by Bryant's 6.69 pound lunker which earned him big bass honors for the tournament and took over the lead for Big Bass of the Year. Mike Calloway of Titusville and Cliff Semonski of Oak Hill took third place with 5 fish weighing 10.74 pounds.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), which has been battling aggressive non-native hydrilla with herbicide and other tactics across most Florida lakes, is considering allowing the nuisance weed, which can expand by more than 1000% a year, to take root in Lake Apopka to improve the lake's hunting and fishing.

Mike Calloway decided to hang up his BFL veteran co-angler hat and put on his big boy pants and fish the circuit as a boater this year. In the Gator Division season opener at Lake Okeechobee on 1/14/2012 out of Roland Martin's Marina in Clewiston, his risk paid off as he sacked a 5 fish limit weighing 16 pounds 6 ounces to finish 20th in the 200 boat field earning him a $395 check for his efforts. Congratulations Mike! That's an excellent finish especially considering that it's his first event as a boater and I'm sure he was happy to better fellow competitor Mr. Jim Folks, but I doubt Mike is satisfied with that effort. The confidence he gained from this experience will just make him more hungry to win. Good luck in the remaining events!

Twelve boats launched from Overstreet's Landing at Lake Kissimmee on December 18th to compete in the LERA Bass Club's last tournament of 2011. A cold front that passed through the night before made for tough fishing on the Kissimmee Chain, but the team of Jimmy Blount and his son Ryan Blount, both of Rockledge, were not deterred by the weather conditions or battery problems with their boat. They sacked the only tournament limit of 5 fish to win the tournament with 9.82 pounds. Eric Amos and Gary Brill, both of Titusville, took second with 4 fish totaling 8.23 pounds. Alan Elder of Melbourne and Wayne Smith of Palm Bay weighed 4 fish totaling 8.10 pounds to finish a close third. Elder punctuated his effort with a 2.95 pounder that was good enough to claim the tournament's big bass prize.

Swarms of giant blood thirsty mosquitoes and high water greeted the eleven teams competing in LERA Bass Club's November 20th tournament at the Miami-Garcia Impoundment. The mosquitoes weren't the only thing biting as most competitors brought limits to the scales. After over 8 hours of competition, the top three were separated by less than a pound. Mike Hampton of Malabar and Tim Kopf of Melbourne topped the field with 15.20 pounds. Mike Calloway of Titusville and Cliff Semonski of Oak Hill earned second place with 14.73 pounds narrowly edging out Eric Amos and Gary Brill of Titusville who weighed 14.48 pounds to finish third. Amos' 4.35 pounder was the tournament's biggest fish.

Eleven boats competed in the LERA Bass Club's second tournament of the season. It was held at the Alligator Chain on the eve of Halloween, October 30th. The team of Jay and Jeff Martin, brothers from Melbourne, found better quality fish than the rest of the field to win the tournament with 4 fish totaling 9.05 pounds. The Martin brothers are club rookies who were competing in their second tournament and this was only the second time they had ever been to the Alligator Chain. Their winning catch was punctuated with a 3.38 pounder caught by Jay that was the biggest fish weighed. Second place was earned by Mike Calloway of Titusville and Cliff Semonski of Oak Hill who weighed 5 fish for 8.30 pounds. Mike Hampton of Malabar and Tim Kopf of Melbourne finished third with 8.02 pounds.

New season! New teams! New winners!

A swarm of hungry mosquitoes greeted the twelve teams competing in the LERA Bass Club's 2011-2012 season opening tournament at Lake Washington on September 25th. Leslie Hope of Rockledge and Clarence Jones of Cocoa started their rookie season with the club in stellar fashion by bringing a five fish limit weighing 17.20 pounds to the scales to win the tournament. Their catch included two fish over 4 pounds. Mike Calloway of Titusville and Cliff Semonski of Oak Hill earned second place with five fish weighing 16.36 pounds. Their catch included a 5.26 pounder by Calloway which was the biggest fish weighed at the event. Larry Cruce of Titusville and Tim Iler of Port St. John rounded out the top three with 9.75 pounds.

The LERA Bass Club held its annual Classic tournament at Lake Cypress on August 28th. The top 10 teams in regular season points competed in this invitation only tournament. The team of Mike Calloway and Gary Brill, both of Titusville, weighed a 5 fish limit totaling 12.87 pounds to win the tournament. Second place was earned by Larry Cruce of Titusville and Tim Iler of Port St. John who weighed 5 fish that totaled 11.06 pounds. Mike Hampton of Malabar and Tim Kopf of Melbourne took third with 5 fish weighing a total of 8.10 pounds.