The LERA Bass Club's July 25th tournament out of Mullet Lake Park on the St. John's river started with members from at least 5 teams stuck on I-95 just north of Fiske Blvd due to a fatal crash that happened about 4am that shut down all the northbound lanes for almost two hours[1]. As it turned out, two of the top three tournament finishers were stuck in this gridlock, so maybe it wasn't all bad after all. Steve Bistarkey of Palm Bay fishing with alternate Terry Walker of Melbourne won the tournament with a 5 bass limit that weighed a total of 16.77 pounds. Second place was earned by Larry Cruce of Titusville and Tim Iler of Port St. John who sacked the tournament's only other limit to tip the scales at 10.09 pounds. Richard Boogaerts of Cocoa and alternate Charlie Owens of Rockledge finished in 3rd place with a solid 9.65 pounds in only 3 fish. Their weight included a 6.46 pounder caught by Owens which earned big bass honors for the tournament.

Twelve teams competed in the LERA Bass Club's June 27, 2010 tournament at Blue Cypress Lake. For the second tournament in a row, Port St. John's Bob Barnette captained the team that bested the field. This time he fished with Howard Beigler of Titusville and the two men sacked a tournament limit of 5 bass that totaled an impressive 16.53 pounds. Their catch included the big bass of the tournament, a 5.43 pounder, caught by Barnette. Second place was earned by Larry Cruce of Titusville and Tim Iler of Port St. John who totaled a worthy 12.20 pounds with their own 5 bass limit. Third place went to Mike Hampton of Malabar and Tim Kopf of Melbourne who weighed a solid 10.02 pounds with a 5 bass limit.

Twelve boats competed in the LERA Bass Club's May tournament on Lake Toho. Half of the field weighed at least one fish over 4 pounds. Bob Barnette of Port St. John and Dwayne Haga of Titusville bested the field with a 5 fish limit weighing a total of 17.12 pounds. Second place went to Richard Boogaerts of Cocoa and Walt Sadowsky of Mims who weighed 12.10 pounds. Third place was earned by Larry Cruce of Titusville and Tim Iler of Port St. John who weighed a total of 11.52 to beat out the 4th place finishers by a razor thin 9 hundredths of a pound. Big Bass honors went to Ralph Litton of Vero Beach who caught a huge 9.34 pound beauty.

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is closing all the navigational locks along the Kissimmee River from May 17th until the end of the year. The locks will be modernized and renovated. Each navigation lock will receive new concrete work, paint, utilities and mechanisms to operate the lock doors. Check out the SFWMD's press release for more information.

Yet another LERA Bass Club tournament of the 2009/2010 season involved an impending weather front. This time, the Harris Chain bass seemed to have read the manual on how they are supposed to be gorging themselves and very active during prefrontal conditions. Three teams managed to weigh double digit limits of bass and three bass over 5 pounds were brought to the scales. Gaining a decisive upper hand was the team of Mike Calloway and Lloyd Griffin, both of Titusville, who sacked 16.10 pounds to win the tournament. Second place was claimed by the team of Ralph Litton of Vero Beach and Steve Bistarkey of Palm Bay who weighed 13.35 pounds. Third place was earned by Mike Hampton of Malabar who managed a hefty 12.90 pounds fishing by himself. The big bass of the tournament went to Eric Amos of Titusville who tricked a 6.25 pound lunker first thing in the morning on a top water bait.

Seasoned LERA Bass Club member Mike Calloway outfished 122 of his 123 co-angler competitors at the April 17, 2010 BFL event at Lake Okeechobee. Mike weighed a 5 bass limit that totaled 19.5 pounds to finish second in the tournament. Mike has won once and finished second once in the three BFL Gator Division events this year. He is currently ranked 9th overall in the BFL Gator Division 2010 co-angler points standings.

Ten teams made the pilgrimage to Lake Okeechobee to compete in LERA Bass Club's 2 day tournament held March 27-28 out of Harney Pond Canal. Seven of the ten teams managed to bring a tournament limit of 10 bass to the scales. The field was outclassed by Ralph Litton of Vero Beach and Steve Bistarkey of Palm Bay with help from Dan Walker of Vero Beach, who substituted for Litton on day 1. They sacked a hefty two day total of 32.02 pounds to win their 2nd tournament in a row and their 4th tournament of the season. Second place was earned by the team of Mike Hampton of Malabar and Tim Kopf of Melbourne who weighed a total of 26.63 pounds of bass. The team of Larry Cruce of Titusville and Tim Iler of Port St. John took 3rd with 24.36 pounds. Bistarkey caught the biggest fish of the tournament, an 8.01 pound lunker, to earn big bass honors for day 1 while Lloyd Griffin of Titusville captured big bass honors on day 2 with a 5.69 pound fish.

Jackie Barber, reigning and defending LERA Bass Club Bassmaster of the Year, beat 122 of his 134 coangler competitors at the 3/13/2010 BFL event on the Harris Chain with a 5 fish limit that totaled 10.5 pounds to finish 13th. Congratulations Jackie! I hope finishing 13th on the 13th makes one extra lucky. Check out the full coangler results at the FLW website.

None of the twelve teams that competed in LERA Bass Club's February event on West Lake Toho were able to bring a limit of 5 fish to the scales, but what was lacking in quantity was certainly not lacking quality for several of the competitors. The team of Ralph Litton of Vero Beach and Steve Bistarkey of Palm Bay beat the field with only 3 fish that weighed a hefty total of 14.53 pounds including an 8.41 pound lunker caught by Steve. Second place went to the team of Larry Cruce of Titusville and Tim Iler of Port St. John who weighed only 2 fish, but they totaled 11.42 pounds and included a giant 9.78 pound beauty caught by Larry that took big bass honors for the tournament and is now the leading candidate for the big bass of the year. Third place went to Jackie Barber of Cocoa and BJ Biles of Palm Bay who weighed just 3 fish that totaled a stout 10.26 pounds.

Current LERA Bass Club member, Mike Calloway, won the coangler title at the February 20th BFL out of Camp Mack on the Kissimmee River. His winning 5 fish limit weighed a total of 15 pounds and 2 ounces beating out the nearest competitor by almost 2 pounds. Way to go Mike! Congratulations on your 3rd BFL win and your 8th top 10 as a coangler! Check out the full co-angler results or browse Mike's full FLW history.