The SCBF 2018-2019 roster of thirty teams has finally been achieved with the addition of past club member Fred Handschuh and is partner Robert Floyd along with the final team of the year of Tommy Gates and his partner Thomas Gates. This, along with the addition of Robert Kimbrough, who is Dave Tripp's partner, completes the full team roster for this year. President Bill greeted the newest members along with all others at the Overstreet Launch Ramp, and explained the workings of the club and what to expect or do at the take off and weigh-in. The twenty-seven teams, the most we have fielded all year, proceeded out to take on a wind blown Lake Kissimmee. Before the tournament got under way, some teams had problems, like Dwayne and Dave, who could not seem to start their big motor unless the boat was on the trailer in the parking lot and several people had to dodge an escaped bull which was roaming the parking lot. Things got better when Lloyd and Jennifer arrived with a large bag of tasty muffins for all to enjoy with their morning coffee. President Bill did call out for a discussion on which ramp we would be using at Lake Okeechobee, and it was decide that we would launch out of Harney Pond Canal on both days as usual. The club has always done well on Lake Kissimmee and this day would not be any different. WE have set a new single day record for the number of fish weighed in at 130 total, beating the old record by 15 fish and narrowly missing the total weight by only 8 pounds. If only the small creel team could have caught a few more fish even that record would have been eclipsed. We also moved the new Big Bass of the Year mark from 6.48 to a whopping 7.79 pounds. The year is certainly shaping up to be record breaking in a lot of ways.
Dave Tripp and Robert Kimbrough, both of Vero Beach, laid claim to first place in a big way, with a huge limit weighing 24.85 pounds, which is their first win of the year. Their bag was anchored by two giant bass both above seven pounds and over the 22" mark. They reported that a swim bait, of unknown color, accounted for most of their fish in the area of North Cove. This represents the largest limit to be weighed in this year and deserves a well done and good job salute.
In second place, with 19.34 pounds, was Karl Kearcher of Melbourne and alternate John Dickenson whos limit of fish was great for such a windy day. They reported that flippin the Kissimmee grass and lily pad mats was their ticket to success. Their kicked fish weighed in at 5.27 pounds and capped off a very nice bag of three to four pound fish.
Third place belongs to Gary Hinman of Palm Bay and Matt Hinman of St. Cloud with a limit of bass weighing 18.69 pounds. They were sight fishing for bedding bass and flippin the hydrilla mats for their catch which was topped off with a nice 5.74 pounder.
Cliff Semonski of Oak Hill and Keith Braun of Merritt Island claimed fourth place with a nice limit weighing 17.38 pounds, which they claimed came from North Cover using Flukes. Their bag included a huge 7.79 pound bucket mouth female bass that not only claimed the Big Bass of the tournament but also set a new Big Bass of The Year mark in the process. The big girl was caught by Cliff using a Fluke, and Keith said he did a great job of netting the beast.
They received a nice gift certificate from our number one sponsor, Shawn Mecchella, of Strike Zone of Melbourne. Shawn also sponsors the small creel prize which was claimed by Briam Wical of West Melbourne and Craig Cashion of Palm Bay, who used a speed worm to catch 2.45 pounds of Lake Kissimmee bass and claimed the prized gift certificate.
The club would like to send out their best wishes to Larry Cruce and Tim Iler, who missed the last two tournaments due to a medical issues. We hope to see both of them along with the other missing teams at our next tournament at Lake Okeechobee on March 30-31.
