Well the waters have receded and so did the fish except for mud fish and catfish. SCBF did not have much of a showing for the St. John's River fishery as the word must have got out about the fishing conditions. It was a nice winter's day in Florida anyway with no mosquitoes, mild to nice temperatures and variable wind from the southeast. There were no major problems with the launch ramps except for a big wade of floating grass which the President took care of with a blast from his prop to clear it away from the ramp. The water level was not quite low but some boats still found a muddy bottom to get stuck on and the floating grass was a problem in the afternoon but most of it left on the trailers as we departed. The expectation of catching a five fish limit was very low and that proved to be the fact as the only team remaining in that category , Brian Cole and Bill Groseclose , failed to produce the five fish needed to continue that quest for the year. The day got started as Greg Pugesik and Mike Moreno call out the boat number's and everyone proceeded to go to a place where there would possible be some bass. Long hours and hundreds of casts later the hard realization was sinking in and it was time to return to the starting point with stories of what could have been and what heart breaks took place.
Recording their second win of the season, Karl Kearcher and Brian Davidson, lead the way with three (3) keeper's , which was the most of the tournament, weighing 8.49 pounds. The first two came early but the kicker came midday and oh what a beauty. It weighed 6.39 pounds and came on a flippin bait. This not only was the Big Bass of the tournament but it also moved Karl into the lead for Big Bass of the Year by a mere 0.04 pounds.
John Kinchen and Fred Reid came back with two fish weighing 6.15 pounds and included a very nice second big bass at 4.23 pounds . This tournament finish along with their strong showing this year has moved them into 1st place in the AOY points race. Congrats boys
Roger Averill and and his alternate William Sullivan ran down to the entrance to Lake Harney and proceeded to catch a nice catfish but then found two bass of the right size to take 3rd place with 3.09 pounds.
There was a log jamb for 4th, 5th and 6th place as only a hundrth of a pound separated the three teams with one tie being broken with a a bigger bass. Dwayne Haga proudly weighed in his one fish to complete the tournament but he did win the Strike Zone of Melbourne gift from Shawn Mecchella of two nice Fiend bait caster reels to make the day feel a little better.
See you next time at Miami-Garcia Impoundment for some better fish catching February 26, 2023
