The last SCBF tournament of 2013 started with more whining and complaining at the boat ramp than usual. "There's no fish in this lake!", "The weather is going to be terrible!", "If we were smart, we would have stayed in bed!" were common pejoratives. We were at East Lake Toho and there was a cold front descending across the northern part of the lake when we blasted off. However, as usual, little green fish and weather rarely seem to do what fishermen expect.
Mike Hampton of Malabar and Tim Kopf of Melbourne caught an estimated 20 keepers to cull up to a 5 fish limit weighing 12.99 pounds to win the tournament. Their bag was anchored by a 3.38 pounder by Hampton which was the tournament's biggest fish. They caught them using skinny dippers and super flukes in the pepper grass. Jackie Barber of Cocoa and BJ Biles of Palm Bay earned a second place finish with 5 fish for 10.36 pounds. Tim Iler of Port St. John and Larry Cruce of Titusville took 3rd with 5 fish for 10.12 pounds.
A small creel award generously donated by Strike Zone was given away at this tournament. Congratulations to Mr Neal and Mr Firkel for earning a pair of floating XTools pliers and a crankbait. Speaking of Strike Zone, you can pick up Mike Calloway's Last Cast products when you are there too!
All fish were returned to the lake to fatten up, eat plastic, take a boat ride, and perhaps even pose for a glamour shot another day!
The weather really wasn't that bad, and several people reported catching lots of fish while it was raining. We certainly weighed in a lot of fish for a lake devoid of such things.
Air Temperature: Wacky! It started in the mid 70s, then it dipped to the lower 60s, and then it was probably over 80.
Water Temperature: 65
Wind: S 5, shifting to N 5-10, shifting to W 10-20 with 20+ gusts, and then mostly calm
Conditions: cloudy in the morning, cold front passed dumping rain and gusty wind for an hour or so, then it got sunny for an hour or three, then it got mostly cloudy again.
The winners reported catching their fish using the following tricks:
- 1st Place & Big Bass: Zoom Super Flukes and Reaction Innovations Skinny Dippers in pepper grass
- 2nd Place: Yamamoto Senkos and topwaters
- 3rd Place: Zoom Super Flukes and topwaters
