The Space Coast Bass Finatics brought their monthly tournament series to the Miami-Garcia Impoundment on May 18th. The team of Tim Iler of Port St. John and Larry Cruce of Titusville brought 5 fish to the scales for a whopping 29.86 pounds to win the tournament and set a new all time club record for Miami-Garcia Impoundment. They had to cull a fish measuring over 22 inches due to a state regulation or they would have had well over 30 pounds. It was a team effort as the duo outdid one another for their biggest fish all day with Iler catching the team's biggest fish after Cruce gave him one of the junebug Zoom speed worms he'd been using all day. Iler's 8.63 pounder was the tournament's biggest fish.
The team of Jake and Gary Hinman of Palm Bay finished second with 5 fish totaling 21.57 pounds which also eclipsed the old all time club record for the Miami-Garcia Impoundment. Mike Calloway of Titusville and Cliff Semonski of Oak Hill took third with 5 fish for 20.90 pounds.
Once again, I sucked bad enough to earn the small creel award. Next time, I'm not weighing fish if I suck. Tactical Graphics, Inc donated a glock shaped pocket knife. Tactical Graphics Inc. is focused on providing high-quality Cerakote, hydrographics, and firearm refinishing and customization. They can cerakote anything that can get wet. Take your run of the mill firearms there and they will turn them into unique works of art. Thanks Tactical Graphics!
Another Garcia tournament has resulted in damaged equipment and boat repair bills. This time Jack Berry was the most unfortunate. His trolling motor was damaged when he ran aground and then his big motor overheated causing moderate damage when he tried to get out of the place he found himself stuck due to the wind and lack of trolling motor. I hope that sounds more expensive to fix than it actually is, but I know it usually works out the other way around. I suppose I should consider myself lucky for only running aground twice, smacking my boat off 1 fence post, and having to plow some vegetation out of the way that blocked the eastern N/S channel on the way back to the boat ramp for the weigh in.
If you wanted to do well in this tournament, you fished somewhere in the south western quadrant of the lake. The northern part of the lake was not exactly productive.
Air Temperature: lower 70s to lower 80s
Water Temperature: upper 70s
Conditions: calm and sunny first thing in the morning becoming partly cloudy 15-20 NE
The winners reported catching their fish using the following tricks:
- 1st Place & Big Bass: junebug colored Zoom Speed Worms
- 2nd Place: casting something somewhere
- 3rd Place: flipping something somewhere
That's Tim Iler (left) and Larry Cruce (right) with 29.86 they caught on junebug Zoom speed worms to win the Garcia tournament on May 18, 2014. They even had to cull a fish that measured 22.25" to comply with state regulations. (Photo by Tim Kopf)
Jake Hinman (left) and Gary Hinman (right) with 21.57 they caught at Garcia to finish 2nd on May 18, 2014.
Mike Calloway (left) and Cliff Semonski (right) with 20.90 they caught flipping to finish 3rd at Garcia on May 18, 2014. (Photo by Tim Kopf)