Club Member News
We were happy to see that Tim Iler came out to fish on Sunday even with his current neck condition. The team of Tim and Larry Cruce fished all day and came in with a good limit for their efforts. Tim credited his partner, his neck brace and some good pain pills for their success along with a jerk bait. We also welcomed back our old past member Glen Semonski who will be fishing the remainder of the year with his brother Cliff if we can put up with him for that long. There were only thirteen teams at this tournament but we hope to see D J and Keira Eidem, Jake and Gary Hinman , Bob Barnette and Tom Southwick, and Buddy Perry at the next tournament at Whaley Landings on the 28th of February.
The Kissimmee Chain of Lakes has been pounded over the last week by hundreds of anglers from the Southern Open to local clubs and the results were to be expected as most of the teams struggled to catch quality bass. The conditions were almost perfect as the morning sunrise promised. The temperature ranged from 56 to a very nice 71 degrees with a light wind out of the south southwest at about 5 mph. Water temperature was about 64 to 66 degrees and the barometer was falling and most of the day was cloud covered.
The winning team of Jimmy Blount and Jack Berry did not let some persistent medical issues slow them down. Jimmy was as happy as always and Jack was just as loud as before even with some surgery scheduled in the near future. Their 16.12 pound limit was anchored by a nice 4.76 pound lunker which narrowly missed big bass honors. Even with their dead fish penalty (the only dead fish of the tournament) they still out beat out their nearest competitor by two pounds. Their bait of choice was a speed worm worked slowly around buggy whips and pads in Lake Cypress.
The brother team of Rick and Joe Jenkins traveled to the Overstreet Landing area of Kissimmee to bring back a five fish limit weighing 14.24 pounds. Working a jerk bait and a rattle trap around pads in clear water accounted for most of their bass including a nice 3.73 pound anchor.
Third place was taken by returning deer hunter Don Hinman and his alternate partner Bobby Hall with a 13.45 pound limit which was capped off by the big bass of the tournament weighing in at 4.96 pounds. They reported using only worms in Lake Kissimmee as their weapon of choice. Nice job
The small creel was generously sponsored by Bitters Bait and Tackle and was again taken by the father and son team of Justin and Mike Neal who were the only team that reportedly locked through to West Lake Toho and back. Too bad boys but it was still a nice day.
Lake conditions:
temp: 55 degrees to 72 degrees
cloudy wind SSW5 to 10 mph
water temp: 65 to 68 degrees
barometer steady