After a tough day 1 with only 4 lbs 14 oz, former LERA Bass Club member extraordinaire Jim Folks rebounded to finish 8th with a 3 day total weight of 25 lbs 13 oz on the coangler side of the FLW Eastern Division Event at Lake Okeechobee that ended on 1/30/10. Congratulations Jim for earning a top 10 finish and the nice check in your first FLW Series event!
Full coangler results can be found at the FLW Outdoors website.
The Titusville duo of Mike Calloway and Lloyd Griffin completely dominated the January 31st LERA Bass Club tournament at Lake Cypress. For the second tournament in a row, the event started with with a cold front passing through which ushered in cold temperatures and high winds to challenge the competitors skill, trolling motor batteries, and mental fortitude.
Mike Calloway and Lloyd Griffin were not thrown off their game by the atmospheric conditions. In a tournament where all competitors weighed at least one fish, Mike and Lloyd sacked the only tournament limit of 5 fish tipping the scales with a stout 17.14 pounds to win the tournament handily beating out their nearest challenger by over 8 pounds. Their bag was punctuated by a 5.93 specimen caught by Calloway that took big bass honors for the tournament. The team of Ed Brewer and Don Francoeur, also both of Titusville, finished in second place with 4 solid fish weighing a total of 8.93 pounds edging out the third place finishers by just over a half pound. The team of Bob Barnette of Port St. John and Dwayne Haga of Titusville took third place with 3 fish weighing a respectable 8.33 pounds.
What's this have to do with the LERA Bass Club? Nothing! Who cares? Someone caught a 22 pound bass!
Manabu Kurita, a 32 year old angler focused on giant bass for 18 years from Aichi, Japan, caught a 22 pound 4 ounce bass in Japan's Lake Biwa back in September of 2009, and on January 8, 2010, the IGFA officially certified that catch as tying George Washington Perry's 1932 all-tackle world record. For all the details, pictures, and video of the huge fish, check out the full story on the IGFA website.
Twelve teams boldly challenged high winds and upper 40 degree temperatures to compete in the LERA Bass Club tournament at Lake Kissimmee on December 20th. The team of Richard Boogaerts of Cocoa and Cliff Semonski of Oak Hill were not intimidated by the tough conditions, instead they figured out how to catch quality fish and won the tournament. Their catch of 4 fish was one short of a tournament limit, but at 10.86 lbs, it was enough to edge out the second place team by a scant margin of only 3 hundredths of a pound. Their winning bag was capped by a solid 4.31 lb fish Cliff caught which earned big bass honors for the tournament. The team of Mike Hampton of Malabar and Tim Kopf of Melbourne were the only team in the field to bring a tournament limit of 5 fish to the scales and at 10.83 pounds it was enough to earn them a second place finish. The team of Ralph Litton of Vero Beach and Steve Bistarkey of Palm Bay finished third with 4 fish totaling 6.59 lbs.
Twelve teams braved low water conditions and numerous duck hunters at the Miami-Garcia Impoundment on the 22nd to compete in the LERA Bass Club's November fishing tournament. Two thirds of the competitors sacked a tournament limit of 5 bass. Ralph Litton of Vero Beach traded his usual really good fishing partner for a man who is no stranger to dominating LERA Bass Club events of the past, the mythical bass catching big stick of Melbourne's Jim Folks, to best the field with a 19.78 lb stringer. Jim Folks added to his legend by capping the tournament winning bag with a 7.05 lb lunker which earned big bass honors for the tournament. The team of Richard Boogaerts of Cocoa and Cliff Semonski of Oak Hill took second place with 17.70 lbs edging out the third place winning Titusville tandem of Mike Calloway and Lloyd Griffin who brought a worthy 17.26 lbs to the scales.
Jim Folks reports that all the winning fish were caught flipping Gambler B.B. Crickets with 1 oz Gambler tungsten weights at some kind of vegetation in some depth of water in some part of the impoundment where bigger fish were.
Thirteen teams competed in Sunday's LERA Bass Club tournament on Lake Cypress. Of those, only two teams managed a tournament limit of 5 fish and they earned the top two places. Ralph Litton of Vero Beach and Steve Bistarkey of Palm Bay took first place with a total of 13.36 lbs. Second place was earned by the team of Bob Barnette of Port St. John and Dwayne Haga of Titusville with a total of 10.07 lbs. Third place was captured by the team of Larry Cruce of Titusville and Bill Boyett of Cocoa with 4 fish weighing in at 8.63 lbs.
Ralph Litton earned Big Bass honors by catching a 3.83 lb fish which narrowly edged out a fish caught by the team of Chris and Dale Mitchell, who were competing in their first LERA Bass Club tournament, by just 14 hundredths of a pound.
Former LERA Bass Club member Jim Folks finished 3rd in the two day BFL Gator division event out of Camp Mack on 10/3-10/4 with a two day total weight of 31 pounds and 11 ounces. His weight was just over 2 pounds shy of the winning the event. Jim routinely trounced us on the Kissimmee Chain and pretty much every where else too. It's good to see him doing well on a bigger stage. Full boater results can be found here.
Jackie Barber, reigning LERA Bass Club Bassmaster of the Year, placed 7th overall on the co-angler side of the same tournament with a two day weight of 18 pounds and 15 ounces. Congratulations Jackie! Full co-angler results can be found here.
On September 27th, 12 teams competed in the LERA Bass Club's season opening tournament at Lake Poinsett. Alan Elder of Melbourne and Wayne Smith of Palm Bay took first place with 15.11 pounds in 4 fish and punctuated their winning bag with a 6.71 pound bucket mouth Alan caught to claim big bass honors for the tournament. Bob Barnette of Port St. John and Dwayne Haga of Titusville brought the only tournament limit of 5 fish to the scales weighing in at 14.30 pounds to take second place. Third place went to Eric Amos and Gary Brill both from Titusville with 4 fish weighing a total of 10.53 pounds.
The top ten teams and a wild card competed Sunday in LERA bass club's Classic tournament on the Kissimmee Chain at Lake Cypress. Out of those eleven only two teams were able to bring a 5 bass limit to the scales with a total of 28 bass weighed among all teams.
