Central Florida Bass Anglers

Crooked Lake has always been notorious for lots of fish and few big ones. When we visited the lake for a 2 day event June 9th and 10th every body was catching them. Trying to find and land the 3 pound fish was the key to winning this one. Friday afternoon was storm day. Everybody on the water scattered as a huge, violent thunderstorm rolled through the Lake Wales area and made the fish really bite. Unfortunately, a lot of the bigger fish ate during the unstable weather and hid during the sunny, flat tournament hours. Mario Mazzonetto caught a 10 ½ and Rob Wilson had a 7+ in just a few hours of fishing Friday. Rich and Jim Craig also scored with several 3 pounders on Friday. Others said they really caught ‘em and were expecting 15-20 lb bags on Saturday. As it turned out, a few good spots and an amazing stroke of luck allowed Chip & John to win their 4th event of the year. 1st Place Day 1 : 5, 17.30 Day 2 : 5, 14.97 Total= 10, 32.27 Chip and John fished for 3 hours on Friday and were looking for something that would hold fish in the morning, not necessarily trying to catch fish that evening. They knew the outside maidencane patches would hold a few, and they did get 3-4 flipping 8-10 ft but that was a pattern when the sun was up. They kept looking shallower and found an area with scattered thick maidencane in 3-5 ft. along the Hwy 27 side of the lake. They did not catch any keepers there Friday but it looked like a good morning top water spot. Saturday they found several other boats in the vicinity and but could maneuver through the area and catch keepers. A big problem was Matt and Walt Gurgacz had found the same area and were catching fish. They tried to stay off the Gurgacz fish but with 4 other boats crowding in, they had to move over the entire area. This location produced an 11 lb limit by 8:30. Time to find bigger fish Chip and Nate Bloom had found a sweet spot while fishing a Courtesy tournament last year and that spot was the second stop. Chip caught a cull fish on a Senko and then the amazing luck kicked in. A few casts later a nice 4 lber ate the Senko and was putting up a good fight, soon the fish was coming toward the net and John swoops down and nets the fish. To the amazement of all, there were 2 4 lbers in the boat!!. The hook went through the cheek of bass#1 and bass #2 grabbed it when John scooped with the net. A nice cull, don’t ya think?. They culled with another 3 on the way back to the launch and led day one. Day 2 : They returned to their early morning spot and did not have a fish in 2 hours. Time to flip. The area where the last fish of day 1 was caught produced 3 keepers on a beaver and then on a red shad worm. The pair next went to the 2 4lber spot and found several boats, including Matt & Walt. This time they could stay away from their competitors and proceeded to flip a 2+ and 2 fish of about 3 ½ each. That brought the tally to 14.97 and a nice win. 2nd Place Day 1: 5, 16.77 Day 2: 5, 11.81 Total: 10, 28.58 Matt & Walt Gurgacz essentially found the same fish that Chip and John had found. They scored on flukes , Senkos, and a few on rattletraps. I stead of starting in the same spot on Sunday, they traveled to their afternoon location first. This was a sort of point with mixed grass in 3-5 ft. They mostly cast between the patches to get bites. They camped out in the area and caught a lot of fish. Their biggest problem was the fishing traffic. Throughout the day, 7-8 boats passed through, including Chip & John, and caught fish that would have helped the pair. It was doubtful that they could have caught the eventual winners but they had their best showing of the year. Great job!! 3rd Place Day 1: 5, 14.92 Day 2: 5, 12.47 Total =10, 26.89 Mike Tucker & Tyler Lovelace used a different approach than the 1st & 2nd place teams. They found fish, BIG fish, in a small pocket on the east side of the lake. Mike had a 9 before the tournament. This was a shallow, non-descript location with scattered lily pads. They threw frogs and scored as the baits approached vegetation. They really stuck with the area and had a lot of blow-ups but as is often the case with frog fish , the hook up ratio is critical. 4th Place Day 1: 5, 10.58 Day 2: 5, 15.35 Total=10, 25.93 Rob Wilson and Mario Mazzonetto left Crooked thinking about what could have been. They had 27lb Friday. They could have taken 3rd and gone home. Unfortunately, their bigger fish stayed away on Saturday, except for 1 bass. They weighed a limit but ½ of their weight came from a nice 5.65. They scrapped Saturday’s effort and decided to flip the deepest grass on the lake. The jumped from patch to patch in 10-12 ft and landed the 2nd biggest bag on Sunday, 15.35. They flipped and cast big worms for their weight. Steve Horney and his guest partner brought in the big bass of the event Sunday, a 7.74. That also gave them the biggest string on Sunday, 17.25. Angler of the Year: John and Chip remain in 1st with 1150 points. Mike & Tyler moved into 2nd with 1015 points. Dennis & Steve Galassi are in 3rd with 995. Steve Horney and Stan King are in 4th with 970. And 5th place belongs to Mario & Rob with 965. Notes: World Luckiest Catch: Chip’s 2 4’s on the same cast. Most Unlucky Catch: Mario’s 10.5 on Friday!... Lots of dead fish: 17….Paul F. had 5 dead ones and Reid had 4…..both drive Storm boats….hmmmm…a pattern?.........Gotta give a HUGE thanks to Steve Warner for the great time…why didn’t we do that before?....What was that gray slime on those fish?..they were sickly. See You at TOHO!!!!!