Central Florida Bass Anglers

Hello everyone,

Well the BFL season finally came to an exciting end this weekend at the last stop: Harris Chain of Lakes in Leesburg, Florida. This tournament was a two day event which cuts the field to only the top 20% for the 2nd day. I had been out practicing Thursday and Friday trying my best to assure a place in the top 40 going to the Division Regional’s at Clarks Hill, Georgia. Thursday's practice was pretty good as my Father came down for the day to help find a pattern. We had success on Crankbaits and Jigs, they produced two nice fish: a 5+ and a 4. We had 5 fish that would have put 14lbs on the board for the day. Friday's practice started out great for me as I went to a spot where I’ve done well in the past. I caught a 7 pounder first thing and was confident that there would be more fish there for Saturday's tournament.

Saturday I was boat #89 out of 117 and ran right to my "hot" spot. I fished for about an hour and had nothing. I went to the spot where I caught them with my Dad and my Co-Angler lost a 2 pounder right away. I ended up catching 3 fish in those spots and then bumped into my friend and competitor, Josh Rowsky. Josh and I shared information during practice to help quickly break down the lakes. He came into this tournament in 34th place in the points for the season and he had to catch a fish to make the top 40 for the Regional’s. So when I bumped into him at 11am he said he had no fish. I gave him my best area and told him to fish it hard so he could catch a fish. I had 3 fish at that time and I knew that I had enough to make it to the Regional’s.

I went back to where I caught that 7 pounder on Friday and saw a fish sitting on the bank so I tossed my crankbait by its face and it jumped all over it. It was 4 pounds and my 4th fish of the day. I lost 4 bites 2 of which I saw and both were keepers (12” minimum) so I didn’t get to weigh in a limit (which is 5). I weighed my fish in and my total weight was 8 pounds 14 oz. The cut off for day two settled in at 9.6 pounds. I finished in 29th and 23 boats fished on Sunday. Now I really know what they mean about the one that got away.

Josh ended up catching 2 fish and finishing the tournament in 72nd place which was good for 35th place for his season. I made the Regional’s and ended my season ranked 14th overall in points (just one fish away from my goal of 10th place or higher). In spite of the disappointment in coming so close and missing, I'm very happy with my placing in the face of competing against 200 tough anglers. I learned a lot this year and look forward to having fun and doing well at the Regional tournament. If I place in the top 6 at the Regional, then I will make it to the BFL All-American. That’s my next goal. Thank you all for cheering me on and also a big thanks to the great support from all my sponsors: Jerry at Gitem Baits, Randy and Lisa at Creek Critters, Robert at B&R Outlaw Rods, and Paul at Harris Chain Bait & Tackle.

For more details on the rest of the anglers, check out the Harris Tournament Results page and the BFL Gator Division Standings page.

Nate

When: Saturday October 6th 2007. Time: 6:00 AM until 1:00 PM

Where: Orange County Sportsman’s Association, 9020 Kilgore Rd, Orlando Fl. 32836

Why: To treat 70 deserving children to a morning of fishing, boating, and fun. At Noon you (the boat captain) and the children will return to the dock after spending a memorable day on the water. To weigh in their fish, have a great lunch, and enjoy a raffle for everyone.

Trophies will be awarded to the children that catch the most fish, and biggest bass!! The most important trophy of all is the time they got to spend with YOU on the water!

If you would help: This is a free event! We are in need of boaters who are willing to donate their boat, tackle, and most importantly their time!!

Please bring: The children do not have tackle of their own. So please bring at least one rod and reel a child could use and life jackets!

To Donate: If you would like to donate rods and reels, tackle, sporting goods, books, dolls etc. please feel free the children would be most appreciative.

For more information contact: Neal Lazarus (407) 383-4223 neallazarus@earthlink.net

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!!!!!

Our John’s Lake tournament took place Saturday April 14th. Dock talk was of lots of fish and some nice one, too. Nate Bloom had an 8 and lost a bigger one. Fay Rowles had fish up to 7 and I had a 5 in practice. There were some bedding fish and also a few schoolers. We had a nice turnout, 24 boats, and had 17 limits. We had 5 over 7, so overall , a pretty good event. For the 2nd time in as many tournaments John Ricketson landed the Big Bass in one of our tournaments. This time he caught 2 big ones. John caught an 8.01 at about 9:00 and added a 9.07 at about 1:00. To go with those 2 hawgs, he and Chip Dover put together an amazing bag that weighed over 31 pounds. The only glitch in the day occurred on the way to the weigh-in. After leaving their last fishing spot they traveled about ½ mile to the no-wake zone and slowed to an idle. It was then that Chip noticed an open live well and a missing fish. The “one that got away” was a 6 ½ pound fish. So, instead of bringing in a monsterous 31+ bag , they had 4 fish , weighing 25.37lb. That was good enough for the win and also big fish. They mostly scored using Texas rigged worms around the numerous grass patches. Fay Rowles and Paul Frauenhoffer took second place with a very nice catch of 21.51. Included in their bag was a 7 ½ . They too scored using Texas rigged worms around the grass patches. Fay said it was important to find deeper patches and isolated ones. The grass is everywhere, finding the patches that held the bigger fish was the key. They fished in both lakes and kept moving. Mike Tucker and Tyler Lovelace placed 3rd with a limit weighing 14.84. The caught their fish casting frogs and Senkos. Mike said he had several large bass follow the frogs but they would not commit. They felt that they were on good fish but a big bite was the difference. The last money place went to Steve Horney and his guest Ashley Stone. They tallied 14.66 and caught their fish flipping and casting to the grass patches. They started out trying to get the schooling fish near the no-wake area but these bass never really showed themselves. In the Angler of the Year standings, Chip Dover/John Ricketson are in 1st with 750, 2nd place is Mike Tucker/Tyler Lovelace with 715, Dennis & Steve Galassi are in 3rd with 690 and Paul Guimarin holds 4th with 650. NOTES: Great percentage of limits 17/24, 71%......it will be interesting to see how CFBA weights will compare with the Courtesy Tournament next Saturday………we have 2 teams fishing both trails…….5 dead fish, I think they were just swallowing the baits, it wasn’t that hot……….parking was no problem………See ya’ at Clermont!

Before the tournament at Lake Monroe began, Paul Guimarin said to me that in the 5 years he had fished the club, he hadn’t won a check. Well that is a thing of the past now. Paul and Paul,Jr. won a check and a couple of trophies with their winning stringer Saturday, March 10th . They outsmarted the other 21 boats to bring in a limit weighing 14.80 lb. They traveled north to the residential canals just past the railroad bridge to boat most of their bag. Even though there are signs saying “Private” , there is no Florida law prohibiting entry into the area. They caught most of their fish by throwing junebug worms ,but a key fish late in the day came while flipping a Gambler blue emerald craw. Great Job!! Dennis and Steve Galassi did well last year at the river by fishing the “Mothers Arm” area of Lake Monroe. This area is located on the southwest end of the lake between the Government Cut and the primary river channel. The Galassi’s have a special spot over there that is loaded with keepers. They culled through 3 limits to weigh 14.04 and capture 2nd place. Soft plastics scored most of their bag A flurry of top water action resulted in all of John Ricketson and Chip Dover’s weight. The pair brought in 13.21 and took 3rd. While throwing at the redline on the north shore of Monroe, John nailed a nice keeper on a Devils Horse and in the next 15 minutes caught 3 others including a 5.31 and a 3.5. The rest of the day was totally uneventful. They did not land another bass. Notes: It was odd seeing all the search boats and helicopters looking for the guy who fell out of his boat earlier in the week. They actually found him 3 days after our tournament, very near where we were fishing….the low water kept the weights down, we had several 20+ bags in the past two events on Monroe.