Central Florida Bass Anglers

We had all been hearing about the big stringers that were being caught on Harris. 29 pounds, 31 pounds, ect. Most of these giant bags were being brought in by local hot sticks and it was usually the same guys. But I still have never been able to figure out where those guys go. We fish Harris every year and I fish several other events up there every year and have done pretty well. But I still have never been able to figure out where those guys go. I’ve watched them go through the Dora canal and I know where the Clear canal and the Golf course canal are. And I’ve fished them and caught a few. But where do those guys get the big weights? Mike and Tyler know. They went there Saturday morning after the fog lifted ( well, sort of lifted). Mike Tucker/Tyler Lovelace traveled a long way last year and threw 28+ on the scales and they made the run again. This time they returned with 21.18 lb, including a 7.5, and won our second tournament of the year in grand fashion. They fished in an area the Mike described as “ the South Beauclaire Canal”. It’s about a 50 minute run from Buzzard Beach. See if you can find it on the map. It was a different location than where they had the 28+ but with the same outcome. They mostly flipped junebug soft plastics in 2-3 ft. of water and didn’t have a ton of bites but they had the right ones. Mike also said he lost a huge fish that would have been bigger than the 7.5 that they brought in. Nice win , guys!! Reid Watkins fished with John Bloom and they were on fish all day. They found the fish Friday in Lake Harris, along the north bank and gave the bass a 1-2 punch. Reid pitched junebug Senkos, (go figure) and landed the tournament’s biggest bass, a 9.38 beauty. We thought the fish was smaller because it was a bit skinny but it was a nice one. That fish would have been a lot heavier with eggs. John tossed a rattletrap in front of the boat and nailed several keepers. He said he worked the bait along the little points of Kissimmee grass and also over the patches of eel grass. They took 2nd place with 18.73. Good Job! Mario Mazzonetto/Rob Wilson caught a nice bag in last year’s event and since they didn’t have time to practice, they started with the same pattern. Rob said that a 3/8 oz spinnerbait worked along the lily pad stems would trigger a reaction bite. He noted that contact with the plant was the key. Several other boats from the 8 tournaments being held Saturday were in their area but Rob/Mario out fished them. They stayed on Eustis and worked pad fields on both the North and South shorelines. Their limit weighed in at 14.55 and they collected 3rd place cash. The last money place was occupied by Fay Rowles/ Paul Frauenhoffer. These guys didn’t travel far and settled in on one of the canals off the Dora canal. This is an area that I had fished in practice and in hindsight should have gone back. Fay caught a nice one in the first 10 minutes of fishing and the team managed a 4 fish bag weighing 12.76. They caught their fish throwing Texas rigged worms and spinnerbaits. Nice average fish! The Angler of the Year race shifted a bit. Tyler/Mike are in 1st with 380. Jimmy Anderson/ Bill Anderson ( where has Bill been?) 2nd with 370. Chip Dover/John Ricketson are in 3rd with 360. Steve & Dennis Galassi have 350 and are in 4th. Mike & Steve Warner are in 5th with 345. NOTES: Only 6 limits…Man was it foggy, I hope everyone was OK with the start. If there hadn’t been 99 other tournaments on the Chain, we probably would have waited a bit longer……9.38 lber for Reid, a good start for big fish of the year…….Encourage new teams to join, even if you have to recruit them from other clubs……Lake Monroe preview..former CFBA members Mike Laws /Ron Hicks caught 25+ with a 9 to win the Fishers of Men , 75 boat event on Monroe recently….Mike said the lake was shallow and the fish were too……..nothing new with that news… See ya’ at the river!

Congratulations to Chip Dover and John Ricketson on their first place win at the Butler chain on January 13, 2007. The team weighed in a 5 fish limit weighing 16.31 lbs. Second place went to the team of Jimmy Anderson and Joey Kremer with a sack that weighed 13.16 lbs. The Anderson/Kremer team also had big bass (4.80 lbs.) for the tournament. Neal & Patty Lazarus finished third with a weight of 11.49 lbs. More Pictures can be found in the Album section of the web site.

Practice for this yearly ritual had anglers pulling a lot of tricks out of their bags to get the Bass to bite. Some teams were having no luck finding any keepers while a couple of others located decent fish. Thoughts of running south to Kissimmee were only on the minds of Walter and Matt Gurgacz. Due to the low water conditions this year not many Anglers were going to take the risk of grounding out. This year’s short season had only 20 Teams that qualified to fish the Classic, only 17 of them showed to enjoy fishing one of the best Central Florida lakes. Knowing that fishing patterns might take a turn for the worst when news of a cold front was moving in for the weekend made some Anglers strategies change a little. Tom and I made it out on Friday to try and put something together. We had a little trouble putting a pattern together but I managed to boat 6 fish, 4 of them were keepers weighing about 11.5lbs. I couldn’t fish with Tom the 1st day but he seemed to put a lil something together all alone. Saturday morning started out pretty clam with temps in the 50's and then a MEGA FOG came in and trapped some Anglers in one location until about 11:00am. The sun finally came out and cleared the sky, bringing Temps up to the mid 80's. Day 1 weigh-in had talks of low weights and not many fish caught. Teams were extremely confused on the fishing patterns and how the fish were biting. Only 3 Teams weighed in limits and had some idea of how to put keepers in the boat. Mark Corns and Gary had a great day throwing Toads on the North end of Toho to lead the 1st day, the bag weighed in at 13.73lbs. Mark and partner also had the Big Bass of the day at 6.17lbs. Runner up Team of Brent Wysong and Jeff Holland found the best pattern going as far as catching fish goes. Holding down 2nd place and catching 30+ fish during their day throwing Carolina Rigs on the East side of Toho Brent and Jeff located a big concentration of fish in just a small area. Their spot offered a little of every type of cover from scattered Hydrilla, Kiss. Grass, Pads, and hard sandy bottom. The duo weighed in a respectful 5 fish limit at 12.36lbs and had high hopes for day 2. Close behind in 3rd were Rob Wilson and Mario Mazzonetto who figured out how to wait the bite out and bring in 5 keepers weighing 12.31lbs. The team fished isolated cover on the North end and multiple styles of baits, just minutes away from the ramp. Keeping it close, and doing it alone, was my Man, Tom Burk. He managed to put 4 keepers in the boat on a couple of different baits that weighed 10.37bs. Tom also had the 2nd biggest bass weighed in on day 1 at 4.99lbs which he had a very tough time getting in the boat alone. The fish was buried under about 50lbs of Hydrilla, so Tom had to go in after her to add it to the day’s creel. The rest of the field followed close behind with a few zero’s on the board to prove how tough the fishing really was. Day 2 brought cool temps again, cloud cover, and then some 15 mph winds as a front moved in through out the day. Talk of a long day ahead at the boat ramp was on the minds of all. I showed up to help out Tom, and we started close to the ramp were Tom had luck on Day 1. After running thru the area without a bite we moved. Spot #2 we caught 2 keepers on a top water plug and soon after that we caught 2 more flipping the Gitem Bug (shadow blue/silver). We ran around and tried some areas we found in practice but ended up in Whaleys to catch are last keeper which made 5. Rob and Mario held their ground as we watched them fish the same spots over and over through out day Tom and I were fishing about 1/4 mile away. Tom and I saw a few of the teams on the water at some point through the day and it looked like most were doing a lot of the same thing, casting Texas rigged worms. The Wood brothers started throwing lures as soon as their boat number was called, casting Texas rigged worms to pick up a limit early before the bite got tough. We fished near them a couple of times through the day so we got to talk with them on their success. Guy said they broke off on a nice one and lost a few. The weigh-in brought another tough day with some teams having no luck landing any keepers for the second day in arrow. Weighing in their same fish from day1 was 5th place finishers Mike Tucker and Tyler Lovelace. The duo had 4 keepers weighing 8.44lbs which they caught on Rattle Traps in open water. Their 2 Day total of 16.88lbs was very, very consistent. Nice job, you too. The day 1 leaders of Mark Corns and Gary had a tough time landing fish and could only bring 3 keepers to the scales for a 2 day total of 18.89lbs. This locked down a fine 4th place finish for the Team and they also took the Biggest Bass honors for the weekend with their Day 1 6.17lber. Great job guys. Showing up to help out my partner was definitely what we needed to bag 5 keepers weighing 9.64lbs as we only got 6 bites which only 5 kept. This was good enough for clinching 3rd place over all and 2nd place side pot money. Staying in second for the second day straight was Brent and Jeff catching another 30+ fish thru out the day. The Team weighed in 11.10lbs and scored most of their fish on Carolina Rigs again. Brent and Jeff also won the side pot money; they definitely had a great weekend fishing and catching during some tough weather patterns. Your 2006 Classic Champions were the Team of Rob Wilson and Mario Mazzonetto, their hard work really paid off. They both were very nervous coming in with just 4 fish for the day. Their efforts were great as their bag weighed a Fat 12.23lbs and also having the Big Bass of the Day at 5.54lbs which was caught on a Spinner bait. Their 2 day total of 24.54lbs was just over 1 lb more than 2nd place team’s total. Tom and I saw them scrambling for fish in the last hour as they were fishing about 2 casting distances from us. I had a feeling that they didn’t have a limit when we saw them, I was telling Tom we need to catch a pig right then to seal the deal so we could have an audience watch as we landed it. The funny thing about that is, I’m sure they were thinking the same thing. Big Bass of the Year went to Team Warners Bros, as Steve had that dam big fish 9.83lbs at Lake Marian on a Gator color Craw. OH YA, “and we only had five bites all day, Steve”. Sealing the deal for 3rd place Anglers of the Year, was Reid Watkins and Hans Forsell. The Team stayed consistent thru the year having some good finishes on most Lakes we stopped at. Great job guys. Fighting their way back to 2nd place Anglers of the Year, was the come back Old guys, Chip Dover and John Ricketson. The Team never let up this year as their weights at the scales proved their experience. Way to go guys, you are truly tough competitors. Well I’m sorry this took so long to get out, but I’m not the fastest writer. I must have rewritten this 7 different ways. I would like to say Thank You, to a great season, lots of laughs, good friends and to great competitors. I would also like to thank Neil and his wife, for all their efforts and HARD work with ALL they’re involved with. Last I would like to Thank the Lake County Sheriff’s Department for not letting rule breakers go free, justice was served. The Central Florida Bass Anglers 2006 Anglers of the Year for the first time in any club or trail, goes to the Team of Nate Bloom and Tom Burk. I’ve been a member of this club for 20 year’s and, no just joking, 7 year’s and it wasn’t easy taking this title. This club has the toughest of Anglers and I respect all of you for how dam good you are. It’s been truly memorable this year. -------- By Nate Bloom