Central Florida Bass Anglers

Most club members were lamenting our annual trip to East Lake, August 9th. The general consensus 1 ) it was going to be hot, 2) low water and 3) difficult to catch keepers. Guess what? It was so hot that we voted to end the event at 2 pm instead of our usual 3:30. The water was low, but not the lowest that we have seen, and it was, in fact difficult to catch keepers. 8 out of 22 boats failed to land a keeper and 4 boats only netted 1 bass. Throw in some lovely lightning/rain and a wonderful day was had by all.

First Place- 10.06

Well, it was a wonderful day for Rob and Mario. They fished the western reeds down from the East Lake Fish Camp. They threw a variety of baits and caught fish on several. Worms, spinnerbaits and even a hard jerkbait scored. Mario said that they caught 8 keepers and almost didn’t have a limit. What? As he was culling a fish, the float broke and the fish flopped on the deck and Mario flopped after it, but the fish won. At the same moment, the fish that was about to be released flopped back into the lake. Mario followed the escaping bass and forgot about fish #1. Of course, it went in to the lake also. So now they were down to 4 fish, but there is a happy ending….no, not that kind of happy ending…one of the fish swam off with the float still in his mouth and after 30 minutes of tracking down the finny foe, Number 5 was returned to the live well and the limit was complete. 10.06 pounds and a well earned victory.

Second Place- 9.99

Almost double digit. Paul Guimarin Sr & Jr. had boat trouble. Their cranking battery was weak and failed to start the Suzuki. No problem. Paul piloted the craft toward the nearest grass bed and the pair had the event’s largest bass, a 3.09 monster, in the live well before boat 22 had their number called. They stayed around the entrance to the fish Camp canal and had a limit early. Good thing, the fishing slowed and they only caught 1 more keeper the rest of the day. They deviated from their trusty watermelon fluke and concentrated on junebug trick worms for their bag. Nice finish

Third Place- 9.84

Chip Dover and John Ricketson ran to Fells Cove and started in the canal entrance. After an hour of casting, they moved to the canal going into Ajay. This canal produced 2 keepers and it was 1 o’clock before they landed more keepers. Late in the day they came across a nice flipping spot and Chip caught 2 keepers on Zoom Speed Craws and 1 on a Gitem toad to finish off their limit

Fourth Place- 7.27

Matt Gurgacz & Jesse Rudolph found their fish on the southwest bank. Matt said they threw soft plastics and caught a ton of fish but never could get that 5th fish in the boat

In the Angler of the Year race, Mario and Rob extended their lead with 1425 points. Chip/John have 1385 for 2nd place. 3rd place goes to Team Power Pole, Mike & Steve Warner with 1295. Steve & Neal Combs are in 4th with 1285. Joe Ventrello and Jerry Heidgerken have 1275 to tie Paul Guimarin Sr & Jr. for 5th

NOTES: East Lake proved tough with 55% of the boats with 1 fish or less……..the early weigh in probably did not keep us from weighing in more fish…….only 2 deceased bass, pretty good………Courtesy Anglers fished last Saturday night, 15 lb won, 5.71 big fish….34 boats, only 4 with over 10 lb, we fished 9 hours………hopefully this tropical storm will dump a ton of rain on the area, as of this writing almost 10 “ in Brevard county…….I’ll bet the Rivers up…….See you at Overstreets….if it ain’t too dusty!