Lake Isokpoga 2015 tournament
The West Volusia Bass Anglers held our first tournament of the year as usual on Lake Istokpoga, the season starts in April and runs through March. Fishing was impacted by all the spraying that had gone on over the past couple of months. There was rotting vegetation all around the lake and that made it hard to find clear water. Your trolling motor would kick up all the dead material and just made it worse. Usually there are a lot of nice pads and grassy areas around the lake but this year was different. What was also unusual is the winds held off making it comfortable running around the lake.
There were a lot of fish caught, even with the bad conditions, but the weights were down significantly from past years. The first day had one team come in with twenty one pounds but it dropped quickly from there to three teams around fifteen pounds and many around eleven pounds. Two fish came in the first day at just over eight pounds.
The second day was a lot better for some with the team of Chris Chavez and Clyde Webb leading the way with a five fish limit just over twenty five pounds. This launched them into first place overall with a total weight of forty pounds. Chris also had big fish the second day with a monster 11.42 pound hawg. Doug Chance and his new partner Danny Stringer, leaders from day one, came in second with just over thirty four pounds. Third and fourth places were both just over twenty nine pounds. Not very close for the two day tournament which usually has 3 - 4 teams fighting it out at the top. Over half the teams had their ten fish limit.
May we are back on the St Johns River out of the Lake Monroe Park ramp. This should prove to be interesting as well because just yesterday I went out to pre-fish and there were two air boats spraying all along the I-4 corridor, killing off the vegetation. I don't know how these poisons affect the fishing but it can't be good.
Mike has been fishing for 50 years. The first 16 years of fishing was for trout in the streams of Massachusetts. At 22 he moved to Florida for work and took up a whole new type of fishing “saltwater”. For the next several years he learned in-shore and off-shore fishing techniques. There was also the occasional shrimping expedition. At the tender age of 40 Mike then found even another form of fishing “Bass Fishing”. Chasing this elusive predator became Mike’s latest obsession. His motto is "I'd rather be fishing".