Partly cloudy skies and a slight breeze greeted our 30 plus boats as the sun peeked out on Lake Monroe the morning of February 13th. With a 5 day plus warming trend and a new moon on the 11th the St Johns River Bass Bash was setting up perfect for huge bags of spawning bass to be brought to the scales.
While helping folks get ready at Boat Tree Marina just after the front blew through, reports of teams really catching them started coming in. The reports brought a big smile to the face of Dave DiMauro, SJA Coach and tournament event coordinator for the Seminole Junior Anglers. Dave knows how to teach young anglers about bass fishing. His oldest son Conner fishes for Bryan College in Tennessee, he and his partner recently won the College Bass Nation Championship on Lake Harris Chain, their final day catch set a new record for a 3-day event at over 80 lbs. and was more than 25 pounds ahead of second place. His son Davis and Bryce are the reigning High School Bass Nation Champs, 2 years running.
Their whole family were busy setting up tables, raffle items, etc. as Phil Wolf’s Orlando Coastal Angler was preparing the weigh-station.
Only a few of the 30 plus teams were short of the 5 fish limits. Big smiles were on the faces of all the teams as the huge bags started coming to the scales. The seventh year for this event is surely a lucky 7 – 7 bags at over 20 pounds came to the scales with several monster included. In the end it was the team of Devin Been an SJA Alumni and Chad Coutant with 25.62 pounds on top, Team Wooten and Eastman 2nd with 23.99 lbs. and Rene and Myers 3rd with
23.39 lbs. Big bass was caught by local Pro John Kramer at 8.40 pounds and second big bass was 7.85 lbs. by John Tony. The event is the annual fundraiser for the Seminole Junior Angler teams that qualify to go the High School
National BASS Nation Finals in Alabama next fall. Over $7,000 dollars was raised from the tournament proceeds and sponsor donations. Join in next year on the 2nd Saturday in February 2022. If you missed the tournament and would like to donate to the Seminole Junior Anglers High School teams, please contact Phil Wolf or Dave DiMauro.
