2011年4月23日 星期六

Titusville angler has dream tournament

For Larry Cruce of Titusville, a recent club tournament on Lake Okeechobee was one of those fishing trips that most bass anglers dream about.

Cruce, a veteran member of the LERA Bass Club of Titusville, was competing in the club's annual two-day tournament on the big South Florida lake. It's one of the biggest events of the year for the club members.
Not only did Cruce win with a two-day total of 34.50 pounds but he did it fishing alone and in record-setting fashion. The club uses the team format but members can compete solo if one member can't attend. But it's definitely a disadvantage because the lone angler is going against two-angler teams.

"It was one of my best tournaments ever," said Cruce, a 58-year-old retired State of Florida Department of Corrections employee. "We found bedding bass and a lot of fish were caught. I'd compare it to a BFL (Bass Fishing League) tournament I won out of 202 co-anglers in 2004 when I caught 23 pounds, 14 ounces in one day. I won $2,500."

Cruce competed on the BFL regional circuit in 2004, 2005 and 2006 but since has been content with smaller local tournaments. He's a lifetime bass fisherman born in Starke, where his ancestors settled in the 1840s.

The closest two-man LERA team to Cruce was Steven Clark of Melbourne and Dan Newman of Satellite Beach with 32.61 pounds. They recorded the heaviest single-day bag of 20.22 pounds the first day, including three bass exceeding 5 pounds. Clark had the big bass of the day at 5.78 pounds.

Alan Elder of Melbourne and Wayne Smith of Palm Bay finished third with 26.23 pounds.

In the process, Cruce set a Single-day club record for a solo angler with 19.95 pounds on the second day. In fact, the single-day record was broken four times in the two days, as anglers brought in heavy catches of spawning bass.

On the first day, Cruce broke Alan Elder's two-year-old club record of 13.39 pounds with 14.55 pounds. The second day, Mike Calloway of Titusville set a new mark with 15.19 only to have Tony Ciavarella of Melbourne beat him with 16.54. Then Cruce reclaimed the record for good with his 19.95.

Cruce's catch included a 6.23-pounder and a 5-pounder which he caught in the last 20 minutes of fishing.
Most of the bass Cruce brought to the scales during the two days came on a top-water Storm Chug Bug.
"No one believed me when I told them," Cruce said. "The bass were bedding in about 2 feet of water along the edge of hydrilla and eel grass. I'd put the Chug Bug right on the edge of the grass and they'd nail it."

Others in the club fished the same conditions along the north side of Fisheating Bay on the southwest side of Okeechobee.

Cruce entered as a solo angler when Tim Iler of Port St. John, his regular club partner, was out of town on business. Calloway and Ciavarella also competed as solo anglers.

The heaviest bass in the two days belonged to Ciavarella with a 6.56-pounder the second day.

Since the tournament, Cruce underwent surgery for an aortic aneurysm. He is resting at home and itching to return to fishing.

The LERA club -- the name is an abbreviation for Lockheed Employees Recreation Association, a now defunct organization that existed in 1988 when the club was organized -- is welcoming new members. Because a team format is used in its tournaments, at least one team member must have a boat.

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