05/03/2026
BBB May Newsletter....
Next Meeting: May 20, 2026
Please remember our meetings are now on Wednesday’s instead of Thursday’s 6:00 PM at The Outpost Bar and Grill – Indianwood Country Club (Indiantown, FL) - Come early (5PM) if you plan to eat!
2026 Tournament Schedule
May – Clewiston
June – Harney Pond
July – Scott Driver
August – Rt. 70
September – Poga
October – Scott Driver
November – Grap Hammock (2 day)
December - TBD
Next Tournament: Clewiston –May 23, 2026 – Safe Light (~6:30 AM) to 2 PM
General News:
Happy Spring/Summer now that Florida has started to heat up! With the hot temperatures that are starting to hit our state I want to remind everyone that the water temps are also going to rise. Our first priority as a club and with our love of fishing is to provide the fish with the best possible conditions while they are in the livewell of our boats. Everyone should have aerators and some of the newer boats even have recirculators. Please make sure that when those fish are in our livewells that you are providing plenty of oxygen for those fish, which is the utmost important thing we can provide to give them the best chance of being released healthy. Filling the livewell with ice first thing in the morning and/or having frozen water bottles are a great way to make sure the water temps stay healthy for the fish and provide the oxygen. When the water gets warm in the livewell, popping a frozen water bottle in there helps lower the water temperature. Also, sometimes when we get the fish to the boat we see that it inhaled our bait and sometimes causes damage to the fish and they are bleeding. Roy shared a product that has really good reviews and works wonders called BuzzerRocks Blood Stop Formula. You spray it where the fish is bleeding from and it’s like a coagulator and helps stop the bleeding. We all do everything we can to insure we bring in healthy fish to weigh in and provide a successful release; however, sometimes unforeseen circumstances happen and we lose fish. Let’s try our best to incorporate as much as we can to keep our fishery healthy for generations to come.
No meeting in April as we had our 2 day Tournament out of Grape Hammock on Lake Kissimmee. I don’t know about you all, but Lake Kissimmee is truly one of our favorite lakes to fish besides our home lake.
Shout out to Paul, Gary, John and Ron for grilling on Saturday night for our dinner. Thank you so much for your help, it was much appreciated.
Also, Thank you to Paul and Gary for providing the Cinnamon Rolls and Banana Bread, I know I had my fill over the weekend and with what I brought home.
Thank you Kelly Riel for taking all the pictures you did over the weekend. Love seeing how much it appeared that everyone was having a great time.
Sad news came to the Beeline Club in late April with the passing of Larry Harris. Not only was he a strong club member for over thirty years, an excellent fisherman and friend to all of us, he fought for the health of the lake through SFWMD and Audubon relentlessly. He will be missed!
April’s Tournament Summary:
The April Tournament out of Grape Hammock started out with a few of our members camping early in the week to practice and locate where the fish were hanging out. A few of the days were quite windy and proved somewhat difficult to locate any clean water and the bite. Friday and Saturday night we had our group dinners and I must say, it was such a great time having all of us together for some great food, stories and friendship. We had a few things happen that will be added as part of our broken minnow award at the end of the year. Paul lost a power pole that was ran over, and although I won’t name names, most of us witnessed the carnage. Roy unfortunately lost the motor in his boat on day 1 of the tournament. We sure hope you get that fixed soon Roy!! All in all we had a good turnout with 9 boats and 8 co anglers. Saturday started out with warm temperatures and some wind, while Sunday was much warmer and not much wind at all.
Paul and Gary are great paired together and we all know that Kissimmee is Paul’s favorite lake to fish. The pair showed that hard work and prefishing to locate those fish provided what was needed in order to take the win for the weekend. Even though only having one power pole, they were able to get it done. With both days having full bags they came home the weekend winners with 30.91 lbs. Paul had big fish for the first day of the tournament and was hoping it would stick for the overall win; however, that wasn’t the case but it was still a good catch at 6.39 lbs.
Our second place team consisting of Bill Pattison and Darren Brown who is a former member of Beeline and from the word going around may come back as a current member with the club showed that 2 great fisherman can have really good days when paired together. Both of them have quite the experience fishing the lake and it showed. They also brought home full bags each day and conquered second place with 27.62 lbs.
Third place was Bryan May and Carroll Head. Bryan being one of our newest members paired with one of our original members Carroll showed that fishing passion is truly still alive in our sport. Both are proven fisherman and know how to locate and land those fish. They had a good weekend as well bringing in full bags each day which put them in third place with 25.81 lbs.
Over the weekend, we had quite a few big bass brought in. Paul’s first day big bass of 6.39 lbs., Ron had a big bass of 7.15 lbs., but it was Don Jarriel that brought in the biggest bass for the weekend which also won him the Lunker award at 9.69 lbs. Congratulations to you all, those are some really nice weights brought in.
Looking forward to our next 2 day tournament in November on Lake Kissimmee at Grape Hammock.
April Tournament Winners and Payouts
April Winners
1st – Paul McGaughey & Gary Halker– 30.91 lbs.
2nd – Bill Pattison & Darren Brown – 27.62 lbs.
3rd – Bryan May & Carroll Head – 25.81 lbs.
Big Fish/Lunker – Don Jarriel – 9.69 lbs.
