Ghost And Goblins Out Of Clewiston 2024
Bassn Blvd reply :
Is anyone fishing it this year?
shallow thinker reply :
I'll be going. We had a good time last year. Didn't come close to getting a check but it was fun. I still have lots to learn about that lake
954R70 reply :
Yes! Go to their website and print out an entry form to make morning check in even faster. http://www.bigreel.org/
954R70 reply :
The 28th annual Ghost and Goblins tournament date is coming up on Sunday October 23, 2011 out of Clewiston. This tournament helps raise money for the "Friends of SATC Inc" (formerly Friends of Our House)helping physically & sexually abused children in Broward County. Without question, this is one of the most deserving local charities you'll find. BigReel Bassmasters, the sponsors of the tournament, has donated over $130,000 in the past 27 years.
Here's a chance to help kids, fish & try to win some cash all rolled into one. The "Ghosts and Goblins" Annual Open Tournament allows bass fishermen to compete against one another while helping to support those children most in need of support. The tournament's success for the last 27 years would not have been possible without you guys. Hopefully we will see all of you guys up there this year.
We are also looking to have another very good payback considering that this is a charity function. With a 60 boat field 1st place will be paying back $2,500 which is what we paid out last year. The flyers can be downloaded from the BigReel web sitehttp://www.bigreel.org). Entry fee this year is still $120.00 which includes the big fish pot. If anyone knows of a company that would like to make a donation to the charity, they can contact me at: agriff@bellsouth.net
gar-tracker reply :
We are, came in 5th last year with 23lbs
A very well run tourney.
piscicidal reply :
I'll be at Ghosts and Goblins again this year.
I'm hoping for more treat and less trick!
bocabasser reply :
i am fishing it. going up that saturday to pre-fish. staying at rolands.
topwaterrob reply :
Thinking about whether to dump my fins tickets and fish the tourney..... They've been brutal to watch at home anyways.,.....
South FLA reply :
Won't be fishing it, but I can tell you the Pahokee rocks are Hot! Be safe running!
gar-tracker reply :
On 10/5/2011 at 12:16 PM, topwaterrob said:Thinking about whether to dump my fins tickets and fish the tourney..... They've been brutal to watch at home anyways.,.....
Please I'm done with those morons, time to clean house.
I gave up 50 yard line tickets to the Super Bowl because of a Tournament once. Turned out to be one of the most exciting games ever 49ers and Bengals 1989.
GLADES reply :
How is the lake water depth? Is it safe to run in most areas?
South FLA reply :
On 10/5/2011 at 12:16 PM, topwaterrob said:Thinking about whether to dump my fins tickets and fish the tourney..... They've been brutal to watch at home anyways.,.....
Doesn't it make you sick? Henne, overhyped Bush, Drop the ball Marshall, and sorry excuse of a coach owner we have, its going to take a miracle to get me motivated to get back there, always a Dolphin fan, but with the dismal home record I think I am selling my tickets too!
gar-tracker reply :
On 10/7/2011 at 7:28 AM, GLADES said:How is the lake water depth? Is it safe to run in most areas?
11.08 and dropping, be careful.
GLADES reply :
On 10/7/2011 at 11:14 AM, South FLA said:Doesn't it make you sick? Henne, overhyped Bush, Drop the ball Marshall, and sorry excuse of a coach owner we have, its going to take a miracle to get me motivated to get back there, always a Dolphin fan, but with the dismal home record I think I am selling my tickets too!
The Fins will be an embarrassment to the fans until Ireland, Sparano are hopefully fired after the season. Too bad the fans cannot fire an owner. I gave up my season tickets in 2005 and I haven't missed going to the games at all.
GLADES reply :
On 10/7/2011 at 8:13 PM, gar-tracker said:11.08 and dropping, be careful.
Man, that is really low for this time of year. Heading into the winter dry months with 11'. What happened to all the rain water?
The guys in charge of the water pumps must work for the sugar and sod farms.
salmicropterus reply :
On 10/7/2011 at 8:13 PM, gar-tracker said:11.08 and dropping, be careful.
Agree. I think when the Lake is at this level it can breed a false sense of confidence. At 10-10.5, you see all the problems and have more caution. At 11, some bad stuff is 6" under the water. Be careful-you still can't run the trails safely. The Lake really needs a foot more-hopefully the soaker this weekend will help. I understand there is a lot of water north up in Toho and Kissimmee and we know there is a lot of water south. 11-11.5 going into the dry season in two months is way too low. Easy to imagine in the 8s next April/May.
piscicidal reply :
On the news this morning they were saying that the rain we got this weekend dropped ~foot of water in Kissimmee. They said when that water works it's way down to Okeechobee, it could raise the water level to ~13 feet. I'll believe it when I see it...doesn't seem possible that a 1.5ft raise in Lake Kissimmee would coorespond to a 1.5ft increase @ Okeechobee. Okeechobee has 10x the surface area. Regardless...we should start seeing some positive effects of this weekends rainfall soon...
http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/xrepository/sfwmd_repository_pdf/nr_2011_1010_rain_kissimmee.pdf
piscicidal reply :
Looks like the soaker this weekend is having a pretty big impact on the lake depth. It is up to 11.35 this morning.
salmicropterus reply :
On 10/12/2011 at 9:51 PM, piscicidal said:Looks like the soaker this weekend is having a pretty big impact on the lake depth. It is up to 11.35 this morning.
Maybe this is a do-over for the Corps. Hope they don't screw it up but think they probably will
gar-tracker reply :
12 maybe I doubt 13, my buddy told me TOHO is flooded. The Kissimme valley got hit hard and thats what helps the lake.
To put it in perspective a water management guy told me once that if you completely drained Toho,Kissimme, Hachina, and Cypress into Okeechobee it would only come up about 6inchs to a foot,
salmicropterus reply :
This was posted this morning by Water Management:
Water managers expect Lake Okeechobee water levels to rise by two feet due to heavy rains in the Kissimmee region.
The expected rise in water levels would bring the lake to 13.24 feet, well below its historic average of 15.02 feet, said Randy Smith, a South Florida Water Management District spokesman.
"District meteorologists are saying that Saturday, Oct. 8, was the wettest single day in the Upper and Lower Kissimmee regions combined in the last 100 years," Smith said.
"The local maximum average in that area was 11.7 inches."
To protect the aged Herbert Hoover Dike, which surrounds Lake Okeechobee, water managers like to keep the lake at 12.5 to 15.5 feet.
When the Kissimmee region, which is in Central Florida, and Lake Okeechobee receive extremely heavy rains, water managers must release large amounts water down the Caloosahatchee River.
Large releases of nutrient-rich fresh water can make the lower river too fresh and trigger massive algal blooms, which can cause fish kills and kill seagrass by blocking sunlight.
The difference in this event is that Lake Okeechobee itself didn't receive much rain.
There are no releases from the lake planned, Smith said, and if people see water flowing down the Caloosahatchee, it will be from local runoff rather than from releases.
Over the past year, the Caloosahatchee has suffered from too little fresh water during a prolonged drought.
High salinities can kill tape grasks, an important part of the upper river's ecosystem, and can have negative effects on oysters.
With recent rains, the river's salinity dropped into the proper range.
"We're in good shape," said Eric Milbrandt, director of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation Marine Laboratory.
Wow, maybe we are going to get lucky. It'll play havoc with the fishing for awhile I'm guessing but in the long run it takes 8' out of play for next April/May
gar-tracker reply :
Like I said it will be up over 13 by Friday 
Man they must have got some seriouse rain up there.
Bassn Blvd reply :
Sounds like the "100 year flood" hit.
bocabasser reply :
On 10/13/2011 at 12:42 AM, gar-tracker said:Like I said it will be up over 13 by Friday
Man they must have got some seriouse rain up there.
can't wait!
South FLA reply :
If it gets to 13.5' I will be like the pig in _
this entire winter, looking for HAWGS to share the boat with!
gar-tracker reply :
I'm glad its coming up but i had a great summer up there this year, experience on the lake becomes a big factor when its low.
Problem is they stop many of the tournaments so its all for not.
piscicidal reply :
I don't have too much experience on the lake...I've fished it maybe a dozen times, now. But, I actually seem to do better with the lower water. The best day I've had (4-11-2011. 28.8lb bag) the water level was about 11.5. I had about a 20lb bag when I went there on Labor Day weekend when the lake was @ ~10.5. Maybe I just don't know any better, but I seem to have a little easier time finding them in the low water. Intuitively, it would seem that the lower water should be easier...alot less places for those fish to hide. I've never even fished the lake at 13feet, so maybe my ignorance is actually helping me right now... 
The lake is coming up real fast right now, though. 11.49 this morning. At this rate, it will be about 12.5 by Ghosts and Goblins. I'm gonna have to find some new spots, in a hurry.
gar-tracker reply :
On 10/13/2011 at 8:49 PM, piscicidal said:I don't have too much experience on the lake...I've fished it maybe a dozen times, now. But, I actually seem to do better with the lower water. The best day I've had (4-11-2011. 28.8lb bag) the water level was about 11.5. I had about a 20lb bag when I went there on Labor Day weekend when the lake was @ ~10.5. Maybe I just don't know any better, but I seem to have a little easier time finding them in the low water. Intuitively, it would seem that the lower water should be easier...alot less places for those fish to hide. I've never even fished the lake at 13feet, so maybe my ignorance is actually helping me right now...
The lake is coming up real fast right now, though. 11.49 this morning. At this rate, it will be about 12.5 by Ghosts and Goblins. I'm gonna have to find some new spots, in a hurry.
Its a whole different animal with water in it.
salmicropterus reply :
11.67 this morning. The water is running full bore now down the Kissimmee. Should see pretty large increases the next several days.
gar-tracker reply :
Back to Ghosts and Goblins.
Rising water, a tropical depression, and a passing cold front 55 degrees predicted Friday morning. Wind will be ripping out of the north.
Did I miss any negative factors on the conditions or are there any left?
GLADES reply :
I going to sit this one out. Good luck guys.
piscicidal reply :
Jack and I weighed 18.86lbs, today. 10th place, I believe. One team had 29lbs...very impressive....It wasn't easy out there. Brandon McMillian finished 2nd with 24. I dropped off a beast next to the boat that would have put us near that number. I'm sure most the field has a sad tale of fish lost today, though.
Fun day on the lake....very friendly and well-run tournament and we caught a lot of fish (40-50 with some big ones thrown in)
gar-tracker reply :
Good Job!!! We bombed caught about a thousand dinks where I was catching 4s nd 5s all week long without batting an eye. We had about 14 lbs if that didn't even bother weighing them in.
My best spot had a boat perched on it first thing upon our arrival so we went to plan B, which I was still confidant in.
Oh well I had fun pre fishing in pre frontal conditions, they were eating the walls down, I couldn't cartch a small fish. Never been so confidant going in to a tournament.
Their bedding like mad.
piscicidal reply :
Thanks, Robert...me/Jack have realistic expectations in these Okeechobee tournaments. I've fished the lake a little over a dozen times now....we don't expect to compete against guys like yourself, McMillian, Val, DeMott, Bruce, Carmen, etc, etc....We fish it because we like the tournament, and the money is going to a good cause. Our outlook kind of changed when we had two ~5lbers in the boat by 9:00AM, though. We had a 10minute stretch in the morning that was pretty unbelievable. We had a little dry spell from 10-1...but then we stuck a 5.6lb early afternoon. At that point, we were one more big bite from cashing a nice check. That big bite never came, but it was fun to be in that situation.
bocabasser reply :
on saturday my partner and i found some really good fish at a couple of spots. on sunday it was a dinkfest. we caught a ton of 2-3 pound fish and nothing bigger. we had 15 pounds and change. we messed up and stayed in pelican too long. we were catching so many fish, that we thought we would get into some bigger ones. it never happened. kenny (never enough) who is a BR member came in fourth with 22 pounds.
GLADES reply :
Excellent reports guys. It sounds like it was a lot of fun.
Gotfishyfingers? reply :
Sounds like fun for a good cause. How was the topwater bite?
gar-tracker reply :
Their bedding like crazy, its anyone's game right now.
1st place swimming baits
2nd flipping
So there you go take your choice. Some days you get them some you don't.
piscicidal reply :
On 10/25/2011 at 7:52 PM, gar-tracker said:Their bedding like crazy, its anyone's game right now.
1st place swimming baits
2nd flipping
So there you go take your choice. Some days you get them some you don't.
We caught three good ones...one 4.5, one 5, and one 5.6. All were staged up near the beds and fat. Here is a picture of the 5.6. This fish was only about 20-21" but just fat and full of eggs. That cold front last Wednesday definitely pushed some fish up toward the beds.
gar-tracker reply :
Right on Piscicidal! Those are good tournament fish, you had a nice weight without having a monster, all you needed was a big kicker and you would have been right there.
You were right there with all the names you mentioned. The only difference between you and them is they fish more.
I know the partner of a guy you mentioned and they lucked out at the last hour with a big fish and barley beat you.
SoFlaBassAddict reply :
Great fish, Mike! Sounds like you guys were in the right area. Shame you dropped that big girl at the boat. That's fishing for you though.
Looks like the lake is going to be putting out some big fish in the near future with the water coming back up. Good things to come for sure.
piscicidal reply :
Yeah, Eric. I'm on some nice fish right now. Robert and I went back to that spot today and absolutely crushed em. 80+ fish by noon, six over five pounds. 26-27lb sack. Today was ridiculous. Robert will be posting some pics soon.
SoFlaBassAddict reply :
I'm jealous. I was stuck driving around for most of the day today. Had to go drop some stuff off at Bal Harbour. Would have much rather been out fishing.
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