Stop #1 of the 2025 Season on the Winter Haven Chain is in the books. 

The Friday night meeting was conducted at Ron's Tackle Box 380 S Lake Shore Way, Lake Alfred, FL 33850.Mr. Ron opened his doors to us and offered us some great deals and great fellowship. 29 anglers attended the meeting catching up with each other and sharing stories of their off season antics. Professional angler Mr. Blake Smith brought us an inspirational message about our reasonable service, refreshing our faith. Chic-Fil-A of Winter Haven sponsored our meal and the anglers left the meeting with their bellies and spirits filled. 

Saturday morning, anglers arrived at the William G. Roe boat ramp at 0530 amidst rainy scenarios, overcast skies and 60 degree weather. Depsite the cold, windy, rainy atmosphere, 20 teams took to the chain to see who would be crowned Champions of the Chain. The 60 degree tempatures felt more like -40 degrees as the rain and wind pelted the anglers as they arrived upon the chain. Once we got the anglers live wells checked and the boats into the water, we conducted a rules review and had a time of prayer and then awaited safe light to blast off. Approximately 0650 all 20 anglers blasted off to chase God's creation. 

The winds proved to be a factor ranging from 5-13 mph gusting to 20 mph intermittently. Regardless, 17 of the 20 teams returned to the scales at 3pm to showcase their catches. 13 of the 17 teams returned with the five fish limit with a total of 79 fish being caught totalling 145.83 pounds of fish with all of them being returned to the chain to be caught again another day. 

Newcomers to the trail and brothers Bryan and Pifa Castro emerged as the Champions of the chain bringing five fish to the scales weighing in at 13.62 pounds. The duo also landed the big bass of the day weighing in at 5.44 pounds. Steve and Trina Pritchard were hot on their heels coming in second place with a five fish limit weighing in at 11.55 pounds. Narrowly behind them was the team of RJ Sanger and Ken Sharpless with a five fish limit weighing in at 11.38 pounds. Rounding out the top four and taking home the last check of the day was the team of Robbie Sanger and Austin Chism with a five fish limit weighing in at 10.89 pounds. 

Lakeland Firearms created a unique one of one rifle to raffle off to generate funds for the trail and not only was it unique but it brought smiles, oooos, and awes to the weigh in. 

Overall, it was a great weekend of God's blessings, great fellowship, and great times had by all. We welcomed new members to the trail, rejoiced with returning members, and left the tournament eagerly awaiting the next tournament. 

Stay tuned for next months action on Lake Apopka as the anglers will go out to see who will be the cream of the apopka!

We would like to thank our local sponsors, Ron's Tackle Box, the City of Winter Haven, Chic-Fil-A Winter Haven

We would like to thank all of our national sponsors, Basscat Boats, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Mercury, Realtree Fishing, Fenwick, Firefly Marine, Power-Pole, TH Marine, Frogg Toggs