Lake Yale Story Board

On February 7^th, 2026, 7 teams ascended upon the Lake Yale Waters for the Florida Abu Garcia Legacy Series Kickoff event. The anglers were met with cool 43-degree weather and overcast skies with 6 mph winds that made the chill feel more like 34 than 43 degrees. Chaplain Reeves met them out at the mouth of the canal to conduct the opening prayer, National Anthem, and a quick rules review. Approximately 0655 hours the skies lifted and safe light was upon us so blast off commenced. Who would return the season kickoff champions? Only God knew and time would tell. Back at the boat ramp, the Director and his little assistant Jase visited with weekend anglers and told them about the trail while sharing fish stories about Lake Yale. Much of the responses were to the tune of “man I caught em yesterday but today was rough”. Would this be the same fate for our angers? We would find out at 1 PM. The skies changed to high blue bird skies and 10 MPH gusts as the day went on. But how would this affect the anglers? Would they struggle like so many we talked to, or would they dominate the conditions? As the weigh-in approached it became clear that the struggle was real. The Florida post frontal conditions played a factor as only three teams brought fish to the scales. One by one they turned in their chips to say “man that was a tough bite”. As the weigh-in started the team of Brian Nelson and Austin Nelson would prove to have figured out the Lake Yale tight-lipped bass bringing 13.52 pounds to the scales securing the first win of the 2026 season anchored by the Realtree Fishing big bass of the day at 3.98 pounds. The team of Jeff Robinson and Colton Robinson came in second with 4.55 pounds while the Chaplain, Brock Reeves, and his noble partner Cordell Reeves (3 years old) rounded out the field with 1.55 pounds. Chaplain Reeves gave us our first devotional of the season on Luke 5:1-7 reminding us to go out and fish for people and not just go out and fish. He told us to “use the livescope on and off the water and tell everybody about Jesus” Thanks Chappy for starting us off right! As the pizza settled and the door prizes were given to the youth fishing that day and the message was heard, the overall weights of the day proved that the weather conditions were a factor this year and that the struggle was in fact real for all but one team who was crowned the 2026 Lake Yale Champions- The father-son duo of Brian and Austin Nelson! Congratulations men! Overall, it was a great time of fellowship, food, friendship, and faith! Stay tuned for next month as we visit Lake Santa Fe for stop number 2 of the season! We would like to thank all of our ministry partners this year, without God, you, and the anglers, none of this would be possible! Thank you and God Bless.

We would like to thank our local sponsors, Hope 91.3FM, Trinity Baptist Palatka, Trinity Baptist Keystone Heights, Orange Lake Baptist, South Putnam Church, Artic Air Palatka, E&S Tire and Auto Palatka, On Track Land Management LLC, Bass Capital Tackle, Becky Williams, Bald Eagle Tackle, MadeinUSA.com, Hi-Way Mart of Palatka, River of Life Osteopathic, and Rare Creative Expressions.

We would like to thank all of our national sponsors, Falcon Boats, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Mercury, Realtree Fishing, Fenwick, Firefly Marine, Power-Pole, TH Marine, Frogg Toggs, Fish 4:19 Performance Eyewear.