They gave up those big weights, they had fun and tournament entries have held well above the minimum level Wynperle felt was needed for success.

Under the Kissimmee Bass Series format anglers can weigh in only one fish over 22 inches. The rest of their limit must be made up of fish less than 22 inches. Traditionally, winning tournament weights on Kissimmee have sometimes exceeded 40 pounds, but that level is unreachable under the new format.

“I saw stringers last year of 30 up to 40 pounds, but our biggest weight this year was 27 pounds,” Wynperle said. “With just one fish over 22 inches you are not going to see those monster stringers which means we won’t kill as many fish and hopefully we are helping the sport by not killing more fish.”

That is particularly true in the hot summertime, he noted, when it is very hard to keep several big bass alive through a weigh-in. Now an angler only has to keep one big bass alive and with just one he has a much better chance of releasing that fish in good shape.

And, Wynperle noted, it has added a different degree of competition to the tournaments.

“My favorite comment was a few tournaments ago: ‘I caught a 7-pounder, then I caught an 8-pounder and had to take that 7-pounder out of the live well.’ That same tournament 24 pounds won it and 23 pounds was fifth. We had four 23-pound stringers separated by ounces,” he said. “Everybody is playing now and nobody is dominating.”

It may be hard to reach that level in Sunday’s tournament, he said, because fishing “has been kind of tough the last two or three weeks.”

“I was at a weigh-in the other day and it took 20 pounds to win, but only 14 pounds for second place. That is kind of unheard of on the Kissimmee Chain in the summertime.”

The culprit he said has been fast-rising water levels due to rainfall.

“The water came up really fast and the fish are so scattered now you can’t hardly pattern them. Normally this time of year you are either flipping the outside grass with a big worm or a one-ounce jig or you get offshore and fish brush piles, but this summer the brush piles are not producing. With the water coming up so fast the fish did not move offshore.”

The remaining schedule includes Aug 23 and Sept 27, with the Kissimmee Bass Series CLASSIC Oct 24-25; all out of Camp Mack’s River Resort on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. Anglers will pay a one-time registration fee, then $50 per boat for each tournament with an optional $20 Big Bass Pot for a 100 percent payback.

“I told everybody we are going to put the fun back into fishing,” Wynperle said, “and as long as the guys are having fun I am going to keep doing it.”

Success breed success and Wynperle now has a one-man and a two-man series out of Camp Mack’s – and in November he will launch a Seniors Trail on Fridays for anglers 55 and older using the same format.

“I put on the application: Walkers are welcome,” Wynperle said.

 

Kissimmee Bass Series

Sun, Aug 23, 2015

Kissimmee Chain of Lakes

Camp Mack’s River Resort

Charlie Wynperle, 813-382-2187