Quick – name the best fishery in America for numbers of bass. Name one where you can catch the fish of a lifetime. Same fishery? Not likely, but Florida’s St Johns River is offering the best of both worlds right now.

“I’ve been doing this for over 25 years,” said tournament director Mike Oglesbee. “Usually you can figure that a third of your boats are going to weigh fish. Today we had 151 boats. 126 of them weighed fish, and most of them had a limit. That’s well over ¾ of the field.”

Actually, that’s better than 80% of the field that weighed fish. Even when averaged with the zeroes, it equals a catch rate of 4.817 bass per boat in the 2015 NEFAR bass tournament to benefit Haven Hospice.

How do we know about these numbers? Oglesbee, who runs the OGS Tournament Trail, pays prize money to, not only the top finishers, but also what’s known as the ‘Average Joes’ – those whose catch most closely matches the statistical average for the day.

It’s a fun tournament. It pays well. It supports a truly worthy cause.

The NEFAR also served as a double-qualifier. Those who fish the Xtreme Bass Series or OGS Trails were allowed to count this event toward their points for the season. Xtreme Director Mike Blocher was on hand to help with the paperwork for the NEFAR tourney and to witness many of his anglers with many big bass.

“OGS Tournament Trails and Team Fishing Series has joined with the well-known Xtreme Bass Series to create a very powerful tournament Trail,” said Oglesbee of the collaboration. “All parties, Gene Crossway, Mike Blocker and yours truly, bring a little something to the table.  With a combined tournament experience approaching 50 years, we have agreed to work together to improve tournament fishing as a whole.”

The combined efforts of the tournament organizations helped to improve an already outstanding charitable event.

NEFAR stands for Northeast Florida Association of Realtors. The group has hosted a tournament each spring for 12 years now, In the process they’ve donated $250,000 to Haven Hospice in Palatka, Fla.

And NEFAR holds their tourney at a peak time on the St Johns. The whole river is on fire with everything from bedding bass to topwater fish and offshore bass.

Wayne Martin caught the biggest bass of the day at 8.84 pounds by slow-rolling a spinnerbait past a channel marker. How’s that for an offshore bite?

Lots of bass busted toads that flapped over endless eelgrass flats which sprawl from Lake George north until brackish water extinguishes them in Clay County.

And spawning bass were caught as far south as Astor, possibly beyond.

Yes, this is the same St Johns that intimidates Elite Series anglers with its tidal fluctuations and strange habits.

As with any other woman, your relationship with the river will depend greatly upon timing more so than on any particular thing you do.

She loves us in April. The honey moon is not over in May. With the huge Wolfson tournament coming up in mid-May, you need to make plans to visit and fish. It’s going to be a good spring on the big river.

Again, you can catch them numerous ways, but topwater is the most fun and offers the best shot at a trophy most days. Bring a big bag of Strike King Rage toads or similar and stay on the outside edges of eelgrass points. And stay in moving water.

If the tide isn’t moving, you need to.

As for results of the big NEFAR tourney (put this on next year’s calendar and join the fun!):

 Larry Cahan and his dad, David Cahan won $3,000 with 21.57 pounds.

The Cahans used a variety of lures in a variety of spots. Their advice, “Follow the moving water. That’s the most important thing. Better not be in the dead tide; you’ll be in trouble.

“We caught our 2 biggest fish right here in sight of Palatka and from there we burned all the gas out of the boat, running as far as the north end of Lake George,” said Larry, noting that David caught the biggest on a Devil’s Horse plug.

After the topwater action slowed, the Cahans rounded out their catch with soft plastics fished a number of ways from Carolina rigs to weightless trick worms.

Allen Hopper and Kerry Davis placed 2^nd with 20.83 pounds.

Kriss Kadlek and Matt Rittman were 3^rd with 20.58 pounds.

Scott Bullard and Tracy Hurst placed 4^th with 19.37 pounds.

Tony Haymon and Jeffery Smith round out the Top 5 with 18.23.

Look for video coverage on AnglersChannel.com and the Progressive Bass Wrap Up TV Show.