Maryland Division Adult Jr Legacy Series Fishing Tournaments

Upper Chesapeake Bay Recap

Kicking off our 2nd season with the “Adult / Junior Only” Legacy Series events presented by The Fishers of Men National Tournament Trail, for the Maryland division, on May 10th, 2008, we had 13 teams compete on the Upper Chesapeake Bay launching out of Mariner Point Park. The weather was cold and rainy and tides were screwed up with prevailing winds and altering moon phases but all the kids handled it great despite the tough fishing. Only two teams caught 5 fish limits at 15 inches or better, with the entire field managing just 20 largemouths for a total weight of just over 48 pounds.

Kids and adults reported catching fish north to south, on everything from rattletraps and spinnerbaits over the grass to jigs and soft plastics off docks and wood laydowns.

John and Johnny Duarte placed first with their 15.11 pound sack which included the biggest bass of the tournament at 4.20 pounds. They pocketed $350.00 with their win including extra incentive money kicked in by The SFVU Business Group as well as North Harford Collision Center. With the only other 5 bass limit, Rob and Mason Hager, competing as one of our Under 9 teams, took second place with 11.54 pounds. Placing third was Bill and Billy Ragan with 7.76 pounds while Buz Billings and Kody Randlett took the final check with a 4th place weight of 3.70 pounds. Rounding out the top 5 was Jack Whisted and Jeremiah Lee with 2 bass weighing in at 3.54 pounds. A special thanks to Jack for stepping out as a volunteer to take a child out on the water, a true winner for what the Legacy division should be all about!

Managing to catch the 2nd biggest largemouth of the day at 2.81 pounds was Wayne Pupa and Ethan Levine!

I want to personally express my gratitude to all the parents who understood the importance of what the Legacy Division stands for, took the time away from their normal competitive fishing and made the quality decision to take their youngsters fishing – I know it made a huge impact, both on the kids as well as the volunteers as well as the on-looking by-standers and I believe you will see huge benefits now and far into the future, for some, rewards for eternity!
We are dedicated to continuing this “Legacy” and therefore watch for the 2nd divisional “Adult / Junior Only” event coming up in June on Deep Creek Lake as well as the North National Championships in August of 2008. All the information for these upcoming events can be found at our national website www.FOMNTT.com under the Schedules tab or for more detailed information, at http://www.sfvu.com/tournament/index.htm and then going to the Legacy Tournament Adult / Junior Only Series.

Thanks to Prince of Peace Baptist as well as The Rufenacht Family for providing our meeting location, meal as well as inspirational message. As is always the case with any Fishers’ of Men event, we were excited about the opportunity to gather together for an awesome night of food, fellowship, pre-tournament planning, door prizes and powerful testimony.  A special thanks to the pastor who presented a great message relating the powerful correlation between Jesus selecting fishermen as followers and how we can work within our own lives to carry on that “Great Commission”! Three individuals took heed to the message, proclaiming a renewed commitment to return to God and follow Jesus in all areas of their lives!

We would like to thank our divisional sponsors for their support, The SFVU Business Group and its non-profit charitable giving foundation, Fishing Dreams Unlimited. Fishermens Heaven where every FOM Member in the nation gets “members only” special treatment, great discounts and access to exclusive product and apparel from Christian manufacturers. A special thanks to Buz at North Harford Collision Center for helping to fund our Under 9 / Under 12 incentives as well as Sharon and Bev from Prize Webworks for the great job they do with our website and Nancy from Nandel Graphics for the beautiful custom apparel and hats. Special thanks to The Lee Family and Mimi Molz for helping with set-up and weigh-in.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our primary national sponsors: Triton Boats www.tritonboats.com (from my personal testimony, the finest boats ever made!), Mercury Outboards  www.mercurymarine.com, Strike King Lure Company www.strikeking.com and Shakespeare.

We also want to thank Trey at Kistler Rods, Gary at Solar Bat Polarized Sunglasses, Troy at Mizmo Tubes and Soft Plastics, Joe at Secret Weapon Spinnerbaits and Buzzbaits, Randy at RoboWorm Finesse Handpoured Soft Plastics, Sam at Penetrator Slick Coated Tungsten Weights, Mike and Steve at McCoy Line, Steve at All-Terrain Jigs, Eric at Scent-Tec, Andy at JC’s Lures, Kerry at TTI-Blakemore and the National Promotions Team at Choice Hotels and Cracker Barrel restaurants, all of which help support your division locally.

We would also like to thank our other National Legacy Sponsors which include: Kistler Rods, Solar Bat Polarized Sunglasses, Yamamoto Soft Plastics, Pflueger, X-Tools and Reese Marine.