On April 24th, 2010, eleven teams from the Adult / Junior Mid-Atlantic Legacy division of The Fishers’ of Men National Tournament Trail competed on the Tidal Flats of the Susquehanna River basin which dumps into the Chesapeake Bay, launching out of Tydings Marina in beautiful Havre de Grace, Maryland. This fishery consistently ranks as one of the top 10 destinations in the U.S. for quality bass fishing, in both numbers and size and although it sometimes shows the effects from the immense tournament pressure it receives, it still continues to pump out quality fish!
Graced with beautiful weather and light winds, most teams raced to adjacent rivers like the Sassafras, Northeast, Elk and Bohemia, looking for pre-spawn and spawning largemouth bass. A few teams even tried for the big smallies far up the Susquehanna River but with little current flow, that proved to be a tough option. Despite post-cold front conditions, our field of talented young anglers and parents managed to catch 22 fifteen inch plus largemouth bass for a total weight of just over 66 pounds! At a 3 pound average, with many being the “buck” bass, due to the fact that were suffering from a 5-10 degree water temperature drop since earlier last week, two teams managed 5 fish limits with all the teams reporting having caught many twelve to fourteen inch “throwbacks”, a tough thing to do when most weigh over 2 pounds! Most teams reporting catching fish in typical early spring fashion, on everything from rattletraps and spinnerbaits over the grass to jigs and soft plastics around docks and wood.
Taking 1st place and just under $300 prize money was Ken and Nigel McFarland, with 15.68 pounds! Nigel also helped the cause by catching 1 or more of the limit bass so he won the “13 & Over Tournament within the Tournament” adding an extra $40.00 to his wallet! With the only other 5 fish limit, Rob and Mason Hager took 2nd place and a $200 payday with just over 13 pounds and by virtue of the fact that Mason caught their two biggest bass, he also pocketed $40.00 for his piggy bank by winning the “12 and Under Tournament within a Tournament”. John and Johnny Duarte claimed the last check with their third place weight of 7.70 pounds.
Just finishing out of the money was Richard and Ritchie Martin, taking 4th place with just under 7 pounds while Ken Molz and Wyatt Danser finished in 5th place by virtue of their one keeper bass, the largest of the tournament at 6.38 pounds! Finishing in 6th with two bass in their bag, one being the 2nd biggest bass of the tournament at 4.66 pounds, were Dan and Cody Downer.
|
Special thanks to The Rufenacht Family and Prince of Peace Baptist Church for hosting our Friday night free dinner meeting. 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 fellowship, great door prizes, an awesome meal of fried chicken, pizza, side salads plus some awesome desserts. After going thru pre-tournament planning, Ian Godwin, our tournament director, shared with the Junior’s how God can be your best friend, guardian angel, white knight in shining armor and ultimate savior for eternity, giving hope to even the parents and 30 guests in the room, so much so that 8 individuals accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior while 3 others rose to the challenge to do more with their faith, so much so that they rededicated themselves to a renewed commitment to return to God and follow Jesus in all areas of their lives!
There is just one event, June 5th, left in the 2010 schedule for the Mid-Atlantic Legacy division and that means you still have plenty of time to make the big National Championship being held July 23rd & 24th on Lake Guntersville in Alabama. With close to 250 adult / junior only teams competing, it looks to be both a fun family event as well as a once in a lifetime experience for the kids, not to mention the chance at over $50,000 in cash and prizes awarded including a brand new Triton / Mercury bass boat package.
(For more information, make sure to visit http://www.sfvu.com/fishersofmen or http://www.fomntt.com or call the FOM Area Tournament Director at 410-256-2966 or e-mail him at igodwin@sfvu.com)
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the fine companies that make Fishers of Men possible; Primary: Triton Boats, Mercury, Strike King Lure Company, Markel American Insurance, Abu Garcia, Power-Pole, Nester Hosiery. Presenting; Marshall’s Marine of Lake City SC, Keelshield, Solar Bat, Kistler Custom Fishing Rods, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Berkley, Lowrance. Official: Buckeye Lures, Jacobs Glass, Outdoor Specialty Products (Rejuvenate), Dual Pro Chargers, MotorGuide, Full Grace Gospel Church, Mizmo Bait Company, Stanley Jigs, Spike-It, Logan Fire Apparatus, T&H Marine, and Keep Alive Oxygen Infusers.
The Mid-Atlantic Team Series division is blessed to have the following divisional sponsors, The SFVU Business Group and its non-profit charitable giving foundation, Fishing Dreams Unlimited. www.FISHERMENSHEAVEN.com where every FOM Member in the nation gets “members only” discounts and special exclusive items and apparel ( http://sfvu.com/shop/FOMdiscount.htm ). We also want to thank Trey at Kistler Custom Rods, Gary at Solar Bat Polarized Sunglasses, Jimmy at Mizmo Tubes, Randy at RoboWorm, Joe at Secret Weapon Spinnerbaits and Buzzbaits, Andy at JC’s Lures and Tungsten Weights, Mike and Steve at McCoy Line, Kerry at the TTI-Blakemore Fishing Group, Drew at Maximum Series Handpoured Soft Plastics, Rob at Luckycraft, Steve at All Terrain Tackle Jigs, Brian at Plano Tackle Boxes, Kent at NetBait and the National Promotions Team at Choice Hotels, Chic-Fil-A and Cracker Barrel restaurants, all of which help support your division locally. A special note of appreciation to Brad Finch with Finch Services, your source for your next John Deere product as well as Jim Herr of Herr’s Snacks. In addition, special thanks to Sharon and Bev from Prize Webworks for the great job they do with our website and Barbara from In-Stitches for the beautiful custom apparel and hats. All of these great Christian businessmen and women lead by example as they help support our ministry and I would ask that you consider supporting them with your next purchase.
Finally, no tournament circuit can make it without great volunteers and we desperately need more for this division, please give prayerful consideration to how you might serve? I want to pass on my gratitude to Tom and Jimmy Rufenacht as well as Mimi Molz for volunteering to help with this event!
|
