Maryland West / WV North Division

Deep Creek Lake Recap

On August 26th, 40 teams from the Maryland – West division of The Fishers’ of Men National Tournament Trail competed in their 5th and final tournament of the 2006 circuit season on Deep Creek Lake. At stake was the final determination of the Points Champions in this extremely competitive field as well as selection of the teams who would qualify to make the East Regional Championships to be held later this fall on Lake Erie out of Presque Isle Bay.

Special thanks to Pastor Wally Weeks and his entire staff from Pleasant View Baptist Church as they did a great job in providing our free Friday night meal of lasagna, salads, breads and some awesome homemade desserts! 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, pre-tournament planning, door prizes and powerful testimony. We were especially blessed and lucky as Mike Sides, director of the NC – Piedmont and NC – Foothills division was our featured speaker. He mixed a combination of humor, personal stories and a profound insight into looking at Jesus and the parables he told in comparison to all of us as tournament fisherman. Two individuals heard the nuances of this special message as they accepted Jesus Christ as their savior while 8 other individuals recommitted to do more with their faith in God and follow Jesus in all areas of their lives!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our national sponsors: Triton Boats, Mercury Outboards, Strike King Lure Company, Kistler Custom Fishing Rods, Solar Bat, SOSpenders, Diamond Cut Jeans, Gary Yamamoto, Spike-It, Marshall’s Marine, Castrol, Motor Guide, Keel Shield, Shakespeare, Stanley Jigs, Lowrance, River Bottom Lures, Dual Pro Chargers, Jones Chevrolet, T&H Marine, Keep Alive Oxygen Infuser, Deka Marine Master Batteries, Jacob’s Glass, FishingWorld.com, X-Tools, Buckeye Lures, All-Terrain Tackle, Hot Rods Marine Care, Bass RX and Hooah Energy Bars and Drinks.

The Maryland - West division is blessed to have the following regional divisional sponsors:

Sport Fishing Ventures Unlimited and its non-profit charitable giving foundation, Fishing Dreams Unlimited where every FOM Member in the nation gets “members only” treatment, discounts and special exclusive items and apparel ( http://sfvu.com/sfvustore/FOMdiscount.htm ). Call Brian at one of the nations largest and finest independent tackle dealers, Woodlands World (866-472-6969) and if you present your FOM membership card at checkout, you will get 15% off everything in the store (Except for firearms and optics). Call Chad at Halls Marine (570-546-2310) for your new Triton bass boat, whether it is fiberglass or aluminum. These guys rank as one of the nations premier dealerships and when you meet and talk with Chad and his staff, you will immediately know why! Ask him for the special Fishers’ of Men discount on your next Triton boat purchase.

We also want to thank Joe at Secret Weapon Spinnerbaits and Buzzbaits, Trey at Kistler Custom Rods, Gary at Solar Bat Polarized Sunglasses, Troy at Mizmo Tubes, Randy at RoboWorm Finesse Handpoured Soft Plastics, Sam at Penetrator Slick Coated Tungsten Weights, Scott at Hammerhead Hair Jigs, Eric at Scent-Tec, the makers of “Speedy Reel”, Paul at McCoy Line, Steve at All Terrain Tackle Jigs and the National Promotions Team at Choice Hotels and Cracker Barrel restaurants, all of which help support your division locally. No tournament circuit can make it without great volunteers so I want to pass on my gratitude to Robbie Shrout who accepted the responsibility of being the assistant director this year as well as Donna Dewitt and Becky Harvey who always do such a great job at weigh-in with our paperwork. Finally, thanks to Bev and Sharon at Prize Webworks for their assistance in making our website such a great tool for you, the members!

Saturday morning, conditions were ideal, something this division hasn’t seen yet in the past two years with horrendous luck with horrible weather and / or water conditions. The talented group of anglers put it all together as over 66% of the field managed 5 fish limits while only 3 teams “zeroed” for the day on finding 12 inch plus bass. A total of 164 fish, 91 largemouth and 73 bronzebacks, weighing in at 286 pounds were brought to the scales.

Taking first with 14.63 pounds, all largemouth, was perennial favorites on Deep Creek, Mike Miller and Darin Winters. For their days work, they took home over $1250.00! Placing second, and always consistently in the money on this body of water, Tony Slovak and Bret Winegardner bagged just over 12 pounds to collect $746.00. Brian Kirk and Brian Shatzer claimed 3rd place with 11.32 pounds while Rex Johnsonbaugh and Todd Giarth took 4th place on the strength of the biggest smallmouth of the day at 2.72 pounds. Rounding out the top 5 places at 10.74 pounds was Milt Brown and Derrick Hughes.

Additional teams earning checks were Gary Crayton and Shawn Skobel for 6th, Ryan Harmon and Jim Merical for 7th and by virtue of their 8th place weight of 10.41 pounds at this event, not only did Bruce Shives and Kenneth Mills win $160.00, they also were crowned the 2006 Maryland – West Points Champions, earning them $1040.00 in additional prize money. They will also earn a free entry into the National Championships to be held next spring. These guys were the model of consistency, finishing in the money at every tournament this year and we all wish them the best of luck as they represent their division in May on Lake Murray.

Winning $252.00 for catching the biggest largemouth of the day at 3.81 pounds was Todd Rifenbery and Dave Crawford.

For the 2006 circuit year, this division caught 706 bass for a total weight of just over 1190 pounds all the while splitting just under $24,000 in prize money thru 22 different teams. Winning the coveted “Rookie of the Year” award was Ron Dewitt and TJ Riley, all the more impressive considering they were the only team to manage a limit in each of the 5 tournament events of this circuit year. For the 2 nd year in a row, Matt and Tim Ross are the divisions Adult / Junior highest finishing team while Raymond Grimes and Michael Burnside win the “Comeback Team of the Year”. Unfortunately, there was no team qualified to win the Adult Guy / Gal Team of the Year.

Teams earning the right to represent Maryland – West at the 2006 East Regional Championships are as follows:

978 Points – 46.23 Pounds – Mills / Shives
968 Points – 43.98 Pounds – Skobel / Crayton
958 Points – 43.76 Pounds – Dewitt / Riley
950 Points – 39.30 Pounds – Harmon / Merical
944 Points – 38.53 Pounds – Weese / Weese
938 Points – 35.74 Pounds – Brown / Hughes
935 Points – 38.99 Pounds – Miller / Winters
929 Points – 39.20 Pounds – Cosner / Stosick
925 Points – 33.18 Pounds – Rifenbery / Crawford
918 Points – 37.43 Pounds – Whoolery / Barber
918 Points – 31.23 Pounds – Plessinger / Beckman
917 Points – 31.97 Pounds – Harvey / Harvey
915 Points – 37.42 Pounds – Kirk / Shatzer
912 Points – 31.45 Pounds – Nicholson / Garner
912 Points – 31.34 Pounds – Burnside / Grimes
907 Points – 29.60 Pounds – Davis / Davis
898 Points – 30.71 Pounds – Bonser / Nelson
893 Points – 26.60 Pounds – Brewer / Brewer
890 Points – 25.33 Pounds – Duvall / Courtney
878 Points – 22.76 Pounds – Bittinger / Ketterman
877 Points – 19.36 Pounds – Stark / Gillespie – Divisional Growth Slot
873 Points – 22.80 Pounds – Ross / Ross – Highest Finishing Adult / Junior Team

In addition, 5 teams earned slots by virtue of their finish at the RQT event:
Johnsonbaugh / Giarth
Solties / Mincin
Merchant / Swink
Bowsher / Leeson
Merkel / Merkel

For a complete listing of all 56 teams and where they finally finished in the YTD standings, visit http://www.sfvu.com/fishersofmen/MDwest/YTDStandings2006.htm

For 2007, due to the reality that this division is made up of an even split of 33% Maryland West members, 33% Northern West Virginia members and 33% Southwestern PA members, we will be closing down the PA – West division and including them in with all the teams from the 2006 MD West division to form a new 2007 division called NORTH APPALACHIAN. All members had a vote and it was decided that the division will fish the following schedule: (Permit Pending)

April 28 th, 2007 – Mt. Storm
May 19 th, 2007 – Cheat Lake
June 16 th, 2007 – Deep Creek Lake
July 7 th, 2007 – Lake Erie / Presque Isle Bay

We are still working on getting Raystown on the schedule, either in early April or August.

For a complete finalized schedule, keep watching at http://www.sfvu.com/fishersofmen

In addition, new for 2007, FOMNTT will conduct separate tournament events for Adult / Junior teams ONLY under a series called “Legacy” in which they will fish two events to make a separate Adult / Junior Only National Championship scheduled for July 25th – 28th, 2007.