Maryland West / WV North Division

Mount Storm Lake Recap

On April 22nd, 2006, amidst a deluge of pouring rain, 46 teams from the Maryland – West division of The Fishers’ of Men National Tournament Trail competed on Mt. Storm Lake for their 2nd event of the 2006 circuit season. This power plant lake, near Davis, West Virginia, sits literally at the very top of the highest point in the Appalachian Mountains but offers some extraordinary mixed bag fishing. True to its name, we have rarely been on this body of water when we did not incur just about every weather condition from dense fog following our Friday night meeting to intense rain the morning of the launch. Despite the inclement conditions, every team but two caught at least one 12+ inch keeper bass with over 65% of the field reporting having caught multiple limits! Fish were being caught on just about every lure type in the 60-65 degree water temperatures as the field managed a phenomenal 190 bass weighing a total of just over 315 pounds. Overall, 112 largemouths and 78 smallmouths were weighed in for an average weight of 1.65 pounds per fish.

Repeating from last years win on this water, Terry and Brad Weese again take 1st place with 11.71 pounds which included a tie for biggest largemouth at 3.13 pounds making their earnings for the day 1 dollar short of $1500.00, not to mention the extra $500.00 they will receive from Triton Boats for winning this tournament as a registered Triton Gold Points owner! 2000.00 dollars for a rainy Saturday, makes it all worth it, don’t you think?!?!?

Always consistent, Bruce Shives and Kenny Mills place second with the only other bag over 11 pounds, winning just shy of $800.00. Coming in third place and taking over the early YTD points lead was the team of Todd Rifenbery, Woodlands World pro-staff member, and Dave Crawford, 2005 “Art Ferguson” award winner, with their sack of 3 largemouth and 2 bronzebacks weighing in at 10.34 pounds. Fresh off their National Championship money finish, Shawn Skobel and Gary Crayton finished 4th here at Mt. Storm, earning a check just shy of $500.00. Taking the 5th place check with their weight of 10.14 pounds was Randy Brooks and Al Hicks while Ron Dewitt and TJ Riley maintained their early lead in the “Rookies of the Year” honors race with their 6th place tie with David Grimes and Joey Braham, both teams weighing in 10.13 pounds. David Grimes was also involved in the tie for biggest largemouth, again at 3.13 pounds boosting their check total to just over $400.00 for the day. Bolstered by the biggest smallmouth of the day at 2.97 pounds, Milt Brown and Derrick Hughes earn $436.00 for their 8th place finish while Mike Miller and Daron Winters earn the final check with their 9th place finish at 9.61 pounds. Rounding out the top ten and finishing just outside the money was newcomer team, Ed Clopper and Anthony Taylor.

Special thanks to our divisions’ new chaplain, DJ Rogers and his bible study group for preparing our meal and to the Davis Volunteer Fire Department for allowing us to rent their nice banquet hall. 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. Seeing as there have been so many new teams and members and family this year, our divisional director decided to share his personal testimony of how he turned from God at an early age only to have God accept him back at 26. He challenged those who do not know Christ as their living God, he challenged those who have known him but “fallen off the wagon” and he challenged those who know Jesus as their Savior to take that next step of faith, to strengthen the relationship, to build on their God given spiritual strengths to help others to know him and seek him further! 1 individual accepted that challenge and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior while 14 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 are three events left in the 2006 schedule for the WV North / MD - West division schedule AND that means you still have plenty of time to make the big East Regional Championships which you do not want to miss this year as their will be over $35,000 in cash and prizes awarded including a brand new Triton / Mercury bass boat package. I cannot emphasize how important it is to make this event and all you have to do to be eligible is to have fished in at least 3 of the 5 MD-West / WV North tournaments.

Cheat Lake – May 13th, 2006
Youghiogheny Reservoir – July 15th, 2006
Deep Creek Lake – August 26th, 2006

(For more information, make sure to visit http://www.sfvu.com/fishersofmen/MarylandWest2006.htm or http://www.fomntt.com or call the FOM Area Tournament Director at 410-256-2966 or e-mail him at igodwin@fomntt.com )

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 or Craig 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” 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!