Maryland West / WV North Division

Raystown Recap

On April 1st, 2006, 39 teams from the Maryland – West division of The Fishers’ of Men National Tournament Trail competed on Raystown Lake for their 1st event of the 2006 circuit season. Raystown Lake is a large, picturesque body of water that runs southward thru the northern Appalachian foothills of western Pennsylvania. Although known worldwide for its big stripers, it has a phenomenal population of big smallmouth and largemouth and offers anglers multiple options of structure and ways to fish to match an anglers preferred style. Normally, one of the nations best “right after ice-out” bodies of water, with the extremely mild winter we had this year, the teams competing would not get to benefit from that as they found the fish in disarray and hard to pin down in the 45-50 degree water temps. Fridays official practice found teams enjoying almost 80 degree weather but Mother Nature’s played an April Fools day trick the day of the tournament with periodic cold rain, blustery winds and uncooperative fish.

As weigh-in commenced at James Creek launch, 14 teams struggled to find any of the 15+ inch fish required while only 4 teams managed a 4 fish limit. Overall, 30 largemouths and 19 smallmouths were weighed in for a total weight of 126.91 pounds, just over a 2 ½ pound average per fish. The pre-dominant pattern was fishing windblown bluffs and adjacent flats with jerkbaits.

Brian Kirk and Brian Shatzer from West Virginia figured out the puzzle of changing conditions as they took 1st place with a total weight of 12 pounds even including the big smallmouth of the tournament at 4.08 pounds. They earned $1318.00 for their days work and would have even earned more with a $500.00 extra bonus from Triton but they had purchased their new Triton just two weeks earlier and had not yet registered for the Gold Points award program. Fishing by himself, having had to have finished his day by 11:00 am upon boating his 4 th fish, per PA regulations, Jay Barber claimed 2nd place with a limit of bronzebacks weighing just over 11 pounds, earning him $630.00. Finishing in 3rd and taking the early lead in the “Rookies of the Year” honors were Ron Dewitt and TJ Riley with 4 largemouths weighing 9.61 pounds while Ken and Josh Walther took the early lead in the Adult / Junior race with their 4th place finish at 9.55 pounds. Placing in 5th place on the strength of the days biggest largemouth, a nice 3.87 pounder, was Woodlands World pro-staffer Todd Rifenbery and his partner, Dave Crawford, 2005 “Art Ferguson” award winner. Their 9.46 pound sack earned them $544.00. Finishing in 6th place was Brian Cosner and John Stosick while Dave Meck and Richard Crawford claimed the final check of the afternoon with their 7th place finish at 8.61 pounds. Rounding out the top ten were Graydon Bonser and Tommy Nelson in 8th, DJ Rogers and James Holloway in 9th and returning National championship qualifiers, Shawn Skobel and Gary Crayton in 10th place.

Special thanks to Pastor Stanley Cordell (and yes, he is related to the famous lure maker, Cotton Cordell) of the Six Mile Run Church of God for providing our Friday evening pre-tournament meeting place. 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 blessed with having the opportunity to hear from none other than The Fishers’ of Men Tournament Trails own National Chaplain, Larry Shine who flew in from Texas to share a powerful but simplistic message of how everyone can gain everlasting life by having a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 8 men claimed that prize from the “tournament of life” while 10 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 four 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 tournaments.

Mt. Storm – April 22nd, 2006

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/PaWest2006.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!