Maryland West Division

Youghienny Reservoir Recap

On July 16th, 2005, we had 27 teams finish out the season for the 2005 Maryland – West division of The Fishers’ of Men National Tournament Trail as they competed on the Youghienny Reservoir. This body of water borders Maryland and Pennsylvania as it snakes north to south through the upper Appalachians as a winding highlands river system featuring both quality smallmouth and largemouth. All but two teams caught at least one legal 12+ inch bass with six recording 5 fish limits. In total, 78 fish were brought to the scales with just over 1/3rd of them largemouth. The fields total weight of bass was 142.63 pounds with fish being caught everywhere on a number of techniques ranging from jigs to deeper Carolina rigs to crankbaits to topwaters fished early.

We were truly honored as our regional sponsor, Woodlands World allowed us to utilize their beautiful facility to have a drive-by weigh-in where the crowds could see each individual team as they pulled their days catch from the livewells as our tournament emcee gave commentary to the group of fans as each team brought their fish to the scales, hoping to have enough to place or at least to earn a spot at the 2005 East Regional Championships to be held October 14th and 15th , 2005 on Kerr Reservoir outside Clarksville, Virginia.

As the suspense built as well as the crowds frenzied anticipation, Terry and Brad Weese ended all doubts as the final team to weigh-in, capturing 1st place with their 16.52 pound bag bolstered by the second biggest bass of the day at 3.77 pounds. By virtue of their strong finish, they wrapped up the 2005 Points Championship for Maryland – West. They were the only team to manage a 5 fish limit in each of the circuit seasons events as their 25 fish at just under 50 pounds for the year earned them over $3700.00 for the year including an invitation to The Fishers’ of Men Tournament Trail’s National Championship to be held February 7-11th, 2006. The entire membership extends their congratulations on a great year and a well deserved honor as this father / son team definitely exemplified what being “true” fishers’ of men is all about!

Claiming 2nd place money of $564.00 with their 12.06 pound sack was the team of Shawn Skobel and Gary Crayton. Third place went to SFVU Pro-Staff member Marlon Whoolery and his partner Jay Barber while 4th place went to 2004’s “Art Ferguson” award winner, Dave Crawford and his rookie partner, Mike Custer. Earning the final check for the day with their 5th place finishing weight of 8.18 pounds was Mike Miller and Daron Winters. Finishing one out of the money in 6th place was Tony Slovak fishing by himself while 7th place went to Herb Fazenbaker and Jason Hardesty. Claiming the 8th position was Dan Mincin and Dave Solties while Kenneth Mills and Bruce Shives used their 9th place finish to claim the runner-up position in the 2005 overall points standings. Rounding out the top 10 on the strength of the tournament’s biggest bass, a beautiful 3.78 pound smallmouth was the team of J.D. Shearer and John Mongelluzzo.

We are excited to offer the following teams invitations to the big 2005 East Regional Championships based on their performances this year, after finishing a season where 35 teams split over $15,249.00 as they weighed-in 493 bass for 731.82 pounds thru 5 qualifying events:

(click on the pictures
to view details)

We are also excited to announce the 2006 schedule for the MD West / WV North division as the following:

Raystown Lake – April 1st, 2006
Mount Storm – April 29th , 2006
Cheat Lake – May 20th, 2006
Youghienny Reservoir – June 17th, 2006
Deep Creek Lake (RQT) – July 22nd, 2006

(Dates tentative until permit approval or due to major unforeseen conflict, for more information visit http://www.sfvu.com/fishersofmen/index.htm or http://www.fomntt.com or call the FOM Area Tournament Director at 410-256-2966 or e-mail him at ian@fomntt.com)

Special thanks to Brian Thompson of Woodlands World and all their staff for providing their support throughout 2005, their 15% discount for every Fishers’ of Men National Tournament Trail member and for providing our season ending Friday evening pre-tournament meeting place as well as food. Every team member and guest enjoyed an awesome and free meal of toasted Italian Hoagies and crisp fries. 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. It was “member’s night” as a number of teams gave quick sound bites to what they enjoyed about fishing with FOM as well as personal testimony as to how this organization has affected their lives from an eternal standpoint. Seven individuals in the crowd indicated a personal desire to renew a stronger commitment to return to God and follow Jesus Christ in all areas of their lives as most of our members did through out 2005!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our primary national sponsors: Triton Boats, Mercury Outboards, Strike King Lure Company, Kistler Custom Fishing Rods and Presnell Plantation Services.

The Pennsylvania - West division is blessed to have the following regional divisional sponsors: Call Brian, Craig or Brad 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 (except firearms and related 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. A special note of thanks to Melissa at Sport Fishing Ventures Unlimited ( SFVU ) http://www.sfvu.com, as well as Jim Herr of Herr’s Snacks, Trey at Kistler Custom Rods, Gary at Solar Bat Polarized Sunglasses, Troy at Mizmo Tubes and Lizards, Tom at RoboWorm Finesse Handpours, Sam at Penetrator Slick Coated Tungsten Weights, Joe at Secret Weapon Spinnerbaits and Buzzbaits and the National Promotions Team at Cracker Barrel Restaurants and Choice Hotels.