Mid-Atlantic Division

Potomac River Recap

On May 5th, 2007, launching within minutes of our nations capital, 42 teams from the Mid-Atlantic division of The Fishers’ of Men National Tournament Trail competed on the famous tidal waterways of the Lower Potomac River. This fishery consistently ranks as one of the top 10 destinations in the U.S. for quality bass fishing, in both numbers and size although the immense tournament pressure is definitely starting to show its effects. Having just missed the full moon phase by 3 days, in which the week prior many 27+ pound bags were reported to have been weighed in, our field of talented anglers still managed to catch 138 fifteen inch plus largemouth bass for a total weight of just under 403 pounds! A testament to the quality of the fish was that all but a few had already “spawned out” creating havoc amongst anglers trying to locate the better quality females who had just left the beds. Teams that figured that out early reported having caught their fish in typical early post spawn locations throughout the northern and southern ends of the river system. Most fish were caught on jigs, soft plastics and crankbaits. Weather early was partly cloudy and in the high 60’s with tides high by 10:00am but by weigh-in time, temperatures had fallen 15 degrees and rain deluged our anglers and crowd at Smallwood State Park.

Winning close to $1400 via their 5 fish bag that weighed in at 20.75 pounds was the team of Paul Wiley and Jon Crans. Anchoring that sack was the big bass of the tournament at 6.58 pounds. This win, in combination with their 2nd place finish on the “Flats” last month, puts these guys in 1st place for the coveted Divisional Points Championship. ( A special thanks to the team of Rob Hager and Joe Tomaloff who took the time out of their fishing to assist this team with their breakdown and keeping perfectly within the rules, ferried there fish in so that they could make the weigh-in on time. )

Placing 2nd out of their beautiful Triton bass boat with 20.68 pounds was the father / son team of Buz and Buzzy Billings while brothers, David and John Wicklein finished 3rd with the only other 20 pound plus sack of the day. By virtue of catching the 2nd biggest bass of the tournament at 6.47 pounds, Josh Kreider and Jeff Fleischut claimed $600.00 for their 4th place finish. Coming in 5th place was Randy Follmer, fresh off his win with his son on the Upper Bay one week earlier thru the FOM New Jersey division along with Ken Ansbach cashed in just under $500.00 for their 17.37 pounds of bass. By virtue of their 6th place finish, Charles Tawney and George Fortner moved up the standings in their race for Rookies of the Year while Roy Bolling and Al Hogan used their 7th place finish to edge even closer to putting themselves in great shape to win the divisional points race. Claiming the final check for their 8th place finish was John Smith and Jim Cammarata on the strength of their 15.74 pound five bass limit. Scott Shafer and Bob Brody, newcomers to our circuit, finished in the unfortunate position of “one out of the money” in 9th place while brothers Brian and Eric McNulty rounded out the top ten with their weight of 15.21 pounds.

Special thanks to Pastor Tim Bean and his staff, our great hosts at Marbury Baptist Church, who have always been our most loyal supporters in the ministry arena. 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, a great meal of baked ham with all the fix’ins, pre-tournament planning, door prizes and powerful testimony.  We were blessed with a great message from Andy Lee who traveled in from Indiana to challenge the 94 in attendance with not just accepting Jesus Christ as their savior but for all of us to realize the true meaning of accepting the Kingdom of God as our own here on earth, while we are blessed to be here, living and working towards the time we will join Christ in heaven! 6 individuals accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior 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 three events left in the 2007 schedule for the Mid-Atlantic 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 these next events and all you have to do to be eligible is to have fished in at least 3 of the 5 Mid-Atlantic tournaments.

Deep Creek Lake – June 16th, 2007
Upper Bay North – July 21st, 2007
Upper Bay South – August 25th, 2007

(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@fomntt.com )

We would like to personally thank Dave Joy and John Munday as well as our team of volunteers for this event. Another big thanks to Patrick Bright from Smallwood State Park, for making use of his facility such a flawless success.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our primary national sponsors: Triton Boats www.tritonboats.com (from my personal testimony, the finest boats ever made!), Mercury Outboards  www.mercurymarine.com, Strike King Lure Company www.strikeking.com and Shakespeare.

We would like to thank our divisional sponsors, Sport Fishing Ventures Unlimited and its non-profit charitable giving foundation, Fishing Dreams Unlimited where every Fishers of Men angler nationwide gets “members only” treatment, discounts and a chance to support Christian manufacturers when they buy their fishing items and apparel ( http://sfvu.com/sfvustore/FOMdiscount.htm ). Call Bill at one of the nations largest and finest independent tackle dealers, Anglers Paradise (877-702-2500) and if you present your FOM membership card at checkout, you will get 10% off everything in his store. A special note of thanks to Brad Finch with Finch Services, your source for your next John Deere product as well as Jim Herr of Herr’s Snacks. All of these great local Christian businessman lead by example as they help support our ministry and I would ask that you consider supporting them with your next purchase. In addition, special thanks to Sharon and Bev from Prize Webworks for the great job they do with our website and Nancy from Nandel Graphics for the beautiful custom apparel and hats.

We also want to thank Trey at Kistler Rods, Gary at Solar Bat Polarized Sunglasses, Troy at Mizmo Tubes and Soft Plastics, Joe at Secret Weapon Spinnerbaits and Buzzbaits, Randy at RoboWorm Finesse Handpoured Soft Plastics, Sam at Penetrator Slick Coated Tungsten Weights, Pat at McCoy Line, Steve at All-Terrain Jigs, Eric at Scent-Tec, Keith at Hammerhead Hair Jigs, Kerry at TTI-Blakemore and the National Promotions Team at Choice Hotels and Cracker Barrel restaurants, all of which help support your division locally.

We would also like to thank our other National Sponsors which include: Lowrance, Sospenders, Keelshield, Solar Bat Polarized Sunglasses, Yamamoto, Marshall’s Marine, Kistler Rods, Spike-It Bait Company Motor Guide, Stanley Jigs, Dual Pro Chargers, Deka Marine Master Batteries, All-Terrain Tackle, Jacob’s Glass, Buckeye Lures, Poor Boys Baits, Bass Rx and Keep Alive Oxygen Infusors.