North Appalachian Division

Mount Storm Lake Recap

On April 19th, kicking off the 2008 circuit season for the North Appalachian division, 32 teams from The Fishers’ of Men National Tournament Trail competed on Mt. Storm Lake. 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 for being over 3000 feet above sea level. In a rare occurrence, Mt. Storm did not live up to its name as the teams were greeted with mild temperatures and calm weather as they launched out at safelight in search of 12+ inch keeper bass. Unlike the years in the past, still showing the devastating effects of last autumn’s fish kill, fish were hard to come by as only 4 teams managed a 5 bass limit and the entire field caught just 74 bass for a 95.85 pound total. Fish were reported being caught on just about every lure type in the 60-65 degree water temperatures as the field managed to “lure” in 33 largemouth’s and 41 smallmouth’s for an average weight of 1.29 pounds.  

Fresh off of competing at the National Championship, Shawn Skobel and Gary Crayton kicked off their run to return to next year’s championship by winning with 5 smallmouths for 6.67 pounds. Despite the small winning weight, their paycheck was anything but tiny as they collected $1200.00 for their victory!

2007 divisional point’s champions, Danny Adams and Aron Wagner picked up right where they left off as they remained the model of consistency by placing 2nd with just 4 fish including the big smallmouth of the tournament at 2.29 pounds. For their efforts, they collected over $820.00! Taking 3rd place as the highest finishing Triton owner was the father / son team of Chuck and Brian Harvey with a mixed bag limit weighing in at 6.27 pounds worth $500.00. Placing in 4th place, despite not having any trolling motor for most of the day, with 5 largemouth weighing 5.92 pounds, was Scott Lycliter and Steven Cooper Jr. Rounding out the top five was the always tough team of Ernie and Ken Pate from north of Pittsburgh who managed the only other 5 bass limit which weighed in at 5.74 pounds.

Earning the final check with 5.64 pounds for 4 fish was Ron Dewitt and Tracy Riley in 6th place while Michael Frazee and Joe Lloyd took the early lead in the “Rookie Team” of the Year point’s race with their 7th place one out of the money finish. In 8th place, fishing on the SFVU pro team, were Chris Johnson and Mark Garner while Brian Spencer and Brad Bressler earned 9th place and Richard Wolota and Jeff Spencer rounded out the top 10 with their just over 4 pound weight for 3 largemouth. Brian Cosner and Dave Crawford made their one legal bass weighing in at 2.08 pounds work for them as they earned $160.00 bucks for having the biggest largemouth of the tournament.

Special thanks to Nancy Rogers and her staff from Nandel Graphics for providing, preparing and serving our meal of gigantic stuffed hoagies, awesome potato salad, chips and soda. 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 have the divisions new assistant director, Andy Lee, share his personal testimony, so that those who did not know him, could relate and have a point of reference. Andy shared on how he turned away from God and towards alcohol and drugs at an early age only to have God accept him back in his late 20’s, filling the void he had been trying to fill with those worldly trappings. His life story of avoidance, challenge, and then ultimately acceptance gave heart to those present who did not know Christ as their living God, as it also gave hope to those who have known him but “fallen off the wagon”. Four 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 four events left in the 2008 schedule for the North Appalachian division 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 North Appalachian tournaments.

Next on the schedule is our first visit to Tygart Lake on May 17th, 2008, then we move on to the Mon River launching out of Pricketts Fort, then it is on to scenic Deep Creek Lake and finally we end the divisional season on the Youghiogheny Reservoir.

(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 take this opportunity to thank our national sponsors: Triton Boats, Mercury Outboards, Shakespeare, Pflueger Reels, X-Tools, Strike King Lure Company, Kistler Custom Fishing Rods, Solar Bat, SOSpenders, Gary Yamamoto, Marshall’s Marine, Lowrance, Keel Shield, Berkley, Motor Guide, Stanley Jigs, Mizmo Bait Company, Dual Pro Chargers, Buckeye Lures, Deka Marine Master Batteries, Jacob’s Glass, All Star Rods, Poor Boys Baits, Rejuvenade and Keep Alive Oxygen Infuser.

The North Appalachian division is blessed to have the following sponsors, The SFVU Business Group and its non-profit charitable giving foundation, Fishing Dreams Unlimited. www.FISHERMENSHEAVEN.com where every FOM Member in the nation gets “members only” treatment, discounts and special exclusive items and apparel (http://www.fishermensheaven.com/store/FOMdiscount.htm). We also want to thank Trey at Kistler Custom Rods, Gary at Solar Bat Polarized Sunglasses, Troy at Mizmo Tubes, Randy at RoboWorm Finesse Handpoured Soft Plastics, Joe at Secret Weapon Spinnerbaits and Buzzbaits, Sam at Penetrator Slick Coated Tungsten Weights, Mike and Steve at McCoy Line, Kerry at the TTI-Blakemore Fishing Group, 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 Andy Lee 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!