North Appalachian Division

Youghiogheny Recap

On July 26th, 2008, 29 teams from the North Appalachian division of The Fishers’ of Men National Tournament Trail competed on Youghiogheny Reservoir, just outside Addison along the Pennsylvania/Maryland border. This body of water features a good mix of quality largemouth and feisty bronzebacks and our field of top notch anglers competing in their final event of 2008 managed to figure the conditions out as all but 1 team managed to catch at least one 12+ inch keeper bass while close to half the field weighed in 5 bass limits. The entire field caught 101 bass for a 177.63 pound total with 66 being smallmouth and 35 being largemouth, a much better ratio than most teams had banked on. Fish were reported being caught on just about every lure type, slow and fast, in the water temperatures that ranged in the mid 80’s with most teams getting their better smallmouth early on topwaters and some of the bigger largemouth late in the day on soft plastics and flukes.  

Entering the winner’s circle for the very first time was James Holloway and DJ Rogers who has served as our Divisional chaplain and Legacy director for the last two years. They proved they know how to fish as well as they bested the field by more than two pounds for their $1000.00 1st place prize money!

Finishing in 2nd place and by virtue of their late season surge, winning our “Comeback Team of the Year” award for the best improvement from 2007 to 2008, was David Solties and Dan Mincin. Their mixed bag limit included the biggest smallmouth of the tournament at 3.66 pounds and for the day they earned $690.00 for their efforts! Catching the biggest largemouth of the tournament, at 4.21 pounds, were Michael Frazee and Joe Lloyd, earning them $150.00 just for that fish.

Weighing in the only other limit over 10 pounds, earning them a 3rd place finish, was Michael Burnside and Raymond Grimes while Monte Misplay and Philip Richardson took 4th place with 5 beautiful twin smallmouth for 9.99 pounds. Rounding out the top 5 was Peter Evanovich and David Kahlbaugh with 9.65 pounds while Ron Dewitt and Tracy Riley Jr. took the final check with their 6th place weight of 9.47 pounds.

Shawn Skobel and Gary Crayton, having been the only team to catch 5 fish limits in all our tournament events for 2008, finished just out of the money in 7th place but their “disappointment” was soothed by their collecting the overall Points Championship pot as the best team for the North Appalachian division. They will represent their division at the 2008 National Championship to be held early next spring on the Red River just outside Shreveport, Louisiana! All of us congratulate them on their awesome exhibition of consistency and wish them the very best of luck at Nationals!

In other year end awards, Matt and Tim Ross took top honors as the highest finishing Adult / Junior team while Allan and Linda Stupelman finished the year as the highest finishing Guy / Gal team. Both will earn automatic bids to the East Regional Championships later this fall for a chance to compete against like teams to earn a slot into the National Championships.

Taking the Rookie of the Year award, where one team member must be new to Fishers of Men, was Brian Spencer and Brad Bressler, in the closest race we have ever had, just edging out Chris Johnson and Mark Garner, who had the same points but who were 5/100ths of an ounce short on the year end cumulative weight which was the tie breaker.

Finally, making the cut for selection to be eligible to attend the 2008 East Regional Championships to be held in October on the James River, just outside Richmond, Virginia, were the following teams:

Special thanks to the Woodlands Zoo and especially to David Solties, Daniel Mincin, Jim Holloway and DJ Rogers for providing our meeting place as well as grilled hotdog picnic. 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 this would be his last event serving as our director, Ian Godwin delivered a message on servitude and the unexpected blessings that come from those who give of their time and money, even in times when both may be very well in short supply. Showing that Jesus Christ was the “ultimate” example of a server, he laid out the plan for anyone present to follow his example and become a true “fisher of men”! One individual accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord while 2 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 plan for their live!

(For more information on how you can become involved in serving the Fishers of Men Ministry and Tournament Trail, 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@sfvu.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”, Todd at Keep ‘em Alive and the National Promotions Team at Choice Hotels and Cracker Barrel restaurants, all of which help support your division locally. A big thanks to Nancy from Nandel Graphics. No tournament circuit can make it without great volunteers so I want to pass on my gratitude to DJ Rogers who accepted the responsibility of being the chaplain but in so many ways, was really 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!