Jesus Said “Follow me and I will make you Fishers of Men”

 Matt4:19

We have come to the half way point for the 2008 Central Texas Division of the Fishers of Men National Tournament Trail, and we have once again achieved record attendance for our Division.

All I can say is we are truly blessed to be able to put together these events, and could not possibly do it with out the hard working men and women that volunteer their time, Sponsors,  and the fishermen and their families that come out and compete in these events, I am truly grateful.

We kicked off the 3^rd event of the year with our pre-tournament meeting hosted by the Marble Falls Church of Christ, who always shows us such a wonderful time and are gracious host. This year with our rapid growth they secured the Marble Falls Middle School Cafeteria so the 160 men, women and children could sit back in comfort and enjoy a wonderful BBQ meal complete with all the fixin’s and of coarse desert, gotta love the deserts.  Lance Wenmohs a long time FOM member and a member of the MFCOC was our guest speaker. Lance stressed the importance to make sure we are pattering our lives to live as we have been instructed, by example with Jesus, and lastly, Lance reminded us of the greatest commandment "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind' - this is the great and foremost commandment, and there is a second like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. The whole Law and Prophets hang on these two commands." (Mtt 22:37-40, Mrk 12:28-34).

I want to thank Lance and the wonderful folks of The Marble Falls Church of Christ again for their wonderful hospitality and friendship to FOM.

We had a FOMCENTEX record 87 teams showed up at beautiful McNair Park in the City of Sunrise Beach Village to a cool overcast Saturday morning.

Most of us were expecting a good day on the lake with the shallow bite producing some big sacks of bass, and potentially a double digit bass to make its way to the scales, unfortunately the night before we were greeted to a howling thunderstorm that dumped several inches of rain in the area, and dropped the temperature almost 10 degrees, and pushed the fish into deeper water and in an inactive mood for most.

Catching three fish in the first three casts and managing a solid 14.81 pounds with a 5.05 kicker, were the father son team of James and Jacob Meredith of Austin, TX. would take home the first place honors and a check for over $2200. Jacob told me they worked main lake points and rock piles throwing tx. rigged soft plastics, although they caught several fish during the day, they only had five keepers with the big bass coming in the last half hour of the day.

It was a family affair with another father son team finishing in second place. The team of Dick Chism of Round Rock, TX. and son Ty Chism of Granit Shoals, TX. took the second place honors with 14.12 pounds and the 6.38 pound kicker fish would also earn them the big bass award of the day, and a $1460 pay day. They worked a few spawning areas near Cottonwood Shores using weightless plastics on bedding fish, they moved onto working docks and rock walls with trick worms and similar baits, the key Dick told me was to fish slow, that’s what the big fish came on. They ended up culling 4 fish through out the day.

Third place went to the team of Mike Wiles and Darryl Smith of Round Rock, TX. The cold front messed up there original plan to fish shallow, they started fishing shallow crank baits and spinner baits, however after a few about an hour with out a keeper they  backed  off the main lake point to deeper water, and started getting  bit, and better fish using shaky heads and drop shots. With solid five fish limit of 13.81 pounds they took home a check for $743.00

Rounding out the rest of the 17 paying positions;   

4^th           Ruben Ribera/Lino Guttereze

5^th        Travis Jones Jr./Travis Jones

6^th        Roger and Jerral Boling

7^th        Matt Hill/Kelly Kennemer

8^th        Lynnwood and Lynn Pierce

9^th        Lance Wenmohs/Mike Clark

10^th      Terry and Tommy Roberts

11^th      Kevin Pederzani/Dan Taylor

12^th      Tim Dixon

13^th      Ronnie Trower/Jeff Pitrucha

14^th      Jarod Shelton/Alfred Pemberton

15^th      Charles Whited/Bill Polkinghorn

16^th      Randy Grounds/Randall Maxwell

17^th      Randy Jacoby/Kevin Howell

17^th      Wayne Orender III/Cody Martin         

Winning the “Just out of the Money” Sportsman’s Warehouse Gift Cards

19^th      Gerald Goff/Ed Maters            

20^th      Bryan Thompson/Kimberly Wofford

21^st      Bryan Cotter/Justin Fisher

Taking the top spot in the Points Championship race and the Male/Female category are the team of Roger and Jerral Boling. With a 6^th place finish on LBJ they have an 8 point lead from the second place team of Kevin Pederzani and Dan Taylor who were our Points Champions in 2006. Moving into the third spot of the chase is Dick and Ty Chism, just 10 points out.

Two points separate the top Youth/Adult Category AOY.

The 2007 AOY Randy Jacoby and Kevin Howell hold first place with 494 points, and  Yung Follis and Regan Vaca sneaking up on them with 492 points.

As mentioned Roger and Jarrel currently taking charge of the point’s race in the regular standing and the Male/Female category with 578 points. Allen and Tammy Gass currently holding the second spot with 516 point.

With two tournaments left in the 2008 season, top finishes are a must to make the cut for the Regional Tournament this fall. The top 24 teams and the highest finishing Adult/Junior and Male/Female that have competed in at least 3 events will qualify to attend the regional.

The next stop on the trail will be Lake Belton on 4/26/2008

For more detail go to www.fomcentex.com

We want recognize our LOCAL sponsors and ask that you give them an opportunity to earn your business: We have links to them at www.fomcentex.com

 Texas Boat World, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Kevin E. Severance Insurance, Geneva Bait and Tackle, Kistler Custom Rods, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Boaters World, Rudy’s BBQ and Country Store, Roy’s Rulers, Sure Life and Catch and Release, Academy Sports and Out Doors, George Town Shirt Company, The Landing, Hill Country Bible Church, Country line Magazine, and West Marine
 
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the fine companies that make Fishers of Men possible; Triton Boats, Mercury, Strike King Lure Company, Outdoors, All Star Rods, Solar Bat, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Keel shield, Marshall’s Marine Lake City SC, Kistler, Jones Chevrolet, All-Terrain Tackle, Dual Pro Charger, XTools, Lowrance, Buckeye Lures, Stanley Jigs, Castrol, Deka marine Master Batteries, Spike-It, Jacobs Glass, Motorguide, Hooah Energy Bars & Drinks, Hot Rods Marine Care Products, SOSPENDERS, River Bottom Lures, Shakespeare, Diamond Cut Jeans, T&H Marine BASS Rx, and Keep Alive.