The Fishers Of Men National Tournament Trail completed the first of its five Regional Championship Tournaments, along the road to the National Championship on Kentucky Lake, to be held next May. The Midwest Region, held on pools 20, 21 and 22 of the Mississippi River, concluded its event with the Day two weigh in at Kesler Park, Saturday, September 25th near downtown Quincy IL.
Anglers from divisions in Ohio, Indiana North, Indiana South, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota East, Minnesota West, and Wisconsin, found day two extremely difficult, as a front moved through the area on Thursday night, bringing slightly lower temperatures and bluebird skies with its passing, thus, shutting down the bite. Most of the few fish that were caught on Saturday came from creature type baits and worms on wooden structure scattered along the river.
Leading the field after the first day of competition, Gary Minor and Scott Lithojohn, of the Minnesota West Division, managed to bring in four fish weighing, 6.15, to add to the previous day’s limit of 15.31 lbs. to capture the title of the Fishers Of Men Midwest Champions with a two-day total of 21.46 lbs. Gary and Scott earned a brand new Triton TR-186 with a Mercury 150hp XR6, worth nearly $24,000.00, for their winning effort. They want to thank their sponsors, Pro Tour Baits and Smelly Jelly.
James Brown and Justin Fain from the Ohio Division added four more fish weighing 9.35 lbs. to their 10.94 day-one catch to finish in second place, moving up from forth place on Friday. They finished with a total of 9 bass (including the 3.93 big fish of the day) weighing 20.29 lbs.
Minnesota West’s, Dean Truax and John Kimmes dropped one position on the final day, to finish third, adding one additional fish weighing 3.33, for a total of 15.93 lbs. Dean and John also wanted to thank their sponsors, Hastings Outdoors, Joe O’Brien Chevrolet, and Dirk’s Lawn Care.
Fourth place went to the Ohio team of John Duwel and Gary Sindelir (sponsored by Prowler Baits), who brought two fish to the scales, giving them a tournament total of seven bass weighing 12.90.
Vaulting all the way from twenty-seventh to finish fifth with 12.89, was Eric Foister and Roger Spaulding. The Indiana North team weighed in a two day total of seven bass just 1/100 of a pound behind the fourth place finishers.
We want to express our thanks to Jeff Janson and Holly Cain (Director Of Tourism) from the Quincy Area Convention and Visitors Bureau for bringing our Midwest Regional Championship to the friendly city of Quincy, IL. Holly continued to help on Day Two with boat checks at 4:00 am and again, manning the scoreboard for the weigh in. Her assistant, Amy Ernest has also been very helpful with the blast-off and weigh in. We would like to recognize the Holiday Inn and Days Inn for providing housing for us, during our nice stay in Quincy.
Again, we would like to convey our appreciation for the great line of sponsors that we have. Genuine thanks go out to Earl Bentz and Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, Strike King, Spike-It Baits, Trey Kistler of Kistler Custom Fishing Rods, Marshall’s Marine, Castrol, Jones Chevrolet, Stanley Jigs, Deka Marine Master Batteries, The Original Fish Formula, Bass Pro Shops, Sufix Fishing Line, Keep Alive, Lowrance, Bass Rx, Dual Pro Chargers, Jacob’s Glass, Solar Bat, Just Add Water Boats, World Of Fishing. Angler’s Advantage, Castrol, Marshall’s Marine, V & M Baits, and Motor Guide.
The top seven finishers, by weight in this event, along with the highest finishing team from each division, will join the ten Division Points Champions in the No Entry Fee Kentucky Lake National Championship, scheduled for May 9th through the 14th of 2005. These anglers will compete for over $50,000.00 in cash and prizes that will include a fully rigged Triton TR-20, powered by a 200 hp Mercury motor.By: Frank Evans, Senior Staff Writer
