~~The Fishers of Men Maryland Division held Tournament #4 of the 2022 season on the Upper Chesapeake Bay out of Elk Neck Marina on the Elk River. A Nor’easter a week ago brought muddy red water to the flats and up to 9 spill gates in addition to the generation gates at Conowingo dam. A prevailing northeast breeze through the week kept tides 2 feet above normal. By tournament time, the river recovered quickly with much of the silt dropping out of the water and leaving it with a heavy stain. Tides were just returning to normal by Saturday morning.
 All 9 teams brought fish to the scales today. Tom and Jimmy Rufenacht picked up win with 22.80lbs. Sean Peddicord and Lonell Merchant brought in 21.47 lbs to take second place and had big fish with a 5.37 lb. LM. Jeffrey Pelkey and son Colton weighed in 19.73 lbs. Colton had a largemouth weighing 5.34 lbs. which missed the big fish prize by .03! Paul Wiley and son Zach (filling in for Jon Crans) brought a solid limit of 15.84 lbs to the scales.
Thank you to Maple View Baptist Church in Joppa, MD for hosting the Friday night meeting and thank you to Pastor Craig Mele for providing a great meal! Jimmy Rufenacht brought the message at the meeting out of John 10:1-14…We are “called by name,” “cared for,” and “close to” the True Shepherd Jesus Christ. We have been blessed with wonderful messages this year that go together perfectly!
Thank you to all who helped at the dinner and at the weigh in. A special thank you goes to Ted Quatman who hauls and sets up equipment and Joseph Fears for coming out to assist with the weigh in process. Thank you to our local sponsors FishermensHeaven.com and Stanford Baits.
Tournament #5 is June 11th and will again be out of Elk Neck State Park on the Elk River. See the details at fomntt.com Maryland division.

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	13432	Tom Rufenacht James Rufenacht	5	5.34	22.8	0	22.8	200
2	28849	Sean Peddicord Lonell Merchant	5	5.37	21.47	0	21.47	199
3	28969	Jeffrey Pelkey Colton Pelkey	5	5.34	19.73	0	19.73	148
4	28873	Paul Wiley Jon Crans	5	0	15.84	0	15.84	197
5	28874	Jeffrey Choi Matthew Yuengling	4	5.35	13.31	0	13.31	196
6	28970	Mickey McCleary Butch Brooks	3	5.09	11.41	0	11.41	195
7	28865	Robert Wolf John Dell	4	0	9.03	0	9.03	194
8	28890	Jim Shinn Rob Hager	3	0	8.48	0	8.48	193
9	28905	Thomas Turner George Fortner	2	0	5.18	0	5.18	192
Way to go Colton - 5.34 lb. Largemouth Tommy with 2 nice ones Jim and son Colin subbing for Rob! Bob Wolf with their 4 Check out that 5 lber in Butch's hand! Matt was all smiles holding that 5.35 LM that missed big fish by .02! Nice job Jeff and Matt Solid limit by Paul and Zach for 4th place! Proud Pappa Jeff with Colton and their 19.73 lb. sack! Sean and Lonell bringing the heat with 21.47 lbs and the 5.37 lb. big fish! Tom and jimmy had a great day! 22.80lbs for 1st place Thank you Tim Sherman for bring the custom baits! "Knowing the Savior's Voice." Excellent message by Jimmy Rufenacht...thank you!