The 5th tournament of the 2025 season was held Dorsey Park on the Conowingo Reservoir. The weather started out beautiful until the day turned hot! The Wingo was very stingy as muddy water has been flowing at or above spill conditions for weeks! Normally it has cleared by the 3rd week in June and the water is starting to get stagnant. 12 teams fished the event.
Evan Roache and Shawn Ramey pulled off the win by .01 lb with 11.84 lbs. Paul Wiley and Jon Crans just missed the win and placed second with 11.83 lbs. Third place was Randy Gabel and son Joel Gabel with 10.54 lbs using only the trolling motor! Mickey McCleary and Dillon Missimer placed 4th with 9.93 lbs. Rob Hager and Tom Bennett brought in 9.86 lbs. for 5th place. Tom and Jimmy Rufenacht managed 9.55 lbs for 6th place and Sean Peddicord and Lonell Merchant were in seventh place with 9.06 lbs.
The 2025 Points Championship goes to Paul Wiley and Jon Crans. They never had a stumble worse than 6th place during the year and their consistency paid off handsomely. They earned the right to compete in the 2026 FOM National Championship at Toledo Bend in Texas! Second place in the points was the team of Shawn Ramey and Evan Roache. But for an early season stumble on the Potomac, they were consistent and improved their finish throughout the season. Conowingo was a heartbreaker for Shawn Skobel and Gary Crayton who wound up third in the points. They have been leading the trail and cleaning up through the middle part of the season but Conowingo can change the course of the season (I know from personal experience!). Jacob Vandevander and Dylan Otte finished 4th for the year. They were right in the hunt as they had a very consistent season. Tom and Jimmy Rufenacht finished in 5th place. In the end, the top 5 teams were separated by only 8 points making for an exciting conclusion to the season!
We missed Jeff Pelkey and Ian Godwin for the last 2 tournaments of the year following the damage incident from the last Potomac event. Since they fished in 3 events, they have qualified for the District Championship to be held on the Potomac River on September 19th and 20th out of Widewater State Park located just north of Aquia Creek on the Virginia side of the river.
Thank you to the Buzz and Marie Billings for providing a wonderful meal and event location. Chaplain Paul Wiley brought the message and spoke from James 3:5-7 and Proverbs 16:24 “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” The meeting had a wonderful encouraging spirit. It is great to see the camaraderie and the spiritual growth among the MD members this year.
Thank you to Randy and Joel Gabel of Fin-X rods for donating a very nice rod to the largest largemouth or smallmouth that didn’t win the John Fillmore Big Bass. Sean Peddicord took home the rod with his largemouth since the overall big fish prize went to Paul Wiley’s smallmouth!
We would also like to thank our local sponsors Fishermens-Heaven.store, John Fillmore Motors. Native Tungsten, Fin-X rods and Missile baits has also provided a 35% off code for FOM-MD members.
Fishers of Men would like to thank all our National Sponsors Berkley , BassCat Boats, Abu Garcia, Mercury, Fenwick, Realtree Fishing, FireFly Outdoor & Marine, Power-Pole, T&H Marine, Frogg Toggs, and Fish 4:19 Performance Gear.
2025 District Qualifiers
Paul Wiley/Jon Crans
Shawn Ramey/James Roache
Shawn Skobel/Gary Crayton
Jacob Vandevander/Dylan Otte
Tom Rufenacht/Jimmy Rufenacht
Mickey McCleary/Dylan Missimer
Sean Peddicord/Lonell Merchant
William Johnson/William Johnson III
William Gartner/Elvin Martes
Mike Saganich/Ray Saganich
Robert Wolf/John Dell
Rob Hager/Thomas Bennett
Jeffrey Pelkey/Ian Godwin
Jonathan Werner/Jody Werner
Randy Gabel/Joel Gabel
Conowingo Reservoir - 06/21/25
DIVISION YEAR TO DATE STANDINGS: | 2025 | 2024 |
| Place | Team | Members | # Fish | Big Fish | Gross | Penalty | Net Wt | Points | |
| 1 | 32128 |
Shawn Ramey James Roache | 5 | 3.42 | 11.84 | 0 | 11.84 | 200 | |
| 2 | 30396 |
Paul Wiley Jon Crans | 5 | 3.47 | 11.83 | 0 | 11.83 | 199 | |
| 3 | 35721 |
Randy Gabel Joel Gabel | 5 | 3.34 | 10.54 | 0 | 10.54 | 148 | |
| 4 | 35718 |
Mickey McCleary Dylan Missimer | 5 | 2.22 | 9.93 | 0 | 9.93 | 197 | |
| 5 | 35886 |
Rob Hager Thomas Bennett | 5 | 1.57 | 9.86 | 0 | 9.86 | 196 | |
| 6 | 30388 |
Tom Rufenacht James Rufenacht | 5 | 2.67 | 9.55 | 0 | 9.55 | 195 | |
| 7 | 35717 |
Sean Peddicord Lonell Merchant | 5 | 2.78 | 9.06 | 0 | 9.06 | 194 | |
| 8 | 30392 |
Jacob VanDeVander Dylan Otte | 5 | 2.27 | 8.6 | 0 | 8.6 | 193 | |
| 9 | 35719 |
Shawn Skobel Gary Crayton | 5 | 0 | 7.01 | 0.5 | 6.51 | 192 | |
| 10 | 30390 |
Robert Wolf John Dell | 5 | 0 | 6.21 | 0 | 6.21 | 191 | |
| 11 | 31006 |
Michael Saganich Raymond Saganich | 5 | 0 | 5.47 | 0 | 5.47 | 190 | |
| 12 | 35730 |
William Gartner Elvin Martes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 189 | |
 Evan and Shawn with the 1st place bag of 11.84 lbs.  Second Place by .01 lbs. with 11.83 lbs was Paul Wiley and Jon Crans  Randy and Joel with 10.54 lbs. for 3rd place.  Mickey and Dylan with 5 brown ones for 9.93 lbs for 4th  Rob Hager and Tom Bennett had 9.86 for 5th place  Sixth was Tom and Jimmy with 9.55 lbs.  Seventh Place was Sean and Lonell with 9.06 lbs.  The John Fillmore Motors Big Bass award went to Paul Wiley with a 3.47 lb. Smallmouth  Sean took home a very nice Fin-X rod for having the biggest largemouth. Thank you Randy and Joel!  Our 2025 FOM Maryland Champions Paul Wiley and Jon Crans. Congrats on a well deserved win! |
|||||||||