Our 2026 season wrapped up today with 28 teams fishing on Lake O’ The Pines. 115 frisky fish were brought to the scales and we had some really good sacks weighed. I just want to take a minute to say thank you to each of you for choosing to fish our trail year after year and thank you to the new teams that chose to fish with us. We may not be the biggest trail in FOM, but I think we are one of the best and that is because of ya’ll. I have really enjoyed getting to know ya’ll and to sit back and watch the passion that you have for this sport. Thank you to our local sponsors, Patterson Of Kilgore, Eastman Credit Union, Dons TV and Appliances, HeyEtx, Precision Pools, and Plano Marine Of East Texas.

Shout out to our director, Jeff Gage! This trail would not exist without your hard work from getting sponsorship money, fielding phone calls, lining up our host churches, and putting the schedule together all while running a dealership. Dennis North, thank you for volunteering to be our weighmaster each season. You and Jeff make a great team making sure all fish are weighed accurately! Thank you, JD Starling for setting up our banners and doing live well checks each month. You and Dennis go a great job getting the guys and girls on the water. Thank you, Carla Gage for all the great photos at the tournaments and for jumping in wherever you are needed. And, to Donnie Barron, thank you for serving as our Chaplain each year.

Ya’ll have a great rest of your year and we will see you when we kickoff the 2027 season!