The tournament year 2017, for the Fishers of Men North Carolina North Carolina East Team came to and on the Pasquotank River, Elizabeth City NC this past Saturday.  Our Friday night meeting was held at the Camden United Methodist Church in Camden NC.  Boy! What a wonderful spaghetti dinner we were treated too, all prepared by the men’s Group from the church.  Desserts as usual was provided by the Ladies from the First Church of the Nazarene in Elizabeth City.  The spiritual message was bought by Pastor Mark O’Neill of the United Methodist Church in Camden NC.  The message being that is is good to be fishers of men, but to be successful we must be willing to listen and obey the Lord and to cast our nets were he directs.

 Twenty seven teams launched from Waterfront Park and from there they scattered throughout the Albemarle sound.  It was rumored that some went as far as the Chowan River to the west and the Alligator River to the south. Others claimed they never went more than five miles from the ramp.  Several  teams was varying for the Division Points Champion.  With two teams tied for first and several other teams within striking distance, it was anyone’s game to win.

First place went to the team of Heath Parker and Brian Cooper, with a five bass limit that weighed in at 21.97 pounds anchored by a nice 6.64 lb bass.  Second went to the always strong team of Kirk Wall and Charlie Reed with a limit of bass that weighed 21.58 pounds. The team of Al Biagioni and John LaRock took third place with five bass that tipped the scales 19.22 pounds.  The brother team of John and Michael Kellett held down fourth place with a limit that weighed in at 17.56 pounds.  Fifth place went to the team of Jerry Murray and Keith Jennings, who almost lost the big engine when one side of engine mount broke while trying to get back from North River in the very rough waters of Albemarle sound, but were able to limp back to weigh in with 5 bass that weighed 16.20 pounds.   The sixth place finish was awared to Kevin Jones and Gerald Murray with a limit of bass that topped the scales at 15.31 pounds.  The Big Fish for the tournament went to the team of Hunter Holloman and Bob Jones , with a beautiful 7.35 pound largemouth bass.

The North Carolina East District Points Champions for 2017 is the team of KIirk Wall and Charlie Reed.  They secured the championship by four points.  Their consistent performance throughout the year has won them a chance to participate in the Fishers of Men National Championship tournament on Lake Gunterville, Alabama.  The tournament is scheduled for April 2018.  To help with expenses Wall and Reed also earned $750 for becoming our Points Champions for 2017.   This is the second or third points championships that this team has captured.

We would like to thank the town of Elizabeth City for use of their wonderful facilities.  Camden United Methodist Church for the food and meeting place and to our local sponsors:   Dick's Sporting Goods, Bass Alarm Baits, Bayside Marina, PGF Archery and Outdoors, Butt Kicker Jigs, ProBaits, Engal Coolers, Kirby Creek Customs, and The First Church of the Nazarene, Elizabeth City.

We would like to thank all of our national sponsors: Bass Cat Boats, Mercury, Stren, Flueger, Strike King, Nester Hosiery, King’s Home, Marshall’s Marine, Duckett, Power Pole, Buckeye, Enigma, Gator Guards, Kistler, Hydrowave, Jacobs Glass, Rigrap Rejuvenade, Kid Casters, Orca, Rajus.

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	21885	Heath Parker Brian Cooper	5	6.64	21.97	0	21.97	200
2	8708	Kirk Wall Charles Reed	5	5.46	21.58	0	21.58	199
3	17449	Al Biagioni John LaRock	5	5.43	19.22	0	19.22	198
4	16247	John Kellett Michael Kellett	5	5.05	17.56	0	17.56	197
5	17629	Jerry Murray Keith Jennings	5	4.07	16.2	0	16.2	196
6	21393	Kevin Jones Gerald Murray	5	0	16.13	0	16.13	195
7	17573	Gary DeBrito Derek Goodman	5	0	15.31	0	15.31	194
8	21405	Dustin Winslow Sanders Overman	5	0	14.15	0	14.15	193
9	18832	Max Hartung	5	4.93	14.02	0	14.02	192
10	11993	Darren Saunders James Duncan III	5	0	13.85	0	13.85	191
11	21535	Hunter Halloman Rob Jones	5	7.35	13.66	0	13.66	190
12	19225	Sean Richards	5	0	14.13	0.5	13.63	189
13	13013	Sam Spruill	5	0	13.39	0	13.39	188
14	21428	Thomas Jones Steve Albertson	5	0	12.93	0	12.93	187
15	21454	Gil Burk Matt Burk	5	0	12.54	0	12.54	186
16	21443	Don Porter Todd Winslow	5	0	12.37	0	12.37	185
17	3427	David Buchanan	5	0	11.57	0	11.57	184
18	21536	William Chappell Brian Meadows	5	0	11.55	0	11.55	183
19	21427	Tommy Houlroyd Brandon Overton	5	0	10.74	0	10.74	182
20	21346	Patrick Seigh	5	0	10.38	0	10.38	181
21	21154		5	0	10.85	0.5	10.35	180
22	21459	Quinton Chappell Chris Turner	5	0	8.38	0	8.38	179
23	21236		3	0	6.66	0	6.66	178
24	18831	David Watkins William Heighter	3	0	6.61	0	6.61	177
25	18968	Gary Sawyer	3	0	5.89	0	5.89	176
26	17575	Gary Morin Tom Biagioni	2	0	5.61	0.25	5.36	175
27	22036	Jeffery Daw Christopher Daw	0	0	0	0	0	174
First Place Parker/Cooper -21.97 lbs 3rd Place - Biagioni/laRock The Burk Brothers