A Blessed Day to be outdoors in Gods Great Creation

First off I want to apologize for taking so long to get this written and posted.  After the tournament it was the end of the month, end of the quarter and we had CPAs at work the week after the tournament.  Life has just now slowed down enough to sort of get caught up.

Friday night September 22, 2017 we all started gathering at Camden Baptist Church for the meeting before the FOM State Championship tournament the next day.  Camden Baptist Church had been working on the food all day.  They were preparing us a feast fit for a king.  We had Pork tenderloin sliced and green beans, tea and bread pudding.  For all of the Alabama South fisherman Camden Baptist bread pudding is legendary.  Thank you so much Camden Baptist for being a part of the Fishers of Men State Championship for 2017.  After the meal and my making a couple of announcements I turned things over to Chris Wells the pastor at Camden Baptist.  Friday night Chris wanted to talk to us about the Best News we ever had.  Not that your wife said yes, or that you have a boy.  Not that you got a raise, or a promotion at work, but that if you turned life over to Jesus you can have ever lasting life.  Jesus died on the cross to save our souls.  He arose on the third day to show us that there is a better way.  If we try to do it our way, we will not have all that we could have.  Sure you might have all that you want here and now, but what about the hereafter?  To hear our Lord say one day, Depart from me you evil doer for I never knew you and be sent to place of torment for eternity is a very frightening thought.  Your life may not be filled with everything you want if you say yes and you will have times of hardship if you say yes to the Lord.  There will be trials since the devil will be after you, but if you will be strong in the end it will all be worth it.  He will give you all you need if you will just put your faith and trust in him.  I have said it before and will say it one more time.  I would rather put my faith in the Lord and live for him and die to find out I was wrong, than to live the devils way and die to find out I was wrong and hear the words DEPART FROM ME, FOR I NEVER KNEW YOU. Thank you Chris for reminding us there are only two ways to live.  We can live for our Lord Jesus Christ and have ever lasting life or turn down that offer and have a life of eternity in torment.  I chose to live for Jesus. I asked this question earlier this year, ARE YOU GOING TO BE A CULL OR A KEEPER?

We had a wonderful night of fellowship at Camden Baptist Church.  We had 115 people present at the meeting.  There were 42 teams represented at the meeting.  We did not have any professions of faith.  There were 5 rededication and we give the thanks and the praise to our Lord and Savior for those.

Saturday morning we awoke to a beautiful morning.  We got all 44 boats launched and got ready to blast them off for a day in the great outdoors that our Lord has blessed us with.  At the end of the day congratulations go out to George Crain and Allan Glasgow.  They brought in 5 fish to take first place.  Their five fish weighed in at 14.31 lbs.  They also had the big fish of the day that weighed in at 4.31 lbs.  They caught their fish on Chatter baits and spinner baits around wood and grass in shallow water.  Congratulations to the team of Lavon and Zac White.  They brought in 5 fish that weighed 12.42 lbs.  They caught their fish close by and caught them on jigs, rattle traps, and crank baits.  Congratulations to Craig Bellew and Jason Morgan.  They brought in 5 fish that weighed in at 11.07 lbs to take third place.  They caught their fish flipping with black and blue jigs with a chartreuse dip.  Congratulations to Matt Higgins and Ed Reeves.  They brought in 5 fish that weighed in at 9.94 lbs and tied with the team of Morris Ellis, Jr. and Randy smith, but edged out Morris and Randy with a big fish of 3.63 lbs over 3.37 lbs to take 4^th place.  They caught their fish on shakey heads around docks close to Roland Cooper.  Congratulations to the team of Looper and Looper.  They were the Legacy team winners.  They brought in 5 fish that weighed in at 8.96 lbs to take the    $ 250.00 Legacy prize.  They caught their fish on Biffle bugs and shakey heads.  Green pumkin and chartreuse.  Their fish came from Bouge Chitto and toward the dam. We want to thank Escambia Lawn care for donating the $ 250.00 Legacy prize this year and for being a sponsor of Fishers of Men, Alabama South.

For the day per division here is how the results turned out.

     Alabama Central                  72.54 Lbs.

     Alabama North West              71.06 Lbs.

     Alabama South                   62.16 Lbs.

     Alabama North East               88.86 Lbs.

The 2017 State of Alabama Championship Division is as you can see Alabama North East.  They are repeat Champions as they took the Championship in 2016 as well.  CONGRATULATIONS TO ALABAMA NORTH EAST with their repeat as State of Alabama Fishers of Men Champions.

For the day we weighed in 177 fish that weighed a total of 294.68 lbs.  In the 13 years of Alabama South I can’t remember a tie we had other than at the end of the year in the points champions race.  At this one tournament we had 3 ties.  We had two teams to weigh in 9.94 lbs, two teams to weigh in 8.96 lbs and two teams to weigh in 7.85lbs.

All in all we had a great tournament and I hope that everyone that made the trip enjoyed it as much as we did getting to host it.  With this being the last tournament for the Alabama South team all of the helpers came to help one last time.  Danny East made a special presentation to the three directors that are stepping down and all three of us greatly appreciated his gesture and appreciated he and Linzy coming to be with us that day.  At the end of the day the new Alabama South director presented the 4 Alabama South helper teams with a special gesture from all of the Alabama South fisherman that none of us expected.  We have done this for the past 13 years because we felt led by the Lord that he wanted us to do this and because it was a ministry to us.  We deeply appreciate what our fisherman gave us and want to extend to them a big THANK YOU and we love and cherish all of you.  Over the last 13 years we have made many new friends and hope to get to see all of you from time to time.

If you would like to know more about Fishers of Men, Alabama South you can contact me, Allen Couch at acouch14@bellsouth.net. Or you can call me at work, at 251-867-7706, Home, 251-867-9852 or Cell, 251-363-0547.  After December 31, 2017 Kevin Diamond and his team will be taking over the Alabama South Division.  You can reach Kevin at kevindiamond1980@hotmail.com or you can call him at 251-359-7072.  The 2018 schedule is on the National web site or you can contact Kevin to get a copy of it.

Fishers of Men would like to thank all of the fine Sponsors:  BassCat Boats, Mercury Outboards, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Strike King Lure Company, Kings Homes, Power-Pole, Raymarine, Duckett Fishing, ORCA Coolers, Buckeye Lures, T & H Marine, Gator Guards, Solar Bat, Kistler Rods, Hydro Wave, Enigma, KidCasters, Fishouflage, Costa, Jacobs Glass, Rayjus Sportswear, Rod ArmorZ, and Rejuvenade.

Alabama South would like to thank their sponsors:  First Progressive Bank, First Baptist Church of East Brewton, AL, The Escambia Baptist Association, Naltys Seasonings, and JJ’s Magic made by Fish Chemicals Inc, Premier League Lures, Agressor Custom baits, Gulf Winds Federal Credit Union, Escambia Lawn Equipment Center, Inc., Century Marine in Century, FL, Serve Pro of Brewton, Johnson Ford in Atmore, and Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood.  Several of these sponsors came on just for the state championship tournament. When you do business with any of these sponsors tell them Thank You for being a sponsor of Fishers of Men, Alabama South.  Without all of these fine sponsors Alabama South could not do all that we do.  Alabama South would also like to thank all of the churches that host us each year.  We are so blessed by the churches that host us each year.

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	22203	George Crain Allan Glasgow	5	4.31	14.31	0	14.31	200
2	17176	Curtis White Zachery White	5	0	12.42	0	12.42	199
3	22215	Craig Bellew Jason Morgan	5	0	11.07	0	11.07	198
4	2382	Matthew Higgins Ed Reeves	5	3.63	9.94	0	9.94	197
5	22187	Morris Ellis Jr. Randy Smith	5	3.37	9.94	0	9.94	196
6	21117		5	0	10.41	0.5	9.91	195
7	22122		5	4.01	9.37	0	9.37	194
8	22147	Chad Hazel Mike Hazel	5	0	9	0	9	193
9	14609	Michael Stewart Thomas Pugh	5	0	8.96	0	8.96	192
10	22216	Edward Looper Jr Lauren Kate Looper	5	0	8.96	0	8.96	192
11	22141	Mike Crump Jeff Cooper	5	0	8.7	0	8.7	190
12	22188	Ralph Pierce Ty Story	5	0	8.52	0	8.52	189
13	22165	Ron Holler Elaine Holler	5	0	8.36	0	8.36	188
14	21095	E L Cobb Jim Bell	5	0	8.26	0	8.26	187
15	22142	Joe Fitzgerald Jonathan Clark	5	0	8.12	0	8.12	186
16	22121	Gary Livingston David Whitten	5	2.87	8.11	0	8.11	185
17	22150	Chris Cofty Jr Don Johnson	5	0	8.08	0	8.08	184
18	22082	Donny Davis Jack Malone	5	0	8	0	8	183
19	22058	Braxton Hopper Jason Hopper	5	2.78	7.99	0	7.99	182
20	22139	Jim Barnette Jonathan Barnette	5	0	7.85	0	7.85	181
21	22148	Andrew Lambert Ronald Lambert	4	0	7.85	0	7.85	181
22	22149	Austin Swindle James Swindle	5	0	7.84	0	7.84	179
23	22219	Norman Brown Stacie Brown	5	2.5	7.81	0	7.81	178
24	22060	Charles Agerton Darrin Gibson	5	0	7.91	0.25	7.66	177
25	22130	Joe Roberson Glenn Whisenhunt	5	0	7.66	0	7.66	177
26	22220	Norman Buce William Russell	5	0	7.6	0	7.6	175
27	22059	Bill Hopson Harvey Starling	5	0	7.08	0	7.08	174
28	18730	Kevin Diamond Josh Diamond	5	0	7.05	0	7.05	173
29	22204	Austin Archer Charles Estes	5	0	6.43	0	6.43	172
30	21115	Roger Caldwell Matt Caldwell	5	0	6.32	0	6.32	171
31	22207	Garry Burns Kevin Stephens	4	0	5.86	0	5.86	170
32	22140	Will Counts Price Counts	5	0	5.61	0	5.61	169
33	21103	John Odom Joe Turner	4	0	5.48	0	5.48	168
34	22164	Dwayne Lewis Malissa Lewis	4	0	5.05	0	5.05	167
35	22125	Bobby Sanders Troy Shirley	2	0	3.27	0	3.27	166
36	22211	Dennis Defoor Tim DeFoor	3	0	3.14	0	3.14	165
37	22126	Steve Pierce Lain McCollough	2	0	2.81	0.25	2.56	164
38	22151	Paul Vaccaro Hunter Vaccaro	2	0	1.94	0	1.94	163
39	22189		1	1.34	1.34	0	1.34	162
40	3339		1	1.26	1.26	0	1.26	161
41	10395	Brian Moye Kimberly Moye	0	0	0	0	0	110
42	21094		0	0	0	0	0	160
43	22191	Hubble Sowards Mark Watson	0	0	0	0	0	160
44	22200	Chris Blackwood Sean Terrell	0	0	0	0	0	160
1st Place 2nd Place 3rd. Place 4th Place Legacy Winner FOM State of Alabama Champions- Alabama Northeast