The Alabama Northeast Division welcomed the top anglers from the Alabama Central, Alabama Northwest, and Alabama South Divisions for the annual Alabama State Championship Tournament. Weiss Lake was the chosen destination for the 40 teams to fish for cash prizes and the championship trophy for the division with the highest cumulative weight. Weiss is known as a world class crappie lake, but it is also a terrific bass fishery the is full of largemouths and Coosa River spotted bass.

Before the tournament, everyone gathered at the First Baptist Church in Cedar Grove. The folks there welcomed us in and prepared a meal of hamburgers, hotdogs, and all the trimmings. Following the meal, Alabama Northeast director, Joel Franks, shared from the Word of God. Using John 1, Franks explained what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus and challenged the 84 anglers, family members, and friends to go and be a disciple that makes disciples by fulfilling our mission of fishing for men. At the end of the meeting, four people had recommitted their lives to Christ!

Saturday morning dawned still and warm as the late summer heat didnt take long to escalate. Reports of tough fishing conditions made many anglers apprehensive, yet most teams were able to produce a limit of bass. Besting the field was the Alabama South team of Noah Hilyer and Stan Hallman with 16.58 pounds. They also had the big bass of the day at 5.55 pounds. They earned $3,261 on the day! Bobby Sanders and Troy Shirley from the Central division brought in the second place stringer with 16.22 pounds of bass good for $1,567. Northwest team David Suratt and Jeff Suratt finished third with 15.41 pounds, winning $956. And the Northeast was represented with fourth place team Billy and Barbara Lawson weighing in 14.84 pounds who banked $536.

The Northeast Division took home the trophy again with 109.58 pounds of bass on the day. Central weighed in 84.21 pounds, Northwest had 76.61, and the South brought in 56.76 pounds of bass.

Fishers of Men would like to thank our National Sponsors: BassCat Boats, Mercury, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Spiderwire, Shakespeare, Strike King Lure Company, Kings Home, Power-Pole, Raymarine, Duckett Fishing, Bass Boat Technologies, ORCA Coolers, Buckeye Lures, T&H Maine, Gator Guards, Kistler Rods, Hydro Wave, Jacobs Glass, Rayjus Sportswear, Amphibia Eyewear and Frogg Toggs.    

We would also like to thank L&M Custom Bass Snacks, Coon Creek Custom Baits, Perkins Outdoors, and Nalty's Seasonings for the fine products that we were able to give to our anglers.