The 2018 District 8 Championship on Kentucky Lake kicked off with a bang this week at the Moors Resort near Gilbertsville, Kentucky. The summer like weather brought warm, sunny weather and light winds to Kentucky Lake. Anglers reported mixed results in practice as bass were scattered from the backs of the creeks all the way out to the world famous main lake ledges. With last minute plans formulated, 42 teams headed to Zion’s Cause Baptist Church in Benton for the pre-tournament meeting.

After a delicious dinner, everyone settled back to listen to Indiana South angler Marshall Tucker as he shared from God’s word. Marshall talked to us about how we need to have a personal relationship with God. After encouraging the group to do their best to have a personal relationship with our Savior we had one angler to recommit their life to Him!

Friday morning dawned clear and calm as each team raced off in search of 5 fat largemouth, smallmouth, or spotted bass. Though the conditions were fairly accommodating, the bass were not as cooperative with only 5 limits crossing the scales. But as always, some of our teams solved the puzzle and brought some heavy bags of fish.

Leading the way day one was the Georgia South team of Steve Stewart and Johnny Creel with 17.47 pounds of bass. As one would expect, the Steve and Johnny along with all of the other leaders were tight lipped about their patterns and lures.

Coming in second for the day was the Kentucky South Central team of Keith and Joshua Southerland with 16.55 pounds.
The Kentucky LBL team of Joey Schmidt and Bobby Griffith rounded out the top three with 16.31 pounds of bass. In fourth place was Chris Ambers and Greg Sallee from the Kentucky West Division. They had 15.72 pounds of bass.

Big fish of the day went to the team of Justin Scherer and Tony Gaither with a 5.43 lb Largemouth.

Check back tomorrow for final results and patterns from our winners!

Fishers of Men would like to thank all of our fine sponsors; BassCat Boats, Mercury, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Spiderwire, Shakespeare, Strike King Lure Company, Kings Home, Power-Pole, Raymarine, Duckett Fishing, BassBoat Technologies, ORCA Coolers, Buckeye Lures, T&H Maine, Gator Guards, ,Kistler Rods, HydroWave,  Amphibia Eyewear, Jacobs Glass, Frogg Toggs, Rayjus Sportswear.

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	1853	Steven Stewart Johnny Creel	5	0	17.47	0	17.47	0
2	21299	Keith Southerland Joshua Southerland	5	5.04	16.8	0.25	16.55	0
3	22870	Joey Schmidt Bobby Griffith	5	4.12	16.56	0.25	16.31	0
4	1397	Chris Ambers Greg Sallee	5	4	15.72	0	15.72	0
5	22875	Gerald Andrews Keith White	4	4.57	14.47	0.25	14.22	0
6	22804	Jason Bean Brian Dillard	4	4.68	13.2	0	13.2	0
7	22879	Chad Long Lynne Long	3	4.53	12.16	0	12.16	0
8	11889	Ron Holler Elaine Holler	4	4.07	11.19	0	11.19	0
9	23135	Phillip Harris Larry Harris	5	0	9.74	0	9.74	0
10	18234	David Rogers Lori Rogers	4	0	8.1	0	8.1	0
11	21630	Tony Gaither	2	5.43	7.84	0	7.84	0
12	22515	Lucas Madison Jeremy Hardin	3	0	7.97	0.25	7.72	0
13	21474	David Lowe John Rediess	2	0	7.49	0	7.49	0
14	21175	Greg Gibson Ted Myers	3	0	7.21	0	7.21	0
15	22862	Tim Van Polen Clay Wilcox	2	0	6.63	0	6.63	0
16	22873	Randy Johnson Deborah Johnson	2	0	5.72	0	5.72	0
17	14593	Bernie Fuller Glenn Bruce	2	0	5.29	0	5.29	0
18	6492	Hubert Stafford Steve Holt	2	0	5.11	0	5.11	0
19	22652	Bill Benford Mike Gilley	2	0	5.1	0	5.1	0
20	15933	Justin Wimberley Eric Weeks	3	0	5.02	0	5.02	0
21	19299	Dale Aldridge Lee Hill	2	0	4.84	0	4.84	0
22	21766	Wayne Hartsburg Nathan Sipes	2	0	4.68	0	4.68	0
23	22894	Troy Zaerr Robert Senger	1	4.02	4.02	0	4.02	0
24	1393	Jared Elmore Ricky Elmore	2	0	3.88	0	3.88	0
25	14592	Christopher Newell Roger Motes	2	0	3.97	0.25	3.72	0
26	22701	Eddie Bean Ethan Bean	1	3.67	3.67	0	3.67	0
27	1389	Michael Emberton Sonny Turner	1	3.55	3.55	0	3.55	0
28	14848	Terry Hayden	2	0	3.24	0	3.24	0
29	22880	Jody Wash Chris Wash	1	2.19	2.19	0	2.19	0
30	19075	Marlin Saint Ronald Coats	1	1.77	1.77	0	1.77	0
31	17570	Floyd Williams Dee Ann Williams	1	1.57	1.82	0.25	1.57	0
32	6726	Steve Denton Lloyd Easterly	0	0	0	0	0	0
33	17303	Tom Bradford Troy Bradford	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	19074	Chris Cooper Bob Maggerise	0	0	0	0	0	0
35	22878	Marlan Brown Debbie Brown	0	0	0	0	0	0
36	22871	Scott Wasson Doug Florkowski	0	0	0	0	0	0
37	12542	Marshall Tucker Aaron Thomas	0	0	0	0	0	0
38	22874	Steve Timmons	0	0	0	0	0	0
39	22730	Cledas Manuel Dave Austin	0	0	0	0	0	0
40	21587	Donald Stricklin Jacob Sitton	0	0	0	0	0	0
41	1904	William Bacon Bruce Jennings	0	0	0	0	0	0
42	22876	James Kauffman Justin Brandon	0	0	0	0	0	0
Day 1 Leaders Steve Stewart and Johnny Creel GA South Division 2nd Place Day 1 Keith and Joshua Southerland KY SC 3rd place day1 Joey Schmidt and Bobby Griffith KY LBL