The first event of 2023 is in the books for Texas Central division Fishers of Men National Tournament Trail. The “Lake Travis Throw Down” began Friday night at Hill Country Bible Church in Austin Texas. A very special shout out to Michele Baran for coordinating everything with the staff there at the church. What a wonderful facility they have there, if you live in the area I highly recommend visiting the church. Melissa Eller prepared 22 quarts of homemade spaghetti sauce, 17lbs of spaghetti noodles, brownies and peanut butter cookies for the dinner…. What a huge task this was, it was a wonderful meal that was enjoyed by all, thank you very much Mrs. Eller.  A special thank you also to Mrs. Baran and Mrs. Chavira for helping serve dinner to all of those in attendance.

Anglers, families, and friends showed up and had a great meal followed by a message about the popular and not so popular verses in the bible. After the meal and message we had an amazing raffle, which always tends to bring out laughs and excitement. Texas Central FOM raffles are a lot of fun!!!! We were also able to have a spouse raffle for those in attendance and six lucky ladies walked away with special gifts. Tournament particulars and weigh in procedures were given by the event director and anglers were on their way to prep for big day on Lake Travis.

Anglers were greeted Saturday morning to mid-40’s and cloud cover as they made their way out to find the five that were going to top the scales. The weather cooperated all day for anglers and weigh in staff, it was a beautiful sunny day in the low 60’s by 3:30 when the teams started rolling in. The fish cooperated as well on this gorgeous day, Bryan Cotter and Garrett Stone certainly found fish willing to bite… These two brought in a sack of fish weighing 17.11 pounds, this bag was anchored by the winning big fish of the day which registered 7.45 pounds. Congratulations to these two for taking the win in the first event of the season. Ray Tomasits and Cary Laudadio placed second with a limit of fish weighing 16.59 pounds. Third place was secured by father / son team of Brian and Jacob Washburn with a limit moving the scales to 15.41, Jacob’s big fish of the day helped that sack, he boated a nice 4.13 for the team. Great Job Jacob, I know your dad was happy to see you catch that one buddy… The father / son team of Jayson and Lake Kisselburg moved the scales enough to secure fourth place with a respectful limit of 14.51 pounds. John Koons and Will Van der Hoeven finished out the paying positions with a fifth place finish, they reported to the scales with a sack of fish weighing 13.6 pounds. All teams weighed fish except for one, we had one team that experienced mechanical issues and did not make it back in time to weigh, we were able to recover the team and they got the boat on the trailer, hoping mechanical issues are fixed and they are able to attend the next event. Thank you, Ty Eller, for driving over and helping.

This event was very special, we had a wonderful time meeting new anglers and seeing all of our old friends, truly a blessing to spend the evening sharing a meal, hearing a message and engaging in fellowship with others. We are so very thankful for everyone that helps at each event with set up and tear down, we couldn’t do it with folks like Nathan Eller, Chris Eller, Earl and Leisha Loggains, John and Michele Baran, Ty and Melissa Eller and all those that show up and volunteer to help out. As a director of this trail, you sure make my life easier, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

Texas Central would like to thank our wonderful divisional sponsors: Bingham Marine Texas, Custom Truck and Wheel, Tyler Wrap Company, Forage Lures, Cornerstone Baits, Coda Lures, Vicious Fishing, RPG Outdoors, Ardent Outdoors, Be One Promotions, Fish Life Fish Care Products, Pro Tec Products.

Fishers of Men would like to thank all our National Sponsors, listed alphabetically; Abu Garcia, BassCat Boats, Berkley, Frogg Toggs, Jacobs Glass, Mercury, Power-Pole, Realtree Fishing, Spiderwire DuraBraid, T&H Marine, and X2 Power

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	29647	Bryan Cotter Garrett Stone	5	7.45	17.11	0	17.11	200
2	29744	Cary Laudadio Ray Tomasits	5	0	16.59	0	16.59	149
3	29555	Brian Washburn Jacob Washburn	5	4.13	15.41	0	15.41	198
4	29572	Jayson Kisselburg Lake Kisselburg	5	4.8	14.51	0	14.51	197
5	29599	Will van der Hoeven John Koons	5	6.36	13.6	0	13.6	196
6	29712	Hal Gatewood Andy Whitehead	5	0	11.95	0	11.95	195
7	29646	Gus Chavira Toby Turner	5	0	11.3	0	11.3	194
8	29623	Austin Talasek Kyler Roberts	5	0	11.14	0	11.14	143
9	29557	Shannon Goad Chase Hamessley	5	0	11	0	11	192
10	29562	Michael Kersey Ron Chance	5	0	10.82	0	10.82	191
11	29561	Gerald Rabroker Jarrett Rabroker	5	0	10.65	0	10.65	190
12	29560	Gary Johnson Tina Johnson	5	0	10.22	0	10.22	189
13	29598	Mike Sedillo Justin Rathbun	5	0	10.18	0	10.18	188
14	29558	Erik Olson Kory Grelle	5	0	9.99	0	9.99	187
15	29565	Mitch Randles Don Schuetze	5	0	9.44	0	9.44	136
16	29743	Ean Bowles John Bowles	5	0	9.38	0	9.38	135
17	29600	Will Curlee Ty Johnson	5	0	8.8	0	8.8	184
18	29597	Justin Williams Colton Hill	5	0	8.72	0	8.72	183
19	29586	Jimmy Bennett David Polk	5	0	8.43	0	8.43	182
20	29631	Chester Jenke Tyler Jenke	5	0	8.27	0	8.27	181
21	29559	Nathan Eller Chris Eller	2	0	5.31	0	5.31	180
22	29563	Willie Eller Tyler Eller	2	0	5.08	0	5.08	179
23	29564	William Shelnutt Michael Smith	3	0	4.25	0	4.25	178
24	29554	John Baran Michele Baran	2	0	2.41	0	2.41	177
25	29595	Marlon Powell Carlton Bryant	0	0	0	0	0	176
Winning Team of Bryan Cotter and Garrett Stone with 17.11 and a 7.45 kicker Second place team of Cary Laudadio and Ray Tomasits with 16.59 Father / Son team of Brian and Jacob Washburn take third with 15.41 Father / Son team of Jayson and Lake Kisselburg secure fourth place with 14.51 Fifth Place team of John Koons and Will Van Der Hoeven with 13.6lbs