Our first tournament of the 2023 season is in the books and it sure was surprising. Going into this tournament, I heard fishing reports and "dock talk" from fisherman about their practice days leading up to the tournament. I was expecting some large bags to hit the scales with what I heard from fisherman and seeing other tournament results the week prior. But, boy was I wrong....
With what I was hearing around the lake, I was expecting multiple 20+ pound bags to be weighed in, but it only took 16.86 for the win today and it was well earned by TJ Wilcher and John Stomberger. With a rather TOUGH tournament day, these teammates found a way to put together a very respectable bag to take the win. But wait... did I mention they were ALL smallmouth!? Who would have thought in the middle of April that a smallmouth bag would take the win on one of the best largemouth fisheries in the state?? Oh wait, there's more! The top three finishers of the tournament had smallmouth in their bags!! UNREAL!
The team of Wilcher and Stomberger battled the main lake wind all day today for their winning back. They targeted main lake, pea gravel flats where smallmouth were roaming and wanting to spawn. Using a 1/2 ounce shakyhead and Zoom trick worm, they were able to put 5 big smallmouth in the livewell and take home the win. The second place team was a father/son duo of Matt and James Mattingly. The father/son team started their day finding a shad spawn in the shallows and managed to put 4 keepers in the boat rather quick. Once that bite died, they made their way out to the main lake to battle the wind and upgrade their catch. They had a mixed bag of largemouth and smallmouth come weigh-in time and caught most of their fish on swim jigs in the morning; and then drop shot and carolina rigs in the afternoon. Our third place finishers was another father/son duo of JB and Bradly Rediess. Again, not scared away by the main lake wind; this team of competitors fished main lake pea gravel flats/drops with a finesse swimbait to put 5 quality smallmouth in the well which was good enough to take home the third place trophy.
All in all, it was a successful first tournament of the year. This tournament director is shocked that the smallmouth took over and showed out like they did. Our Friday night meeting at Mike Miller Park was awesome with a great turnout and good food brought to us by one of our fine sponsors, Hayz Meatz - owned and operated by Mr. JB Rediess and his family. Our next tournament will be on Barren River Lake in a few weeks. Stay up-to-date with what is going on by checking us out on our facebook page and division tab on the Fishers of Men website. Thanks to everyone that came out to fish and thank you to all of our fine sponsors below!
As most of you know, we have a Facebook page where I post a lot of information about our tournaments, weigh-ins, meetings, sponsors, etc. Please go give the Facebook page a like and follow to keep up-to-date with what is going on amongst our division. The Facebook page name is "Fishers of Men NTT - Kentucky West".
Fishers of Men would like to thank all of our fine national sponsors: BassCat Boats, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Mercury, Spiderwire DuraBraid, Realtree Fishing, FireFly Oudoor & Marine, Power-Pole, T-H Marine, X2 Power, FroggToggs, FSB Mortgage and Jacobs Glass.
Fishers of Men would like to especially thank all of our great local sponsors: Phillip Brinegar HVAC & Plumbing, Mid-State Recycling, Kingrey's Auto Repair, Jet-A-Marina, Plumbers Supply Company, Mark Miller Marine, Spearpoint Performance Hooks, Fire Line Guns & Knives, R.L. Craig Company, Minco Insulation, Land Big Fish, Brite Wholesale Electric Supply, Hayz Meatz, Air Mechanical Sales, Jody Lashley Custom Docks, Wieda's Marine, NexAir, Ultimate Whitetail, Victaulic and Monticello Bank.
Kentucky Lake / Lake Barkley - 04/15/23DIVISION YEAR TO DATE STANDINGS: | 2024 | 2023 |
Place | Team | Members | # Fish | Big Fish | Gross | Penalty | Net Wt | Points | |
1 | 30371 |
T.J. Wilcher John Stomberger | 5 | 4.64 | 16.86 | 0 | 16.86 | 200 | |
2 | 28898 |
Matt Mattingly Grant Bryant | 5 | 4.37 | 14.58 | 0 | 14.58 | 199 | |
3 | 28625 |
John Rediess Bradly Rediess | 5 | 3.84 | 12.7 | 0 | 12.7 | 198 | |
4 | 30520 |
Mike Williams Ralph Feldman | 5 | 4.57 | 12.22 | 0 | 12.22 | 197 | |
5 | 26002 |
Phillip Brinegar Mike Walker | 4 | 4.88 | 10.61 | 0 | 10.61 | 196 | |
6 | 26062 |
Gaje Ayres Denzel Ayres Jr. | 4 | 0 | 9.38 | 0 | 9.38 | 195 | |
7 | 30384 |
Phillip Bush Dalton Scales-Conklin | 3 | 0 | 8.96 | 0 | 8.96 | 194 | |
8 | 24576 |
Edwin Jarriel David Lowe | 4 | 0 | 8.4 | 0 | 8.4 | 193 | |
9 | 24578 |
Lloyd Easterly Steve Denton | 3 | 0 | 8.33 | 0 | 8.33 | 192 | |
10 | 28407 |
Michael Carter William McFarland | 3 | 0 | 7.05 | 0 | 7.05 | 191 | |
11 | 21476 |
Michael Shelton Troy Shelton | 2 | 3.98 | 6.3 | 0 | 6.3 | 190 | |
12 | 27686 |
Michael Emberton Roger Crain | 1 | 3.84 | 3.84 | 0 | 3.84 | 189 | |
13 | 29301 |
Tim Yates Steve Turner | 1 | 3.14 | 3.14 | 0 | 3.14 | 188 | |
14 | 30370 |
Bob Floro Greg Gibson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 187 | |
15 | 29302 |
Floyd Williams Dee Ann Williams | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 187 | |
16 | 21482 |
Jared Elmore Ricky Elmore | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 187 | |