On Friday, April 22nd, The Fishers of Men, Indiana North Division opened up the 2023 season at Five Corners Baptist Church just north of Wolcottville for their season-opening meeting. Eighteen FOM members and three members of the church met for the meal, devotional, and meeting. Everyone enjoyed pizza and beverages provided by the church. The FOM members took a love offering for the church. 

Before the devotional took place, Tournament Director & Chaplin Shawn Hamrick reminded the members in attendance of the passing of long-time member Danny Spratt of Avon on February 2nd, 2023. Danny spent many years fishing with Fishers of Men and fished alongside two of our members at different times, Jeff Hackler and Jered Schwedler, and lost his battle with cancer. The two men were asked to come forward for prayer and all the remaining members came forward to pray alongside them. Hamrick leads the group, in praying for healing over the loss of their partner and friend. The prayer also included a prayer of healing, comfort, and strength for the entire Heckler family during this time. 

Hamrick also announced that later in the fall, FOM Indiana North will hold the Danny Spratt Open Memorial Tournament at Lake Shafer in Monticello, In.

Five Corners Baptist Church member Barry Thiessen shared a testimony and devotional. Barry shared about a time in his life when he and his wife struggled in their marriage and divorce was coming. 

He shared how a family member called his wife and ask her to come to church. Barry’s wife had just asked him for divorce in the front yard a few minutes before. She asked Barry to come along with her and he went. They both went the next Sunday and began a new life together as Christians that Sunday. 

Barry also shared four short stories about different people’s encounters and shared their decisions. Then he looked at all of us and stated, “You have a decision to make.” Following the devotional, Shawn lead a prayer and prayed over the group, asking for them to search and ask the Holy Spirit if they had the decision to make.

There were two recommitments and two seeking a better understanding of the Christian faith from the group! 

 Following prayer, we held our tournament meeting, where the decision cards we filled out earlier were turned in for boat draws. Gary Straber and his team partner Jeff Heckler got the first spot out but would lose it on the morning of the tournament as the "First Boat Out" raffle winner Adam Linkenhoker took the winning bid with fifty dollars giving him and his partner Michael Zerrien the number one spot and a one-minute lead. Linkenhoker took home a devotional from FOM Partner Blake Smith titled The Morning Bite: A Bass Fishing Devotional.

The one-minute lead wasn’t a factor in comparing bags when the team of Josh Klinghagen and Jason Smith came to the scale. Both teams had five in their bags, but the 5.89 kicker caught by Klinghagen between noon and one on a Berkley Stunna 110 Jerkbait sealed the deal at 14.25 pounds.

They reported water temperatures of 52 degrees. The weather at take-off was 45 degrees and peaked at 49. At 1 pm is when it dropped with gusty winds nearly capping the waves on the bigger lakes in the chain. Winds gusting hard till about 2:15 but then the sun popped out in the last forty-five minutes to make it an enjoyable weigh-in. 

Straber and Heckler brought in five and finished in the top half of the field with 8.36 pounds, but nearly a quarter pound edged them out of a top 3 finish. The father-son duo of Jerad and Eric Schwedler, with five at 8.60 pounds, took third. Finishing out with a top three spot at second and in the money were Michael Zerrien and Adam Linkenhoker at 10.09 pounds.

With Klinghagen and Smith finishing with point two five pounds in their weight, they pocketed an additional prize of twenty-five dollars to celebrate the twenty-fifth year of Fishers of Men Tournament Trail. The tournament director will add each tournament $25 to a pot and goes to a team that finishes with 25 in their weight. If twenty-five doesn't show, the money rolls over to the next. 

The next stop for the anglers of FOM Indiana North will be on Lake Manitou, on May 20th at the DNR ramp.

For complete details, visit the tournament page at: 

https://fomntt.com/pageflow.cfm?callpage=eventdetail&schid=8631&divid=16&getyear=2023

Or our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2449986055148068/

Thank-you to our National Sponsors 

Fishers of Men would like to thank all of our fine sponsors; BassCat Boats, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Mercury, Spiderwire DuraBraid, Realtree Fishing, FireFly Outdoor & Marine, Power-Pole, T&H Marine, X2 Power, FroggToggs , FSB Mortgage and Jacobs Glass.

Thank-you to our local sponsors:

Raptor Fishing for being our 1st Place Plaques Presenting Sponsor: www.raptorfishingrods.com

CMA Truck and Auto for being Our Big Bass Plaques Presenting Sponsor: www.cmatruckandauto.com

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	30417	Josh Klinghagen Jason Smith	5	5.89	14.25	0	14.25	200
2	30414	Michael Zerrien Adam Linkenhoker	5	0	10.09	0	10.09	199
3	30542	Jerad Schwedler Eric Schwedler	5	0	8.6	0	8.6	198
4	28918	Gary Straber Jeffery Hackler	5	0	8.36	0	8.36	197
5	30269	Garrick Straber Mikael Robbins	5	0	7.43	0	7.43	196
6	28920	Don Gambrel George Powell	1	0	3.3	0	3.3	195
7	30416	Carl Davis Jonathan Wetherald	1	0	2.61	0	2.61	194
8	30618	Kelvin Michael Monika Michael	1	0	2.27	0	2.27	143
9	28921	Austin Graber Evan Graber	1	0	1.41	0	1.41	191
1st Place Josh Klinghagen & Jason "Moose" Smith 5 for 14.25 lbs Josh Kinghagen 2nd Place Michael Zerrien & Adam Linkenhoker 5 for 10.09 lbs Josh getting it done with Berkley Stunna 110 Jerkbait And landing the Big Bass of the day 5.89 lbs on same bait!