Elizabeth City NC;

The North Carolina East Fishers of Men Firefly Weeknight Series held their first tournament of the 2023 season on the Pasquotank River Friday, June 9, 2023. The temperatures were in the high 70’s with a 10-15 MPH wind coming from the southwest.  15 teams participated in the tournament and attended the pre-tournament meeting.

The meeting was started with a prayer and our Division Chaplain, Kenneth Wallace, provided a short message to our participants about facing the storms in our lives. Kenneth referenced Luke 8 vs. 22-25, where Jesus and his disciples were crossing the sea. As they set out, Jesus fell asleep. A squall came down the lake and the boat was being swamped and they were in great danger. The disciples woke Jesus saying “Master, Master we’re going to drown!” Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and raging waters and the storm subsided and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. Kenneth asked the same of our participants when they faces storms in their lives and reminded them to look to Jesus for the answer.

After reviewing the rules highlights, our fishermen made their way out to the Pasquotank River in search of the winning catch. The fishermen found the bite was tough. There were 42 fish weighed for a total of 82.4 pounds. All the fish were released back into the water for 100% release. The average fish per team was 2, average weight per team 5.42 pounds and the average fish weight was 1.94 pounds. When the teams came to the scale, only 3 five fish limits were weighed. First Place was awarded to Chris and Zachery Meads with a winning catch that weighed 12.91 pounds and a 3.76 pound kicker. The first place prize was $375 dollars. Second place was awarded to Kenneth Wallace and Jason Samson who brought 10.89 pounds to the scales, with a 4.18 pound big fish. They took $100 dollars home for their efforts. Third place was awarded to David Anderson and Kevin Versprille with four fish that weighed 9.27 pounds. They also had the big fish for the tournament that weighed 5.05 pounds. They took home $50 dollars for third place and $75 dollars for the big fish prize.

We would like to thank all those who helped with making this tournament a success, especially Kenneth Wallace, Tom Houlroyd, Gary Sawyer and Isaiah Seigh as well as all our fishermen. We also would like to thank all the Fishers of Men sponsors; Bass Cat, Mercury, Realtree Fishing, Power Pole, Firefly Outdoor and Marine, Abu Garcia, Berkley, Spiderwire, TH Marine and X2Power.

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	30973	Chris Meads Zachery Meads	5	3.76	12.91	0	12.91	200
2	30953	Kenneth Wallace Jason Samson	5	4.18	10.89	0	10.89	199
3	30956	David Anderson Kevin Versprille	4	5.05	9.27	0	9.27	198
4	30954	Patrick Seigh Isaiah Seigh	5	2.05	7.9	0	7.9	197
5	30976	Gill Burke Samuel Biggs	4	2.17	6.47	0	6.47	196
6	30972	Jason Smith Sam Spruill	4	2.07	6.28	0	6.28	195
7	31002	Michael Evans	4	1.64	5.93	0	5.93	194
8	30979	Ronnie Carlson	3	2.56	5.72	0	5.72	193
9	30981	Kirk Nixon trent nixon	3	3.21	5.69	0	5.69	192
10	30980	Brent Thomas Ethan Thomas	2	3.5	4.66	0	4.66	191
11	30955	Gary Sawyer Frank Gunia	1	2.01	2.01	0	2.01	190
12	31001	Edison Allen	1	1.95	1.95	0	1.95	189
13	30952	Jim Dick Greg Dick	1	1.59	1.59	0	1.59	188
14	30984	chris turner ricky mize	0	0	0	0	0	187
15	30986	Bruce Simons deborah simons	0	0	0	0	0	187
First Place Chris and Zachery Meads with 12.91 pounds Second Place Kenneth Wallace and Jason Samson with 10.89 pounds First Place Brent Thomas(fishing solo without his partner Ethan Thomas) with the winning weight of 12.87 pounds with the Big Fish that weighed 8.90 pounds