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Water
temp-55-60 degrees
Sky-
Bluebird
Wind- calm-5
Thomson
and Green Take First and Lots of Green at Mozingo in Iowa’s
Opener.
Maryville, Missouri; April 22, 2006: Steve Green and John Thomson of
Creston, Iowa earned first place here today in the Fishers of Men
National Tournament Trail, Iowa Division’s season opener. A slight
breeze out of the northwest, with blue bird skies greeted
competitors anxious to get the 2006 season underway. The Creston duo
caught good fish all day in the North half of the lake to bring in a
5 bass limit of 21.15 pounds, and the tournament Big Bass of 4.77
pounds. . The were targeting fish in and near the submerged and
emerging grass. And caught about equal numbers of keepers and
non-keeper fish of their 20+ fish. Spinnerbaits and jigs were their
chosen weapons to do battle with. They were slow rolling the
spinnerbaits in the clear water while sitting in 4-12 feet of water.
Returning to the Iowa Division after a
couple of years away were Terry Allen of Bethany, Missouri and Chris
Jewett of Barnard, Missouri (Chris spent an active duty tour with
the National Guard) who captured second place with a 17.90 pound
limit of green bass and the tournament 2nd. Big Bass of 4.74 pounds.
Chris and Terry caught some fish early then more just before
weighing in. They too were using a slow presentation in and around
grass but in stained water using combinations of jigs spinnerbaits
and plastics mostly in the top secret colors of black and blue in
6-10 ft of water. They brought 15 keepers and 7 non-keepers to the
boat to cull for their 5 fish limit. Chris and Terry are currently
in second place in both the Iowa Division and the Ozarks division of
FOMNTT.
Third place fell to the new combination
of veteran Jim Lee Meyerdirk of Spirit Lake, Iowa (just 5 hours
north of Mozingo on U.S. Highway 71, where we will be next
tournament.) and Randy Hunnefeld of Urbandale, Iowa. Jim’s partner
the last several seasons moved away North for employment reasons,
but that does not seem to have slowed done his fishing much. Jim and
Randy caught their Largeheads around 10 o’clock in the North end
of the lake in the trees on black Berkley sinking minnows in about
10 feet of depth. The murky water was 64 degrees at the surface.
Four fish were culled to come up with 15.37 pounds 5 fish limit and
a 3.65 kicker fish.
Rick Hanson of Redfield, IA and Wayne
Kautzky of Colfax, IA strung a 5 fish limit of 14.50 pounds of
bigmouths to grab fourth place and their first FOM cash pay.
Wayne and Rick had two activity periods
where they caught fish, first at 7:30 – 9:00 A.M. and then at 1:30
–2:30 P.M. They were fishing the channel edges and catching the
fish on the drop-offs and weed lines using baby bass patterned crank
baits and watermelon with red flake worms. They pulled the worms
over and through the slop at 5-10 feet and deep cranked the channel
edge over 15-25 feet. They culled one keeper to get their limit.
All the fishermen seemed happy and
appraised the fishery as excellent, but that is apparent when every
team weighs in multiple keeper fish. These fish have been staging
and in the prespawn position for about a month and have had all the
weather you can image thrown at them as well as multiple tournament
weekly. The city of Maryville should be very proud and their
facilities and we appreciate them letting us use them.
The best part of a FOMNTT tournament is
the pre-tournament meeting and This Friday night was no exception.
The Laura Street Baptist Church Men outdid themselves with a fine
meal of chili; bean soup; salads, sides and home made cookies. It is
great to see that the church is so alive that it is building a huge
Sanctuary and classroom addition, which we hope to see next time we
return.
Brother Brett Kennedy of St. Joseph,
Missouri gave the message quoting from Matthew 4:19 and then 4:18 he
spoke of us being commissioned by Jesus to go out and recruit
people. Peter showed his faith by trusting Jesus and getting out of
the boat and then taking his eyes off Jesus, but again having the
faith to return. We must have the faith to get out of the boat.
Brett talked about using the right bait to bring people to the Lord
and do as Peter in Matthew 25-30, when he called Peter to
demonstrate his faith.
Brother Harlan Smithers gave his testimony of the Lord pulling him
away from an alcoholic lifestyle and guiding him through recovery.
He spoke of how the Lord took the fear of failure and the desire to
drink away from him.
Tom Ciak better known as Big Bird of Maryville also gave his
testimony and a refreshing admonition to the fisherman to listen to
what Brother Kennedy was saying. Big Bird also asked for prayers for
the people that were taking over his lake side bait business after
he lost his lease and was forced to move to town.
Following Brother Brett’s invitation
3 brothers gave their hearts over to Jesus, while 11 more
rededicated their lives and 1 expressed questions about his present
life.
Special thanks to the people of Ambush
Lures (of Maryville) and especially to Bret Ware who came to our
Friday night meeting and demonstrated lures explaining some of the
new products. and left a bunch of samples. More thanks to the
Energizer Battery folks (also from Maryville); who gave every angler
present a great new flashlight with batteries. Of course we have to
thank Big Bird’s Bait and Bows for all the help and donations.
Always stop and check with ‘Bird’ on the way through Maryville
(He is now just south of the courthouse square on the West side of
business 71, stop, look at his assortment of bows and shoot a few.)
We would like to thank our National
sponsors: Triton Boats, Mercury, Kistler, Strike King, Diamond Cut
Jeans, Gary Yamamoto, Marshall's Marine, Solar Bat, Spike-It,
Castrol, V & M, Motor Guide, Keelshield, Lowrance, All-Terrain
Tackle, The Spot Remover, Hot Rods, Stanley Jigs, Dual Pro Charger,
X Tools, Deka Marine Batteries, Jacobs Glass, Bass Rx, Keep Alive
Oxygen Infusor, River Bottom Lures, Motorguide, Hooah Energy Bars,
Sospenders, Diamond Cut Jeans.
Divisional Sponsors: Pamida of
Winterset, IA; Winterset First Baptist Church; Reed’s Laundry and
Dry Cleaning of Urbandale, IA; Yo-Yo.com fishing nets of Esterville,
Iowa ; Pure Fishing, Abu Garcia, Berkley (Trilene, Power Bait,
Gulp), Fenwick, Stren, Spiderwire, Fisherman’s Factory Outlet, of
Spirit Lake, IA; Interstate All Battery Stores (Clive, IA); Tony
Sunken’s Brushy Creek Lures. Coca-Cola Bottlers of Ottumwa, Iowa,
Chris Calkins of Marshalltown, Iowa and Jim Lee Meyerdirk of Spirit
Lake, Iowa.
Tournament Sponsors for the Mozingo Tournament: Laura Street Baptist
Church, Hy-Vee of Maryville, Orscheln Farm & Home,,
McDonald’s, Hardee’s, Pizza Hut, Earl May Garden Center,
Wal-Mart, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger
King, Subway, Everyready Energizer Batteries, Ambush Lures, Big
Bird’s Bait and Bows, Taco Johns’s all of Maryville.
Divisional Sponsors: Pamida of
Winterset, IA; Winterset First Baptist Church; Winterset Family
Center (Farm & Home); Reed’s Laundry and Dry Cleaning of
Urbandale, IA; Pure Fishing, Abu Garcia, Berkley (Trilene, Power
Bait, Gulp), Fenwick, Stren, Spiderwire, Fisherman’s Factory
Outlet; Interstate All Battery Stores (Clive, IA).
Our next tournament will be Saturday May 20, 2006 on the Okoboji
Chain of Lakes out of Arnold’s Park, Iowa. The pretournament
meeting will be at the First Presbyterian Church of Spirit Lake,
Iowa on May 19, 2006 beginning at 6:00 P.M. A good meal will be
ready for you. Official lodging headquarters is the Triggs Bay
Resort just north of the ramp. See details for the contact
information.
I’m caught in His net!
Ken (“Coldfront”) Callison
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