Jesse and Anthony Lopez WIN!
Clinton Lake, May 5, 2007, by Carl Parks

The Central Illinois Division of Fishers of Men held their first ever Legacy Series event with fifteen teams from all over Illinois , and even two teams from Iowa . These fifteen teams consisted of one adult angler and one junior angler. The Friday night pre-tournament meeting was held at the DeWitt County Sportsmen’s Club. The teams and their families were treated to a pizza party and many wonderful deserts. Afterward, our director Carl Parks gave a powerful message about rules for living, and then the good news of the gospel, which brought 13 people to rededicate their lives to the Lord! Amen! God still works miracles!

Saturday morning was overcast and calm as the fifteen teams took off from the Clinton Marina at around 6:00 a.m. to try and catch a limit of Bass and be back by weigh-in at 1:00p.m. Twelve teams managed to bring in at least one fish. 

Jesse and Anthony Lopez

Even though the bite was tough one team caught a limit and won the first of two Legacy tournaments. Jesse and Anthony Lopez of Naperville , Illinois caught five bass weighing 10.97 lbs. The team told us that they were catching their fish in shallow water near lay downs using crawdads and lizards. Congratulations to Jesse and Anthony for winning our first ever Legacy event! They took home the First Place Plaques sponsored by the Clinton IGA Food liner and they also received First place money. 

The team of Dale McCumsey of Farmer City, Illinois and his grandson Will Denney of Mackinaw, Illinois finished just short of the winning weight with four fish that weighed 10.55 lbs to take second place money. 

Third place money went to the team of Mark McLean and his daughter Rachel McLean of Champaign , Illinois with three fish weighing 8.67 lbs. They also caught the big bass of the tournament, which weighed 3.69 lbs. Great job! 

The local team of Travis Boley and daughter Emily Boley from nearby Weldon, Illinois took fourth place money with four fish that weighed 7.30 lbs. 

Fifth place money went to the team of Mike McGill and his son Dalton McGill of Findlay, Illinois with 2 fish that weighed 6.41 lbs. 

Sixth place was the team of Mark Busch and his daughter Tiffany Busch from Yorkville, Illinois with two bass weighing 3.66 lbs. 

Seventh place was Scott Visser and his son Phil Visser of Knoxville, Iowa with one fish that weighed 3.63 lbs which was our second big bass of the tournament. 

Eighth place was the team of Eric Corwin and Gerrit Visser also from Knoxville, Iowa with two fish that weighed 3.21 lbs. 

Ninth place was Tom Followell of Clinton and Colton Followell from Weldon had 1 bass weighing 2.92 lbs. 

Tenth place was Mark Kaufman and Andrew Force both from Cisco, Illinois weighed in one fish at 2.48 lbs. 

Eleventh place was the team of Kevin McLean and daughter Melissa McLean from Woodridge, Illinois had one fish weighing 2.10 lbs. 

Tied for twelfth place were the team of Robert Sadler of Danville, Illinois and his partner Chris Duncheon  of Oakwood who had one fish weighing 3.58 lbs but their boat broke down and couldn’t make it to the weigh-in on time so their catch was disqualified. 

The other three teams tied for twelfth were John Glynn and his son Sean Glynn from Orland Park , Illinois .

The team of Steve Grubb and son Kasey Grubb from Metamora , Illinois and the team of Jeff Cooley and Taylor Cooley of Clinton , Illinois round out the field of fifteen. 

After the weigh-in, every junior angler was presented with a trophy for his or her participation provided by the IGA food liner in Clinton . A special thank you to IGA for supporting our Legacy Series.

We would also like to thank our local sponsors for supporting our division, The City of Clinton, The hotel/motel tax committee, Peterson Insurance, Clinton Walmart, Riverview Marine, Kathy Look with American Home Loans, and the Victory Christian Center in Urbana , Illinois .

Our next event will be May 26^th on Clinton Lake and the weigh-in will be at the Clinton Marina at 3:00 p.m. This will be our second of five team series events. Our next and final Legacy event will be held on June 9^th also on Clinton Lake . For more info on any of our tournaments, please contact the director Carl Parks at 217-621-1386 or via e-mail at carlparksy@aol.com.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the fine companies that make Fishers of Men possible; Triton Boats, Mercury, Shakespeare, All Star Rods, Pflueger, Strike King Lure Company,  XTools, Solar Bat, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Keelshield, MotorGuide, SOSPENDERS, Marshall’s Marine Lake City SC, Kistler,  All-Terrain Tackle, Dual Pro Charger,  Lowrance, Buckeye Lures,  Stanley Jigs,  Deka Marine Master Batteries, Spike-It, Jacobs Glass, Hooah Energy Bars, Poor Boys Baits, T&H Marine BASS Rx, and Keep Alive.