East Division
2005 Tournament Results
One of the exciting aspects of Fishers of Men tournaments is the team format, which allows anglers to choose a tournament partner and fish with them through five divisional tournaments. Some teams fishing have a wealth of tournament experience and have their sights set on the season ending point championship. For others the goal is to learn as much as possible and, in the process, catch enough fish to advance to the regional championship. Whether a father and son team fishing in their first tournament, a husband wife team fishing together or two buddies looking for a fun day on the water, this blend of tournament anglers has provided some exciting stories during the 2005 season. Along the way friendships are formed, memories are made and experiences are shared that will last for a lifetime. Such is the case for Jordan Thayse and Nate Eckberg. After finishing a disappointing 31st and 19th in their first two FOM events, the DePere duo was able to rebound nicely and make a few memories of their own with a stunning win on Big Green on July 16th. With all eyes on local favorites and the teams at the top of the point standings, Thayse and Eckberg stole the show at the beautiful Green Lake Conference Center with a limit of smallies weighing 14.81 pounds.
“We’ve been very impressed with the level of competition in the first few events and realized that if we wanted to do well in one of these tournaments we would need to put more time and effort into the practice period.” said Thayes, and that’s exactly what they did. Although time spent on the water doesn’t always translate to tournament success, for Thayse and Eckberg it did mean making a mental note of several back up spots in case their pattern faltered on tournament day. Little did they know how valuable one of those back up spots would become.
After an early topwater pattern produced only one keeper, and with less than two hours until weigh in, the two found themselves in a familiar situation. “Here we go again with a pattern that didn’t produce like we had hoped and now we’re going to come in without a good sack of fish again…” Thayse reflected from the front deck of his boat as the heat and boat traffic steadily increased. The one difference, however, between this tournament and the others was that this time they had back up spots. With his hand pointed to an un-named spot on the north shore of Green Lake, partner Nathan Eckberg hopped off the back seat and said, “I want to go fish over there.” Without anywhere better to try, Thayse agreed. “We had found a slightly deeper pocket with some scattered weeds in between two docks during practice but didn’t fish it. It looked good so we made a mental note of it and decided it might be a spot to try if we couldn’t get anything else going on tournament day.” Maybe they should have fished there a little sooner. During the next hour the two would use a sponsor jig which they won as a door prize at the last meeting to fill their five fish limit with four chunky smallmouth. As they netted a 4.18 pound smallmouth which crushed a ¼ oz. “Bullhead” Stump Bumper Finesse Jig, their victory was secured. That same fish also won the MG Lures big bass award. Way to go guys! Congratulations on your first place finish!
Finishing in second place was 2004 Illinois division point champion Tim Northway of Winchester and his partner Pastor Mike Holba of Ripon. The two pulled a solid limit of keepers weighing in at 13.59 pounds. Although many of the tournament competitors had found a decent topwater bite during the practice period, it fizzled for most on tournament day. Most teams switched to a deeper bite using soft plastics a few hours into the tournament. This was not the case for Northway and Holba who caught fish on topwater baits most of the day. A majority of their limit was caught in 7-10 feet of water and fell victim to a slowly retrieved Herring Bone Chug Bug on 14 pound Green Trilene XT. Tim and Mike would like to thank their division sponsors Custom Interiors and Canvas and Steve’s Marine Services for their support throughout the season.
Close behind in third with 13.4 pounds was Ed Hendricks of Fox Lake, Illinois and Brad Rubin from Mundelein, Illinois. Like Northway and Holba they too caught fish on topwater early, but as the day progressed and the heat continued to rise, the team switched to black and blue jigs and tubes in 8-12 feet of water. “Our plan was to focus on quality bites and hope for a good kicker. We never got that winning bite but our plan payed off with quality fish.” commented Rubin. The Illinois team also scored second big bass honors with a 3.72 pound smallie. They would like to thank Bill’s Pizza and Pub in Mundelein and Third Lake, Illinois for their support this season.
Finishing fourth for the third time this season were Rick Hartwig of Waupun and Jeff St. Clair of Neenah. Their limit weighing 11.97 was enough to hold off fifth place finishers Fred Foster and Dan Trejo of Beaver Dam who weighed in with11.67. With one remaining event on the Wolf River in Winneconne on August 20th, Hartwig and St. Clair are leading the division point standings, followed closely by Barczak and Mayan in second.
Be sure to mark Friday August 19th on your calendar. America’s number one bass pro “Wanna Be” Chris Wells will be speaking at the pre-tournament meeting. Chris is flying in from South Carolina and will be here to share with us his passion for fishing and for his faith in God. You won’t want to miss this one. See you at Winneconne!
The Wisconsin East division would like to thank Custom Interiors & Canvas, Steve’s Marine Service, Fox Valley Independent Insurance Services, Stump Bumper Jigs, Kipawa propellors, Calvary Bible Church, Monroe Bible Church, Straight Shooters Christian Sportsmen and the Fox Valley F.O.C.A.S. chapter for their support this season. A special thank you to Jeff Koser at AdvantageAngler.com for taking the fantastic photographs of the tournament. Fishers of Men would like to take this opportunity to thank all our fine National Sponsors. Without them this would not be possible. Triton Boats, Mercury, Strike King Lure Co., Kistler Custom Fishing Rods, Presnell Plantation, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Marshall’s Marine Lake City SC, Solar Bat, Spike-It Bait Co., V&M Bait Co., Castrol, KEELSHIELD, MotorGuide, Lowrance, All-Terrain Tackle, Stanley Jigs, XTools, Dual Pro Charger, Spot Remover by Buckeye Lures, Hot Rods Marine Care Products, Deka Marine Master Batteries, Jacobs Glass, BassRx, Keep Alive Oxygen Infusor, The Original Fish Formula.
| Place | Team | # of Fish | Total Weight | Money | Points | YTD Points |
| 1 | Eckberg & Thayse | 5 | 14.81 | $950.00 | 200 | 552 |
| 2 | Holba & Northway | 5 | 13.59 | $606.00 | 199 | 749 |
| 3 | Hendricks & Rubin | 5 | 13.40 | $394.00 | 198 | 771 |
| 4 | Hartwig & St. Clair | 5 | 11.97 | $60.00 | 197 | 786 |
| 5 | Foster & Trejo | 5 | 11.67 | $0.00 | 196 | 574 |
| 6 | Woods & Woods | 5 | 11.63 | $0.00 | 195 | 774 |
| 7 | Miller & Wenzel | 5 | 11.52 | $0.00 | 194 | 750 |
| 8 | Knipp & Tieze | 5 | 11.21 | $0.00 | 143 | 143 |
| 9 | Loewe & Loewe | 5 | 10.58 | $0.00 | 192 | 771 |
| 10 | Halverson & Hartgerink | 5 | 9.50 | $0.00 | 191 | 750 |
| 11 | Gottschalk & Helmer | 3 | 7.62 | $0.00 | 190 | 388 |
| 12 | Austin & Woods | 3 | 7.12 | $0.00 | 189 | 568 |
| 13 | Barczak & Mayan | 3 | 6.21 | $0.00 | 188 | 779 |
| 14 | James & Shufelt | 3 | 5.82 | $0.00 | 187 | 729 |
| 15 | Abts & Revolinski | 3 | 5.42 | $0.00 | 186 | 745 |
| 16 | Sauberlich & Sauberlich | 2 | 4.08 | $0.00 | 185 | 723 |
| 17 | Bovee & Wittchow | 2 | 3.50 | $0.00 | 184 | 729 |
| 18 | Dufek & Lyon | 1 | 2.21 | $0.00 | 183 | 716 |
| 19 | Panfil & Sosnowski | 0 | 0.00 | $0.00 | 182 | 724 |
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