East Division
2005 Tournament Results
Fishing in their first Fishers of Men event, the team of Keith and David Brossard of Williams Bay and Burlington, Wisconsin respectively, pulled a beautiful limit of both largemouth and smallmouth bass weighing in at 18.78 pounds to win the first ever joint tournament between the Illinois North Division and the Wisconsin East Division. Spending most of their time on Lake Monona and Upper Mud, the two targeted primarily post spawn fish using a variety of soft plastics. “We started fishing in Mud Lake, switched to Monona and then finished the day back in Mud.” commented Keith Brossard. Although they caught some of their fish shallow, a majority of their limit came from water 5-15 feet deep. “We caught our fish on tubes, jigs, buzzbaits and drop shot rigs.” added Dave Brossard. Congratulations on a great victory!
Second place finishers Danny Hayes and Curtis Samo of Illinois, weighed in with 16.86 pounds. Samo and Hayes anchored their limit with a behemoth 6.14 pound largemouth which took home 1st big bass honors for the tournament. When asked about their chances of a high finish at Madison given the weight they had, Samo replied, “I really didn’t know… Danny fishes this lake a lot more than I do, and they usually need a 20 pound sack this time of year.” Last minute heroics were the key to their spot in the runner up position. According to Samo, “We got two of them just before we had to come in. Those extra ten pounds made the difference.”
In third were Jim Barczak of Fremont and Mike Mayan of Rosendale, who brought 16.36 pounds to the scales. They caught their fish pitching tubes under docks and on deep weed lines on Lakes Monona and Waubesa. They also took home the MG Lures second big bass award for the tournament with a dandy 5.13 pound largemouth which ate a blue craw ISG Intimidator tube. Finishing in fourth were Jason and David Loewe. Their limit tipped the scales at 16.27 pounds. Cashing a check in their second straight tournament was a bit of a surprise for the Ripon natives. After a very tough practice day on Friday, they decided to just go fishing on Saturday, stay in Lake Waubesa and keep their lines in the water as much as possible. The Loewe’s caught their fish on main lake points using flukes and Senko’s and then using jigs and tubes under docks on Lake Waubesa. “I guess it helps to be lucky sometimes,” commented Jason Loewe. Rounding out the top five were Jim Jones and Ben Kurtz with 14.39 pounds.
One of the highlights of the weigh in was when Kevin Revolinski and his eight year old son Ryan came to the scales. Ryan was fishing in his first tournament. With his brown head of hair barely visible above the diamond plate tables holding the scale, Ryan and his proud father weighed a solid limit touching the scales at 12.11 pounds. “For an eight year old, he did a pretty god job explaining his first Fishers of Men experience. He even leaned back and strained his arms as if he were reeling in his keeper again giving everyone in the crowd a good chuckle,” remarked Wisconsin East division director Chris Jones. “He was pretty excited about the bass he caught, but I think his dad was even more excited.” Jones replied. The father son team finished the day in tenth place. Great Job!
Although the sky looked rather unforgiving less than an hour before weigh in, God blessed the official 3:00 PM weigh in with sunny skies and warm weather. Congratulations to everyone for another great tournament. Thanks again to Illinois division director Bruce Bridges for being the official “weigh master” for the event and to all of his staff for their help in making this an excellent event.
Friday night anglers were treated to a cookout provided by Straight Shooters Christian Sportsmen of Monroe, Wisconsin. What a feast! After a few introductions Bobby Eads, Vice President for Fishers of Men, shared with everyone what is happening with FOM from a national perspective. He reminded anglers that they are part of a bigger picture taking place throughout the United States, with over 4000 anglers participating this season! It’s exciting to see people across the country being drawn to Fishers of Men. After dinner, Pastor Wayne from the Illinois Division shared with us from God’s word. His theme was how God really does care about us. He is a forgiving and loving God regardless of our personal situation. Closing his message with a prayer, he shared with the group that a relationship with God is just a decision away, requiring only a simple prayer asking God to take control of your life. Pastor Wayne was a great encouragement to everyone. Thanks for sharing with us.
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 | Brossard & Brossard | 5 | 18.78 | $1,066.50 | 200 | 200 |
| 2 | Hayes & Samo | 5 | 16.86 | $805.50 | 199 | 199 |
| 3 | Barczak & Mayan | 5 | 16.36 | $581.00 | 198 | 591 |
| 4 | Loewe & Loewe | 5 | 16.27 | $231.00 | 197 | 579 |
| 5 | Jones & Kurtz | 5 | 14.39 | $0.00 | 196 | 396 |
| 6 | Hartwig & St. Clair | 5 | 14.09 | $0.00 | 195 | 589 |
| 7 | Woods & Woods | 5 | 13.35 | $0.00 | 194 | 579 |
| 8 | Fredericks & Wright | 5 | 13.02 | $0.00 | 193 | 193 |
| 9 | Hendricks & Rubin | 5 | 12.85 | $0.00 | 192 | 573 |
| 10 | Revolinski & Revolinski | 5 | 12.11 | $0.00 | 191 | 559 |
| 11 | Foster & Trejo | 5 | 12.01 | $0.00 | 190 | 378 |
| 12 | Holba & Northway | 5 | 11.56 | $0.00 | 189 | 550 |
| 13 | Cogar & Poreda | 5 | 10.36 | $0.00 | 188 | 188 |
| 14 | Halverson & Hartgerink | 4 | 9.74 | $0.00 | 187 | 559 |
| 15 | Bovee & Wittchow | 4 | 9.60 | $0.00 | 186 | 545 |
| 16 | Rhein & Stone | 5 | 9.19 | $0.00 | 135 | 317 |
| 17 | Austin & Woods | 5 | 8.85 | $0.00 | 184 | 379 |
| 18 | Gauthier & Koser | 4 | 8.06 | $0.00 | 183 | 549 |
| 19 | Panfil & Sosnowski | 3 | 7.42 | $0.00 | 182 | 542 |
| 20 | James & Shufelt | 3 | 6.79 | $0.00 | 181 | 542 |
| 21 | Sauberlich & Sauberlich | 1 | 3.13 | $0.00 | 180 | 538 |
| 22 | Dufek & Lyon | 1 | 2.27 | $0.00 | 179 | 533 |
| 23 | Miller & Wenzel | 1 | 1.73 | $0.00 | 178 | 556 |
| 24 | Redmann & Redmann | 1 | 0.00 | $0.00 | 177 | 368 |
