The North Carolina East Fishers of Men Firefly Weeknight Series held their seventh tournament of the 2024 season on the North River, August 2, 2024. The afternoon started with temperatures in the high 90’s with sunny skies and a winds 15 to 25 mph from the SW for a hot and breezy evening to fish. Seven teams participated in the tournament and all teams attended the pre-tournament meeting.

The meeting was started with a message from Sam Spruill, who is one of our Firefly Week -nighter Series fishermen. Sam gave a personal testimony about his battle with Pancreatic Cancer and how his faith is Jesus has helped him cope with the physical and mental aspects of this disease. He read from the Gospel of Luke Chapter 7 verses 11-16 where Jesus raised a widow’s son from the dead. In these passages, Jesus reveled his miraculous power to the doubtless, including his 12 disciples.  Jesus showed compassion on the widow and his power over death itself. Sam spoke about how Jesus showed his Love, Grace and Compassion and Mercy on him throughout his journey and how his friends, co-workers and church family has surrounded him with prayer, assistance with household needs, food and financial assistance. He is living proof that if we have Jesus Christ in our heart and have faith, Jesus will provide all our needs. We have nothing to fear! What a powerful message. I thank Sam for giving us his testimony. It was truly a blessing!

After reviewing the rules highlights, our fishermen set out on the water in search of the winning catch. The fishermen found the 88 degree water making the bite a little tough.  There were 21 fish weighed for a total of 43.1 pounds. 21 of the fish were released back into the water for 100% release. The average number of fish per team was 3, average weight per team 6.17 pounds and the average fish weight was 2.06 pounds.  When all the teams weighed in, our team of Chris Meads and Zach Meads, brought a five fish limit to the scales that weighed 14.83 pounds for First Place with a nice 3.89.pound kicker fish that was the Big Fish for the tournament. They received a check for $195.00.00 dollars for the winning sack and $35.00 for the Big Fish.  Our second place finisher were Michael Abel and Michael Looney who brought 5 fish to the scales that weighed 11.19 pounds. They took home $50.00 dollars for their efforts. Third Place went Kenneth Wallace and Jason Samson who brought four fish to the scales that weighed 7.63 pounds.  Due to the number of participating teams, only two places were paid.

We would like to thank all those who helped with making this tournament a success, especially Kenneth Wallace, Gary Sawyer, Sam Spruill as well as all our fishermen who helped and participated.

Fishers of Men would like to thank all our National Sponsors; Berkley , BassCat Boats, Abu Garcia, Mercury, Fenwick, Realtree Fishing, FireFly Outdoor & Marine, Power-Pole,  T&H Marine, Frogg Toggs, X2 Power and Jacobs Glass.

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	30973	Chris Meads Zachery Meads	5	3.89	14.82	0	14.82	200
2	32587	Michael Looney Michael Abel	5	3.57	11.19	0	11.19	199
3	30953	Kenneth Wallace Jason Samson	4	2.92	7.63	0	7.63	198
4	30952	Jim Dick Greg Dick	5	0	6.83	0	6.83	197
5	30972	Jason Smith Sam Spruill	1	1.4	1.4	0	1.4	196
6	31888	Gary Sawyer Terisa Sawyer	1	1.3	1.3	0	1.3	195
7	30954	Patrick Seigh Isaiah Seigh	0	0	0	0	0	194
First Place Chris and Zachery Meads with 14.38 pounds with the Big Fish for the tournament that weighed 3.89 pounds.