The Fishers of Men Indiana North held their sixth and final event on Lake Shafer in Monticello, Indiana this past weekend. Friday night was a pleasant night to set near the lake and setting in and enjoy the meeting, meal and message for the night. Chaplain Adam Linkenhoker brought an impactful message speaking out of Colossians 3:1-17 and sharing that God’s word gives us simple instructions on how we are to live through Christ. Verses 1 through 4 give us examples on how to set our minds on heavenly things and not things of the world. Verses 5 through 11 speaks of how to overcome past hindrances, 12 though 14 gives us clear instruction to have the Lord’s patience’s. The final three verses, give us direction to let peace feel our hearts.  

The law of averages appeared to win out on the event as the number of teams participating, the average weights and number of fish caught on the day were defiantly low compared to the rest of the season. Cooler days and leading up to the event were below average too. One the typical Friday practice day temperatures started to rise and tournament days high was 15 degrees higher than the average for the week. The cooler temps throughout the week seemed to push the numbers and bigger fish down into a transition pattern.

When the seven teams came to the scales at the Indiana Beach Boat Ramp, the average catch on the day per team was just over two and half fish and the average weight just over four and a third pound. Leading the way with the CMA Truck and Auto Big Bass on the day was Adam Linkenhoker with a 3.21. Linkenhoker and partner Michael Zerrien brought in two additional for a total of three along with Josh Klinghagen who fished alone on the day.

The teams of Jerad Schwedler and Eric Schwedler along with the Davis’, Carl and Sharon landed four fish for their respective teams. Both teams had a different approach in bagging their four fish. Schwedler’s flipped every dock they could possibly find with the father and son duo solidifying their spot at the top with the younger Schwedler, age 10,  catching their fourth fish in the last half hour. The Schwedler’s picked up their first win in two years of fishing the division with four fish on the day weighing in 7.34 pounds.

The husband and wife duo of Carl and Sharon Davis used past experience on Shafer to help find a pattern quick in practice on Friday landing a 4.5 pounder and one just over 2 pounds on crankbaits. They moved on it practice knowing where they would start the day on Saturday. They picked up the second-place spot by catching their four fish in that area by adding a tube to the mix to give them four fish weighing in at 6.64 pounds. This marked the beast finish on the season for the couple.

In third place on the day with 6.20 and 4 fish and securing their 3-divisional championships in as many years was Gary Straber and Jeff Hackler. Winning the division allows them to focus on making plans to travel 600-mile drive to Lake Murray next April for the national championship.

Teams hoping to join the divisional champions will fish in a regional championship hoping to secure a spot to the national championship presented by BassCat Boats. The Divisional championship will be held at Sandusky Bay, Southeast of Toledo Oh on Lake Erie. The two-day event will be held September 19^th through 21^st.    

Tournament Director, Shawn Hamrick would like to thank all the team coming out to fish this year with the Indiana North Division. He would also like to thank local sponsors, Raptor Fishing for being the first place plaque sponsors, CMA Truck and Auto of Berne for being the Big Bass Sponsor and Schmack ‘Em Bait and Tackle of Macy, In for being the results board sponsor.