What an incredible weekend we had for the kickoff of the 2025 season. Fishers of Men Texas Central started 2025 with an absolute bang. This incredible weekend started off with registration held at First Baptist Church of Granite Shoals. The Crane Family as well as the Garcia family served smoked pork butt, beans, potato salad, coleslaw, chips and a boat load of cookies. This is the third year they have volunteered to serve the anglers and their families; we are so grateful for both families; they have blessed us tremendously. It was a fantastic meal, and everyone got their fill.

Jimmy Bennett was put on the spot, kind of a last-minute request to give a message, he of course, was fully prepared to do so. He spoke to the crowd about the God he serves, the creator of the universe, the one that placed each star in its place, the one that knows each one of us.  It was a great message that left an impact on several folks. Jimmy also shared about the new Fishers of Men Legacy Division that he is running right here in Central Texas this season.

Brother Bill Shelnutt passed a piece cord down each table for every person to tie a knot in, he then asked for each person to say a short prayer over that knot, a prayer regarding a blessed marriage. He presented the cords to Ty & Maycie Eller (the newlyweds) and told them to reflect upon the cords during tough times and know that all those knots represent prayers people prayed especially for their marriage. The newlyweds were surprised and very appreciative.

We ended the festivities with a massive raffle, in true Texas Central style!!! We had decided to donate all the money raised during the raffle to one of our angler’s family members who had lost everything she had to a flood. Anglers and dug deep and showed out for this effort in a mighty way, at the end of the event we donated $3,000.00 dollars to this individual, what a wonderful group of anglers we have, to be so generous and loving, to give from your heart to someone in need, so amazing…

Saturday morning met us with some frigid temperatures, it was 38 degrees as we pulled up to the ramp tom begin boat checks. We played the National Anthem and said a prayer before launching out all the boats, as they ran across the lake from spot to spot looking for their biggest five, this director went back to the house to warm up… Brrr. 

At the end of the day, we saw a wide range of ranged results, some anglers were able to catch fish all day, some did not find one that was willing to bite, we did not have a large majority of teams with 5 fish limits, but we had others that found the right ones.

The team of Brennan Fertig and James Beauchamp certainly found them with a limit weighing in at 17.68lbs, they took the first-place spot and got Big Bass Honors with a good one weighing in at 6.64lbs. Bryan Cotter and Mark Wilson finished up with a second-place finish, they came to the scales with a limit weighing 17.30lbs. Gus Chavira and Toby Turner found five for third place with a total of 17.11lbs. Fourth place was secured by Courtney Hobgood and Garrett Dokter with an impressive limit weighing 15.01. Fifth place went to Mitch Randles and Don Schuetze, the team had a limit of 14.33lbs. Sixth place team of Jayson and Lake Kisselburg, the father / son team had a total of 12.38lbs. Seventh place was taken by the team of Chance Allen and Jared Siegeler with a total of 11.9lbs. Andy Whitehead and Kevin Hurley finished out the last paid spot with a limit of 11.45lbs.

The weigh-in ended with us giving back two entry fees to lucky teams, the teams of Shawn Fischer and Christopher Noel as well as Jonas Holmes and Basil Parks won entry fees back.

We concluded the day with men and women gathering to pray over our prayer cards, it was truly a wonderful moment. Ending the event in this manner was very powerful, it was obvious that God met us right there at that table, his presence is so great.

Thank you so much to all of those that helped pull the wagon for this event. Ty Eller, Maycie Eller, Melissa Eller, Nathan Eller, Chris Eller, Colton Eller, (Lot of Ellers’ named there).. Bill Shelnutt, Jimmy Bennett and everyone else that gives a hand and helps.

Fishers of Men Texas Central could not do any of this without the help and support of great companies like Diamond M Land Management, Healthy Self DPC, Bingham Marine Texas, Custom Truck & Wheel of Killeen, Rockin P Construction, Tyler Wrap Co, Forage Lures, Coda Lures, Pro-Tec Products, Fish Life Fish Care Products, TFO Outdoors.

Fishers of Men would like to thank all our National Sponsors, listed alphabetically; Abu Garcia, BassCat Boats, Berkley, Frogg Toggs, Jacobs Glass, Mercury, Power-Pole, Realtree Fishing, Spiderwire DuraBraid, and X2 Power.

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	33008	Brennan Fertig James Beauchamp	5	6.64	17.68	0	17.68	200
2	33014	Bryan Cotter Mark Wilson	5	0	17.3	0	17.3	199
3	29646	Gus Chavira Toby Turner	5	4.09	17.11	0	17.11	198
4	33016	COURTNEY HOBGOOD GARRETT DOKTER	5	5.04	15.01	0	15.01	197
5	29565	Mitch Randles Don Schuetze	5	4.42	14.33	0	14.33	146
6	29572	Jayson Kisselburg Lake Kisselburg	5	0	12.38	0	12.38	195
7	33009	Chance Allen Jared Siegeler	5	0	11.9	0	11.9	144
8	33007	Andy Whitehead kevin hurley	4	0	11.45	0	11.45	193
9	33025	Tom Gridley Daren Sebek	5	0	10.69	0	10.69	192
10	31601	Justin Williams Colton Hill	3	4.97	10.35	0	10.35	191
11	33048	Jimmy Bennett Daniel Miller	4	0	9.6	0	9.6	190
12	32989	Jared Smith Chase Anders	5	0	9.39	0	9.39	189
13	32991	Jonas Holmes Basil Parks	4	0	8.78	0	8.78	188
14	33004	Garrett Stone Christian Cruanyas	3	0	7.8	0	7.8	137
15	29598	Mike Sedillo Justin Rathbun	2	3.97	7.46	0	7.46	186
16	32998	Utah Anderson Carson Sommers	3	0	7.48	0.25	7.23	135
17	31855	BRIAN ABSHIRE	3	0	6.48	0	6.48	184
18	33012	Chester Jenke Trevor Rogge	2	0	6.23	0	6.23	183
19	29596	David Titus Daniel Titus	3	0	6.2	0	6.2	182
20	33026	Xavier Moreno Jacob Moreno	1	5.51	5.51	0	5.51	181
21	33000	Hal Gatewood Sherman Kurtz	3	0	5.38	0	5.38	180
22	33001	Earl Loggains Leisha Loggains	2	3.01	4.5	0	4.5	179
23	32993	Steve Bible Rob Patterson	2	0	4.02	0	4.02	178
24	29559	Nathan Eller Christopher Eller	2	0	3.26	0	3.26	177
25	33013	Danny Briley Brett Meyers	1	2.66	2.66	0	2.66	176
26	30228	Christopher Noel Shawn Fischer	1	2.22	2.22	0	2.22	175
27	29595	Marlon Powell Carlton Bryant	1	1.92	1.92	0	1.92	124
28	29558	Erik Olson Kory Grelle	1	1.66	1.66	0	1.66	173
29	29564	William Shelnutt Michael Smith	1	1.38	1.38	0	1.38	172
30	33017	Andreas Aguiree Malcolm Miller	1	1.31	1.31	0	1.31	121
31	32990	Jayce Payne Jaxon Payne	0	0	0	0	0	170
32	32992	Jordan Hamlin Scott Hamlin	0	0	0	0	0	170
33	32996	Will Vanderhoeven John Koons	0	0	0	0	0	170
34	33002	Shannon Goad Tyler Eller	0	0	0	0	0	170
35	33003	Gary Johnson Seth Fisher	0	0	0	0	0	170
36	33005	Austin Talasek Kyler Roberts	0	0	0	0	0	120
37	33006	Aaron Garcia Larry Crane	0	0	0	0	0	170
38	33010	Collin Lansdale Ben Morton	0	0	0	0	0	120
39	33011	Brandon Miller Ryan Miller	0	0	0	0	0	170
40	33034	Terry Deloach	0	0	0	0	0	120
1st Place Team of Brennan Ferig and Randall Beauchamp with a solid Limit weighing 17.68 and Big Bass Honor of a good one weighing 6.64lbs Bryan Cotter and Mark Wilson take second place with a limit weighing 17.30lbs Third Place goes to Gus Chavira and Toby Turner with a limit that tilted the scales to 17.11lbs Fourth Place was secured by the team of Courtney Hobgood and Garrett Dokter with a limit of 15.01 Fifth place went to Mitch Randles and Don Schuetze with a limit weighing 14.33 Jayson and Lake Kisselburg hang on to the 6th place position with 12.38lbs Chance Allen and Jared Siegeler take 7th place with 11.9lbs Andy Whitehead and Kevin Hurley take 8th place with a limit of 11.45lb