The North Carolina East Fishers of Men Firefly Weeknight Series held their fifth tournament of the 2025 season on the North River, Friday, May 30, 2025. The weather was blustery with winds blowing out of the west 20-25 mph with the threat of severe storms later in the evening.  Eleven teams participated in the tournament and 10 teams attended the pre-tournament meeting.

The meeting was started with a prayer and our Chaplain Kenneth Wallace providing the message titled “Removing Sin from Your Life”. He read the scripture out of Psalms 139 vs. 23-24 (ESV).

Kenneth started by discussing a call to examine ourselves. He mentioned that every believer is called to walk in holiness but in the business of life, sin quietly creeps into through thoughts, attitudes, habits or actions until it takes root in our hearts. The first step into getting sin out of our lives is to recognize its presence. As David, a man after Gods own heart, didn’t trust his own ability to self-diagnose. Instead he invites God to search his heart. That same humility is required of us today. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to expose anything in us that dishonors God. When we tolerate sin, it separates us from the joy of God’s presence. Isaiah 59:2 tells us that sin is not just a bad habit, it’s a spiritual barrier. Kenneth went on asking some reflective questions stating that we need to ask the Lord to shine his light on our hearts and ask Him to cleanse us and restore our fellowship with Him. Next we need to Confess, Repent, and Walk in Freedom! Once the Holy Spirit convicts us, the next step is to confess and repent of our sins. Confession is not just admitting guilt, its agreeing with God about the seriousness nature of sin. Repentance goes even further; it means turning away from sin and turning towards God. 1 John 1:9 gives us the promise: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. God’s forgiveness is full and complete no matter how deep the stain of our sin, the blood of Jesus washes us white as snow. Kenneth ended with three practical steps to overcome the temptation and live in victory including:

• Daily time in God’s word ( Psalm 119:11
• Accountability with mature believers (James 5:16)
• Avoiding triggers and making no provision for the flesh (Romans 13:14)

Kenneth concluded with some words of encouragement and prayer.

After reviewing the rules highlights, and discussing the Firefly Weeknight Series National Championship, our fishermen set out on the North River in search of the winning catch. The fishermen found very little cooperation from the fish wanting to bite with the afternoon sun and blustery conditions.  There were 28 fish weighed for a total 83.77 pounds. 28 of the fish were released back into the water for 100% release. The average number of fish per team was 2, average weight per team 7.62 pounds and the average fish weight was 2.99 pounds.

When the teams came to the scale, our new team of Nick Koenig and Drew Bruns brought a nice five fish limit to the scales that weighed 20.01 pounds with a 7.60 pound kicker fish to secure first place for the tournament. They took home $325.00 dollars including $55 dollars for first place and the big fish. Second place went to the team of Alan Meads and Gerald Murray with a five fish limit that weighed 12 40 pounds. They took home $70.00 dollars for their efforts. Third place went to Craig Simmons and Gill Burke with a five fish that weighed 11.15 pounds. There were only two places paid due to the number of boats entered in the tournament.

We would like to thank all those who helped with making this tournament a success, especially Kenneth Wallace, Gary Sawyer, Eric Ball and Isaiah Seigh as well as all our fishermen who helped with set-up and take down of the scales and equipment.   We also would like to thank all the Fishers of Men sponsors; Bass Cat, Mercury, Realtree Fishing, Power Pole, Firefly Outdoor and Marine, Abu Garcia, Berkley, Spiderwire, TH Marine and X2Power.

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	36186	Nick Koenig Drew Bruns	5	7.6	20.01	0	20.01	200
2	32786	Alan Meads Gerald Murray	4	0	12.04	0	12.04	199
3	35650	Craig Simmons Gill Burke	5	0	11.15	0	11.15	148
4	32787	Justin Chamblee Josh Powell	2	6.11	9.7	0	9.7	197
5	30973	Chris Meads Zachery Meads	3	0	7.5	0	7.5	196
6	32785	Gary Sawyer Eric Ball	3	0	7.07	0	7.07	195
7	30954	Patrick Seigh Isaiah Seigh	3	0	5.5	0	5.5	194
8	30952	Jim Dick Greg Dick	1	4.2	4.2	0	4.2	193
9	30953	Kenneth Wallace Jason Samson	1	3.5	3.5	0	3.5	192
10	36080	Yaheese Lynch McKenzie Lynch	1	3.1	3.1	0	3.1	191
11	30981	Kirk Nixon trent nixon	0	0	0	0	0	190
First Place: Nick Koenig and Drew Bruns with a nice five fish limit that weighed 20.01 pounds that includes the big fish for the tournament that weighed 7.60 pounds