The North Carolina East Fishers of Men Firefly Weeknight Series held their sixth tournament of the 2025 season on the Roanoke River, Friday, June 27, 2025. The weather was sweltering hot with temperatures of 96 degrees and heat index of 100+ degrees. There was a light breeze with the threat of a pop-up storm later in the evening.  Seven teams participated in the tournament and all the teams attended the pre-tournament meeting.

The meeting was started with a prayer and our Chaplain Kenneth Wallace spoke on the importance of an intentional relationship with Jesus, just like you have intentional relationships with family and friends. A one way relationship doesn’t last but so often that is the type of relationship we have with Jesus. We need to intentionally spend time in prayer and reading or Bible daily to have a strong relationship with Jesus. Pat Seigh closed the message with a prayer.

After reviewing the rules highlights, our fishermen set out on the Roanoke River in search of the winning catch. The fishermen found bite to be good although the water temperatures were in the high 80’s.  There were 32 fish weighed for a total 86.80 pounds. 29 of the fish were released back into the water for 90.6% release. The average number of fish per team was 4, average weight per team 12.41 pounds and the average fish weight was 2.71 pounds.

When the teams came to the scale, our team of Gary Sawyer and Eric Ball brought a nice five fish limit to the scales that weighed 16.75 pounds with a 7.24 pound kicker fish to secure first place for the tournament. They took home $195.00 dollars for first place and $35 dollars the big fish. A close Second place went to the team of Chris Meads and Zachery Meads with a five fish limit that weighed 16.23 pounds with a nice 5.69 pound fish. They took home $50.00 dollars for their efforts. Third place went to Gerald Murray and Alan Meads with a five fish that weighed 12.72 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 Josh Powell 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	32785	Gary Sawyer Eric Ball	5	7.24	16.75	0	16.75	200
2	30973	Chris Meads Zachery Meads	5	5.69	16.23	0	16.23	199
3	32786	Alan Meads Gerald Murray	5	0	12.72	0	12.72	198
4	32787	Justin Chamblee Josh Powell	5	5.02	12.87	0.5	12.37	197
5	30953	Kenneth Wallace Jason Samson	5	0	11.79	0	11.79	196
6	36294	Eli Sawyer Edward McMillan	4	0	11.84	0.25	11.59	195
7	30954	Patrick Seigh Isaiah Seigh	3	0	5.41	0	5.41	194
First Place awarded to Gary Sawyer and Eric Ball with a five fish limit 16.75 pounds with the big fish for the tournament 7.24 pounds Second Place awarded to Chris and Zachery Meads with a five fish limit that weighed 16.23 pounds with a nice 5.69 pound fish Third Place Gerald Murray and Alan Meads with a five fish limit that weighed 12.72 pounds Justin Chamblee holds the nice 5.62 pound Roanoke River fish Kenneth Wallace and Jason Samson display a 11.79 pound limit