Fishers of Men Anglers Storm Lake Wissota
WI East Anglers Kind & Hidde Storm into the lead

By Chris Jones FOM Staff Writer
All eyes were on the sky prior to ?Blast off? on day one of the Fishers of Men Midwest Regional Championship on Lake Wissota, and with good reason. Thursday evening brought severe thunderstorms to the Chippewa Valley including, gusty winds, frequent cloud to ground lightning and scattered power outages including a brief outage during the pre-tournament meeting at the Sleep Inn and Suites of Eau Claire. The weather forecast for Friday?s first day of competition was sketchy at best, with local radar indicating isolated thunderstorms throughout the area although the skies at 6 am were relatively clear. At 6:45 the field of 109 teams slowly idled underneath the Highway X bridge and out into Lake Wissota in hopes of a return trip at 3:00 pm and a tournament limit of five bass. Anglers in this event are not only vying for thousands of dollars in cash and prizes, including a triton TR 186 bass boat with a 150 Mercury Optimax outboard motor but also the opportunity to advance to the Fishers of Men National Championship. At the conclusion of the tournament on Saturday afternoon, the top 7 teams will advance to the National Championship along with the top male/female team, top adult/junior team and the highest placing team from each of the 11Midwest divisions. At that event, qualifying teams will compete for additional cash and prizes including a Triton TR20 bass boat powered by a 200 Mercury Optimax motor.
Taking the overall lead with 5 fish weighing 16.27 pounds were Jesse Kind and Eric Hidde of the Wisconsin East Division. Their limit of five smallmouth bass topped the rest of the field and drew them one step closer to the impressive first place prize. The two reported catching their fish later in the day using a ?run and gun? style approach putting their final fish in the livewell after 12:30. The two anglers from Waupun, WI also took home big bass honors for day one with a stout 4.62 pounder. Close behind in second place are Wisconsin West anglers Michael and Steven Hansen who weighed in with 15.88 pounds. The father son team reported that they also caught their fish by ?running and gunning? in the lake and in the river but indicated the weather was a little frustrating, particularly the wind. ?The wind made for a rough day on the water. Hard on the boat and hard on the boater,? commented Steve. In third place, tipping the scales with 14.38 pounds are Travis ?R? Rosciszewski and Chris Wolfe also from the WI West Division. ?With the weather like it was today it was a good day to run and gun from spot to spot,? replied Rosciszewski. Rounding out the top five are Bryan Williams and Michael Sanders from the Illinois Central Division who crossed the stage with limit weighing 14.30. In fifth place and also leading the Male/Female standings are Karen Savik and Howie Lee with13.48 pounds.
Despite the howling winds and overcast skies anglers were able to boat a total of 193 bass for a combined weight of 470.63 pounds. The final weigh in is scheduled for 3 pm at The View on Lake Wissota with an awards ceremony to follow. The public is encouraged to attend. Come see more than 35,000.00 in cash and prizes given away!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the fine companies that make Fishers of Men possible; Triton Boats, Mercury, Shakespeare, All Star Rods, Pflueger, Strike King Lure Company, Grace Full Gospel Church, XTools, Solar Bat, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Keelshield, MotorGuide, SOSPENDERS,Marshall?s Marine Lake City SC, Kistler, All-Terrain Tackle, Dual Pro Charger, Lowrance, Buckeye Lures, Stanley Jigs, Deka Marine Master Batteries, Spike-It, Jacobs Glass, Hooah Energy Bars, Poor Boys Baits, T&H Marine BASS Rx, and Keep Alive.
2007 Midwest Regional Championship on Wissota - Day 1 - 09/21/07

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	5983		5	4.62	16.27	0	16.27	150
2	3105		5	3.74	15.88	0	15.88	149
3	5767		5	3.03	14.38	0	14.38	148
4	5948		5	3.54	14.3	0	14.3	147
5	5999		5	3.54	13.48	0	13.48	146
6	6017		5	0	13.12	0	13.12	145
7	5828		5	4.21	12.67	0	12.67	144
8	5986		5	0	12.51	0	12.51	143
9	5759		5	0	12.23	0	12.23	142
10	5978		4	0	11.77	0	11.77	141
11	5766		5	0	11.55	0	11.55	140
12	5967		5	3.06	10.79	0	10.79	139
13	3070		5	0	10.73	0	10.73	138
14	5943		5	0	10.51	0	10.51	137
15	5963		4	0	10.11	0	10.11	136
16	5772		4	3.54	10.04	0	10.04	135
17	5962		4	0	9.91	0	9.91	134
18	6003		3	0	9.71	0	9.71	133
19	5830		4	0	8.66	0	8.66	132
20	5994		3	0	8.41	0	8.41	131
21	5964		3	0	8.27	0	8.27	130
22	5826		4	0	7.99	0	7.99	129
23	5837		3	0	7.99	0	7.99	129
24	5774		3	0	7.49	0	7.49	127
25	5944		3	0	7.09	0	7.09	126
26	5768		3	0	6.69	0	6.69	125
27	2606		3	0	6.67	0	6.67	124
28	5988	Marlan Brown Debbie Brown	2	3.7	6.67	0	6.67	124
29	5827		3	3.02	6.51	0	6.51	122
30	5758	Michael Zerrien	3	0	6.42	0	6.42	121
31	6001		3	0	6.05	0	6.05	120
32	5969		2	0	5.73	0	5.73	119
33	5946		3	0	5.67	0	5.67	118
34	2605		3	0	6.64	1	5.64	117
35	5991		2	0	5.58	0	5.58	116
36	6004		2	0	5.38	0	5.38	115
37	5992	Dale Roth	2	3.75	5.17	0	5.17	114
38	2633	Anthony Cannon	2	0	5.1	0	5.1	113
39	5769		2	0	5.06	0	5.06	112
40	5939		3	0	4.92	0	4.92	111
41	5987		2	0	4.74	0	4.74	110
42	5966		2	0	4.57	0	4.57	109
43	6008		2	0	4.56	0	4.56	108
44	5958		2	0	4.52	0	4.52	107
45	2613		2	0	4.26	0	4.26	106
46	5835		2	0	4.2	0	4.2	105
47	5762	Jeffery Hackler	2	0	4.11	0	4.11	104
48	5984		2	0	3.9	0	3.9	103
49	5765		2	0	3.82	0	3.82	102
50	6016		2	0	3.79	0	3.79	101
51	5997		2	0	3.77	0	3.77	100
52	5941		2	0	3.63	0	3.63	99
53	5940		2	0	3.49	0	3.49	98
54	5961		1	3.34	3.34	0	3.34	97
55	5989		1	3.2	3.2	0	3.2	96
56	5971		1	3.18	3.18	0	3.18	95
57	3152		1	3.13	3.13	0	3.13	94
58	5996		1	3.02	3.02	0	3.02	93
59	5752	Kevin Izzi	1	2.94	2.94	0	2.94	92
60	5998		1	2.69	2.69	0	2.69	91
61	5760		1	0	2.64	0	2.64	90
62	6005		1	2.57	2.57	0	2.57	89
63	2629	John Duwel Gary Sindelir	1	2.46	2.46	0	2.46	88
64	5757	John Trey Green	1	2.33	2.33	0	2.33	87
65	3153	Joseph Lemmerman Chris Zakashefski	1	2.24	2.24	0	2.24	86
66	6007		1	2.17	2.17	0	2.17	85
67	2612		1	2.11	2.11	0	2.11	84
68	5968		1	2.1	2.1	0	2.1	83
69	5770		1	2.08	2.08	0	2.08	82
70	5980		1	2.08	2.08	0	2.08	82
71	5937		1	2.07	2.07	0	2.07	80
72	5942	Gary Goodwin Dan Burkhardt	1	2.04	2.04	0	2.04	79
73	2649		1	2.01	2.01	0	2.01	78
74	5833		1	1.94	1.94	0	1.94	77
75	2614		1	1.81	1.81	0	1.81	76
76	5832		0	0	0	0	0	75
77	5945		0	0	0	0	0	75
78	3108		0	0	0	0	0	75
79	5771		0	0	0	0	0	75
80	2603	Jerry Lesley Rick Randolph	0	0	0	0	0	75
81	5756	William Bacon Bruce Jennings	0	0	0	0	0	75
82	5775		0	0	0	0	0	75
83	2601		0	0	0	0	0	75
84	5981		0	0	0	0	0	75
85	5995		0	0	0	0	0	75
86	5773		0	0	0	0	0	75
87	5836		0	0	0	0	0	75
88	5761		0	0	0	0	0	75
89	3104		0	0	0	0	0	75
90	6012		0	0	0	0	0	75
91	5947		0	0	0	0	0	75
92	5973		0	0	0	0	0	75
93	5938		0	0	0	0	0	75
94	5979		0	0	0	0	0	75
95	2618	Tony Goff	0	0	0	0	0	75
96	5974		0	0	0	0	0	75
97	5972		0	0	0	0	0	75
98	5982		0	0	0	0	0	75
99	5975		0	0	0	0	0	75
100	5936		0	0	0	0	0	75
101	5990		0	0	0	0	0	75
102	5970		0	0	0	0	0	75
103	5965		0	0	0	0	0	75
104	6002		0	0	0	0	0	75
105	5993		0	0	0	0	0	75
106	6015		0	0	0	0	0	75
107	5977		0	0	0	0	0	75
108	5763	Jeff Tighe Sharon Tighe	0	0	0	0	0	75
109	5831		0	0	0	0	0	75
Day 1 Leaders Eric Hidde & Jesse Kind - 16.27lb In 2nd place after day 1, Michael Hansen & Steven Hansen with 15.88 lb In 3rd place after day 1, Travis Rosciszewski & Chris Wolfe with 14.38 lb Karen Savik & Howie Lee with their Day 1 catch of 13.48 lb Ron Gann & Brandon Gann with their limit of 12..67lb including a 4.21 lb largemouth Paul Kielb & his grandson Tyler Long with a 3.13 Wissota smallmouth