The North Carolina East Fishers of Men Firefly Weeknight Series held their first tournament of the 2024 season on the Pasquotank River Friday, October 13, 2023. The weather was sunny and warm with temperatures in the high 70’s with a light breeze out of the east at 5-10 mph.  13 teams were registered however only 12 teams participated in the tournament and all but 1 teams attended the pre-tournament meeting.

The meeting was started with a prayer and our Chaplain Kenneth Wallace providing the message. Ken asked about the people we hang out with. Are they vile and continually speak unacceptable language? Ken continued by quoting Proverbs 22 vs. 24-25 which says “Don’t hang out with angry people, don’t keep company with hotheads. Bad temper is contagious – don’t get infected”. Kenneth went on to describe his spiritual experience he and his partner had at the District 4 Regional tournament at Lake Norman and the message that Andy Montgomery provided at the tournament meeting.

After reviewing the rules highlights, our fishermen set out on the River in search of the winning catch. The fishermen found the bite to be a bit tough with the fish in that fall transition period.  There were only 34 fish weighed for a total of 77.78 pounds. 34 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 6.48 pounds and the average fish weight was 2.29 pounds. When the teams came to the scale, Brent Thomas, fishing solo without his partner Ethan Thomas had the winning 3 fish bag that weighed 12.87 pounds with a 8.90 pound monster fish which was also the Big Fish for the tournament. The first place prize was $375 dollars and Big Fish paid $65.00 dollars. Second place was awarded to Chris Meads and Zachery Meads who brought five fish to the scales that weighed 12.78 pounds. They took $80.00 dollars home for their efforts.

We would like to thank all those who helped with making this tournament a success, especially Kenneth Wallace, Gary Sawyer, Tom Houlroyd and Bill Riggs as well as all our fishermen. 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	30980	Brent Thomas Ethan Thomas	3	8.9	12.87	0	12.87	200
2	30973	Chris Meads Zachery Meads	5	3.23	12.78	0	12.78	199
3	31113	Clarence Richards	5	0	9.23	0	9.23	198
4	30972	Jason Smith Sam Spruill	5	0	7.91	0	7.91	197
5	30984	chris turner ricky mize	1	7.4	7.4	0	7.4	196
6	31205	Keith Jennings Jerry Murray	3	0	6.59	0	6.59	145
7	30953	Kenneth Wallace Jason Samson	3	0	4.7	0	4.7	194
8	31206	Alan Meads Lilly Lane	1	3.85	3.85	0	3.85	193
9	30954	Patrick Seigh Isaiah Seigh	2	0	3.57	0	3.57	192
10	31152	Tommy Houlroyd Darren Saunders	2	0	3.11	0	3.11	191
11	30955	Gary Sawyer Frank Gunia	2	0	2.97	0	2.97	190
12	30952	Jim Dick Greg Dick	2	0	2.75	0	2.75	189
First Place Brent Thomas(fishing solo without his partner Ethan Thomas) with the winning weight of 12.87 pounds with the Big Fish that weighed 8.90 pounds Second Place Chris and Zachery Meads with 12.78 pounds