On Friday night February 5, Marshall Memorial Baptist Church in Eatonton hosted the anglers competing in the Fishers of Men Tournament Trail prior to their fishing tournament on Saturday, February 6 on Lake Oconee. The church provided a delicious barbecue meal that was prepared and served by members of the church and then after the meal the church pastor, Terry Richardson presented an inspirational message.

The Fishers of Men National Tournament Trail is a non-profit non-denominational ministry whose mission is to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to fishermen and their families through competitive and professionally run fishing tournaments.

What began in 1998 as a small four division tournament trail with a total of 21 events that first season has now grown into one of the largest fishing tournament organizations in the country. During the past 2009 fishing season, 48 team Tournament Divisions and 32 Legacy Divisions combined for a total of 315 tournament events. Tournaments are spread across twenty-nine states.

The Fishers of Men have two Team Tournament Divisions and two Legacy Tournament Divisions in Georgia. The sixty-eight anglers (thirty-four teams) that attended Marshal Memorial Baptist Church this past Friday night, February 5 and then fished Lake Oconee on Saturday, February 6 were competing in the Georgia North Division that has tournaments this year at Lake Oconee, Lake Lanier, Lake Russell, Lake Clarks Hill and Lake Hartwell.

After the delicious barbecue meal, the anglers moved to the church sanctuary where the anglers heard from their National Director, Al Odom and Division Director, Jason Pierce. Pierce then introduced Pastor Terry Richardson who joined the church Praise Team in presenting some music after which Pastor Richardson presented a message about the “Lateral Line”.

Largemouth bass have a lateral line that allows the fish to detect movement or vibration in the water around it through receptors or neuromasts that extend the length of the fish’s body. The lateral line on a largemouth bass can distinguish between something good and something bad that approaches. That allows for the fish to survive in waters with many dangers as well as to find food to eat.

Pastor Richardson equated the fish’s lateral line to the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life. Once a believer or Christian has the Holy Spirit indwelling in them, the Holy Spirit provides a checkup for the Christian’s life on a day to day basis. The Holy Spirit is like the lateral line in that it allows a believer to know whether doing something is right or wrong (good or bad).

After Pastor Richardson’s inspirational message, anglers were given door prizes before retreating to their motel rooms for some rest prior to the Saturday tournament. Based on the weather forecast for Saturday’s tournament and the poor fishing conditions that have existed on area lakes for several weeks, the rest would be much needed.

Blast off on Saturday morning from Oconee Outdoors occurred under cloudy and windy weather with the temperature at 36 degrees. It was a rough day for the anglers as the temperature only reached the low 40s and the cold winds blew all day.

When the sixty-eight cold anglers arrived back at the Oconee Outdoors boat ramp for the weigh-in, the storyline was mostly about a hard day of fishing with little to no results. Even as tough as conditions were for the anglers, a few anglers did manage to catch at least ONE fish.

Tom Healan from Jefferson managed to entice a largemouth weighing 5.11 pounds to hit his Shaky Head jig and that one fish won the tournament and big fish for Healan and his partner Emory Dunahoo Jr. from Gainesville.

Rob Hicks from Lula caught a 4.43 largemouth on a blue/black jig to nail down second place for him and his partner Bryan Lewis from Gainesville. Third place went to Tim Hulsey from Clermont and Scott Burke from Cleveland with a single fish weighing just over one pound.

The Fishers of Men organization is a real bright spot in today’s tournament fishing and their Legacy Tournaments are geared to getting youth involved by requiring that at least one angler be younger than nineteen. To learn more about the Fishers of Men Tournament Trail go to www.fomntt.com. Good fishing and see you next week.

Outdoor Columnist Bobby Peoples can be reached via e-mail at brpeoples@windstream.net.