The Piedmont Division of the Fishers Of Men National Tournament Trail came to High Rock Lake for the 4th stop on the 2011 circuit on May 14th. The pre-tournament meeting was held at the East Campus of High Rock Community Church. Pastor Doug Irving delivered the message. The service was as “Good as it gets” according to Legacy Director Chad Hooker.

On Saturday morning 33 teams lined up at first light to tackle the infamous Lake High Rock, excited because they had just found out the Regional Championship will be help at High Rock come September bringing hundreds of anglers here from as far away as New York. Owner of the Tamarac Marina, Dan Black, said he was excited to be hosting the group of fishermen and invites Rowan County residents to come enjoy the weigh-ins on Friday and Saturday September 23rd and 24th.  The Grand Prize for that Tournament will be a Brand New SKEETER boat.

After 10 hours of fishing in scattered showers, the sun greeted the anglers at the weigh-in as James (smiley) Alred and Larry Brickey of Browns Summit weighed in a whopping 19.02 pounds to capture the $1140 first prize.  Lexington’s Robert Mixon and Steve Sink took over the points lead with a second place finish with 17.15 pounds receiving $654 for their effort. Third Place went to Salisbury’s CJ Johnston and Matt Stanley with 16.88 pounds winning $444. Byron Odaniel and Dave Snyder of Charlotte NC took fourth place winning $358 with a bag of bass totaling 16.17 pounds. Fifth place went to Bobby Steele and Robert Williams of Siler City who won $296. Sixth was Al Needham and Howie Payne of Seagrove NC with 14.85 pounds rounding out the cash winners with $238. The big fish of  #5.96 for the Tournament went to Bradley Houchins and Jonathon Jones. Rae Kiester and Greg Sink had a 5.55 pound lunker. Most of the winning catches were in 0-3 feet of water. The Rookie team leader so far this year is Kenneth and John Shumate. The Adult/Jr leader is Bradley and Steve Singleton (Belews Creek winners) and the top Guy/Gal team is Drew and Amy Montgomery.  These teams have automatically qualified for the Regional Championships as well as the tournament winners Brickey/Alred, and Marty/Dusty Nester.(Lake Norman).

The next event for the Piedmont Division will be the regional Qualifier on Badin Lake on June 11th 2011. The  Badin Lake tournament will be held at Circle Drive (blast off)  The Friday night Pre Tournament service will be held at High Rock Community Church in DENTON.

Directions to the Ramp are as follows: Traveling down Hwy 52 south toward Albemarle, turn left on Hwy 49. Travel down 49 until you cross the Tuckertown Lake Bridge. Continue 2 miles and turn right on Badin Lake Road beside the Cagles Store(our Sponsor).Travel down this road until you cross a small bridge. Take the first or second right you come to which loops around and follows the lake. Stay on this road until you get to the wildlife ramp. To get to The Church travel back to hwy 49 turn RIGHT and go to hwy 109 (about 10 miles) Turn left and go under hwy 49 and travel to 18870 South NC Highway 109, Denton, NC 27239  which is about 4 miles.

We cannot do this without the help of our sponsors…

Our Divisional sponsors are: Nester Hoisery, Snyders Packaging, Tamarac Marina, Ben Franklin; Atty at Law, Cagles General Store and Flow Motors

Our tournament sponsors are:  Sports Fisherman’s Center, Bass Pro Shops,Anglers Choice Marine, The Trophy House, Asheboro Alarm and Electric Co.,.Cashion Custom Rods,Pine Ridge Store Bens Salvage, Lead Chunkers and Carolina Marina.

Sponsoring our Adult/Jr. teams is Lyerly Dental and the door prize sponsors are: Advance Auto, Hwy 49 Sporting Goods, Fishing Fever, Get The Net Bait Co., Flemming Candy Co., Happy Farms,  Tournament Lure Concepts. Fisherman’s Friend , Capt Garys Instant Shine, Ron Moore Landscaping, Rudys Tackle, S&C Garage,Country Christian Book Store and Deep Creek Lures.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the fine companies that make Fishers of Men possible: Skeeter Boats, Yamaha,, Strike King Lure Company, Markel Marine Insurance, Abu Garcia, Power-Pole, Nester Hosiery, Marshall’s Marine Lake City SC, Keelshield, Solar Bat, Kistler,,Berkley, Spot Remover, Stanley Jigs,Gary ‘Yamamoto Jacobs Glass,and Dual Pro Charger.