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Family, Friends, Fishing and Fun

Fat Hogs celebrates 10 years

ROGERS CITY — Ten years ago a small group of fishermen in Rogers City considered creating a fishing tournament to replace the former salmon tournament that had ended.

They wanted an event that was family oriented, fun and also use it as a way to help support charities in Northeast Michigan. After a few meetings the Fat Hogs Fishing Frenzy was born and it has become a popular fishing event every Labor Day weekend.

Brothers Todd and Troy Nowicki, cousin Chris Flewelling and buddy Paul Blair enjoyed competitive fishing and knew many in the area did as well. Flewelling said when news that the large salmon tournament was not going to continue, they believed they could organize a smaller tournament that could take its place.

Flewelling said a decade later he is suprised at how the tournament has grown, but is proud of the support it has received.

“That first year we only had 15 boats and it was mostly family and friends,” he said. “I never thought we would get to the point to where we have have nearly 50 boats.”

After seeing the number of participants climb, the board decided to host a women’s tournament, Fat Hogs Ladies Classic, each July, which is also popular. At both events 50/50 tickets are sold and the proceeds go to a charitable organization each year.

“We just believe that it is a good way to give back and try to help the groups that need the money so badly,” he said.

Dan Leo has been on the planning board for several years. He has fished the tournament since the beginning and when openings became available, he decided to play a larger role. He said seeing the tournament succeed is special.

“To see it start with just a group of local guys and blossom into seeing a bunch of new faces in town supporting local businesses, having fun and catching fish has been a pleasure,” Leo said. “I have enjoyed every step of it. I hope we can continue another 10 years.”

Boone Tanner of Alpena has captained a boat in the ladies classic and Frenzy for several years. He said he fishes other tournaments in the state, but the one in Rogers City is one of his favorites for a variety of reasons.

“This has a friendly, family feel to it. We have wives, husbands, kids, grandkids all fishing together,” Tanner said. “We all talk and help each other while fishing and it is a great time. The fishing is also phenomenal here. It blows Lake Michigan out of the water this time of year.”

From the beginning organizers knew there would be many people who would not win money, so they wanted to add a twist. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, there are many prizes and gift certificates that are given away via drawings. This helps people who may not have had success fishing to still go home with something.

“That has been very popular and it is made possible because of the support we get from our sponsors,” Flewelling said.

Tom Spoomer began fishing the tournament and then later joined the board. He said because the event is on a holiday weekend there are many friends and family who come home to fish and visit family. Spoomer said the camaraderie between the fishermen, board and community is strong and believes that is one of the reasons the Frenzy is popular.

“There are so many good people who come together to have a lot of fun and catch a lot of fish,” Spoomer said. “There are a lot of kids who are involved and it has become a family thing that brings people together.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached via email at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter ss_alpenanews.

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