Joe DeVera and Israel Ferguson are tournament fishermen from southern Michigan
Teaming up during the 2020 season, they have spent the past four years honing their skills by fishing local tournaments nearly every Saturday and Sunday during the ice fishing season. They are very proud to represent the Branch County Panfish Club and the Southern Michigan Panfish Series as they are now fishing higher profile events regularly.
Traveling to Wisconsin for the 2022 State Panfish Championship, Israel and Joe earned an invitation to the North American Ice Fishing Championship in Dec of 2022 with a third place finish on day one, allowing them to fish on day two where they placed fourth for the day and ended up in 6th place after their two day total.
Moving on to the National Championship the guys were disappointed as mechanical failures and tough on ice travel conditions had them finishing in 29th place amongst some of the best ice fishermen in the country.
Raising their boys to love the outdoors, Joe and Israel have realized the importance of giving back through education, therefore they are dedicated to giving seminars and making videos aimed at teaching tips and tricks through social media, also donating their time with other youth oriented ice fishing events. In 2022 Joe and Izzy partnered with the Hillsdale Michigan American Legion to host the first annual kids on ice event, providing every kid their own ice rod to take home and taking the kids and their parents on to the ice to help them catch fish.