Born and raised in Traverse City, Michigan, identical twins Teri Neal and Keri Schieber spent a lot of time around fresh water lakes. During their adolescence, they would dig up a few worms, grab their fishing poles, hop on their bikes and ride to one of the small lakes hidden in the woods. They would spend their day catching perch, bass and bream.

As Teri and Keri grew older, they started fishing larger lakes out of their brother’s small aluminum boat, seeing who could catch the largest or the most fish.

Their fondness for fishing didn’t just appear out of thin air. It just so happened that their grandfather, Charles Burke, was founder and owner of Burke Flexo Products, where he designed and manufactured soft plastic bugs, worms and inline spinner baits. So needless to say, they grew up in a fishing kind of family.

After they were grown, Teri moved to Arizona where she became involved in tournament fishing. She was so in love with the sport she continually encouraged Keri, who was living in Georgia, to do the same. Keri finally jumped on the wagon after Teri sent her a tackle box, loaded with her favorite baits, as a birthday present. She joined the Georgia Peaches Bass Club.

Meanwhile, Teri spent several years fishing local women’s bass clubs, team tournaments with her husband, and competed and did well fishing the ladies professional Bass n Gal and Lady Bass trails. At the end of her first year with Lady Bass, she double-qualified for the Classic, first as Rookie of the Year, then by finishing third overall. Teri had sponsors like Skeeter, Lowrance and a local tackle shop.

In 1993 Teri moved to Georgia, where she also joined the Georgia Peaches Bass Club. She finished in the top six in the club standings several seasons and advanced to compete in the B.A.S.S. Federation Top Six.

The twins wanted to spend even more time fishing together, so they signed up as a team in the Laughin Bass team tournament trail where they competed for two years and qualified for the Classic. They also fished the HD Marine trail for one year. In both instances, they were the only all- women team competing.

In 2002, Teri joined up with WBFA, another ladies professional tour. She again finished as the Rookie of the Year, where she earned herself a position in the Classic.

Meanwhile Keri, who had a demanding career and three children at home, spent her tournament time fishing with the Georgia Peaches. She also consistently placed in the top six each season, with a club championship finish in 1997 and 2005. She occasionally joined Teri on the pro circuits over the years, fishing as an amateur with Lady Bass, Bass n Gal and WBFA.

In 2006, Teri convinced her to travel to Lake Neely Henry in Alabama to compete in the first inaugural Women’s Bassmaster Tour (WBT) event. Teri jumped in as a pro and Keri signed up as a co-angler. With over 100 co-anglers, Keri had a great 6th place finish and knew she had to continue fishing the season. After the final event, Keri was in 3rd place and qualified for the National Championship. In February of 2007, Keri, along with 11 other co-anglers, spent a week in  Birmingham and fished lake Mitchell for two days of competition. On the final day, Keri caught a 5 fish limit of 11 pounds 7 ounces and won the title as the first Women’s Bassmaster Tour Co-angler National Champion.

This year, both Teri and Keri are competing as pros. Keri says, “With our children grown, the timing is right and we are both eager to fish a professional trail together, and the WBT is like a dream come true for us. Our goal is to get a team sponsorship and to promote the great sport of fishing to as many children and adults as possible. The camaraderie is a big part of fishing the tournaments, not just with my sister, but with all the people involved in a circuit like WBT.”