Good news and bad news.  We fished the second day of the Flatsmasters with the camera onboard and had a good day but did not manage a snook in the slot.  However our 5th place finish on day 2 was good enough to net us Flatsmasters Team of the Year.  This is the hardest award to get in the tournament.  It means we were the most consistent team in all of the series (3 top 6 finishes, including one win).  It is really an accomplishment and one that we had been perusing as a team for the last 3 years.  It is a great feeling.  By winning Team of the Year we are positioned as the first boat to leave in the Championship next month as well as getting to leave first in every Flatsmasters tournament next year. 

On day 1 we drew number 36 for the start.  Charlotte Harbor was rough as usual but we were able to maintain a good speed around 55mph.  After about 40 miles we picked up bait and were on the way to the docks.  No later than 10 minutes after setting up Derek hooks up with a nice fish.  I see it jump on the other side of the Yacht and I knew it was big.  Derek was able to wrestle it out from under the boat and Brad netted it.  It was a monster,  we thought it might be over the slot limit.  We put it on the board and it measured a perfect 33", right on the money.  This was all done by 8:30.  We had the rest of the day to concentrate on reds.  We decided to leave the docks so we could hit some mangroves looking for a redfish to get us on the board.  After a couple hours we got one about 4 pounds.  That took a lot of pressure off, we knew we had a red in the boat and still a couple hours to upgrade.  It was about 11am and we started fishing under boats again,  not to much later Brad's doubled over.  He pulled in a monster red, to big at 30".  Derek is hooked up now as well, we get it in and it was a little over 25".  We knew we had a good stringer in the boat and decided to leave to head back towards the weigh in taking it easy to ensure the fishes health.  It was 12:30 and we were done!  We got the weigh in,  we put the red up on the scale and it went 5.41lbs.  Next was the snook, it went on the scale and stopped at a huge weight of 12.13lbs.  We ended up with a stringer of 17.54lbs good enough for first place and a trip to day 2.

On day 2 we met up with the camera man and got everything situated for the run south.  We had penned up our bait that we had left over from yesterday and hoped that would be enough.  Everything went smooth on the way down,  the bait was not as lively as we wanted it to be but we went with it any way.  We got back to the docks and my first cast in there,  I am hooked up.  Everyone is scrambling to get the net and get the fish.  I got it out of the structure and had it next to the boat.  I thought she was done, she looked beat and then as it was about to get netted it had one more burst and decided to jump.  The hook came spitting out,  it looked to be every bit of 9-10lbs.  After that we caught another snook that was to small.  We decided to head even further south to a spot we call the train station.  We call it this because most of the fish in there are the size of locomotives and today would be no different.  We got down there and set up on a couple of large sport fishers.  Derek was the first to get hit.  The fish was HUGE.  He got it out from under the boat and I thought the fight was over,  I attempted to net the beast but she was to big for the net.  She did not like that,  she took off one more time and this time there was a large explosion,  Derek's rod blew up in pieces right above the handle.  This was not a small rod at all either.  That snook was the biggest one I have ever seen,  it was 45-48" easily.  Next I was up,  I was hooked up under the same boat. I pumped the rod and was able to get her out,  I knew she was big but was hoping she would be under the 33" slot limit.  Derek netted the snook and we knew it would be close,  we put her on the board and no dice, 35".  The thing about fishing these 2 species tournaments is you have to manage your time wisely.  Fishing for a redfish to long might leave you with no snook or vice versa.  We decided we needed to go get a redfish and quick.  Our first stop was in Estero Bay.  Derek jumped off the boat to wade.  Brad and I moved up the shoreline to do the same,  no more than 2 minutes after we dropped off Derek he is hooked up.  We turn around as Derek yelled it will be close to the line,  we turn around to assist Derek.  We got the red into the boat and put it on the board, no dice, 28" inches (slot if 18-27")  we started to go back to where we were going to wade fish and Derek yelled again.  He had a 4lb red in the net.  That was all we need to make the decision to try and get a big snook.

We got to the docks when the tide was changing,  one of our favorite times.  We were there a couple minutes and it broke lose.  Derek and I were catching snook as fast as we get get them in and put a bait back under the dock.  The snook were all cookie cutters though,  all right at 27" just below the limit.  We caught 14-15 snook in a row all undersized.  We gave it our all but we were running out of time.  We decided to head back to the weigh in with our tails between our legs but thought we had Team of the Year regardless.  At the weigh in it was confirmed,  we lost that tourney but we won for the entire year.  Team EGO nets was announced as the Team of the Year!!!!!