Snook Crash the Party! 

The final leg of The Maverick Boats Flatsmasters Series, held on September 13 & 14 at Harpoon Harry’s, is usually the toughest event of the year.  The RedSnook Challenge requires each team to weigh in a legal redfish AND a legal snook in one day.  Snook, always a challenge with a 5” slot and crazy late summer weather, usually makes or breaks many Flatsmasters teams.Add in the pressure of trying to qualify for The Flatsmasters Championship and The RedSnook Challenge can leave teams wondering what happened to their season!

Perfect September weather and tides had teams excited and ready to compete! Day one the entire field of 74 teams competed, and from early on it looked like it was going to be a snook shootout.  Team Yellowfin Boats (Lieberman, Nagler,   Hamilton) opened the scales up right at 1:30pm.  They set the bar early with 14.77 lbs. total weight.  Several of the teams that weighed early also had solid weights.  Team Lake & Bay (Lombard, Symonds, Eggers) also brought solid weight to the scales with a 16.26 lbs.  An impressive total of 25 snook were weighed in day one with 63 teams out of 74 entering at least one fish. The two best weights of the day belonged to Team Ego Nets (Brown, Dudley, Carlson) with 17.54 lbs. and Team Renegade (Harris, Harris, Gale) with 17.43 lbs.

 

 

Here’s how the top looked after Day #1

#	Captain	Team Name	Angler #2	Angler #3	Red	Snook	Total
1	Brad Brown	Ego Nets	Jason Dudley	Derek Carlson	5.41	12.13	17.54
2	Brian Harris	Team Renegade	Lisa Harris	Troy Gale	6.1	11.33	17.43
3	John Landry Jr	Waterproof Charts	Chris Magnano	Denis Fiore	5.96	10.79	16.75
4	Kyle Potts	Tow Boat US	John Becht	Chris Gunther	6.69	9.96	16.65
5	Jarrett Lombard	Team Lake & Bay	Leland Symonds	Steve Eggers	4.08	12.18	16.26

 

 

Day #2- The RedSnook Top Five Shootout, five of the top backcountry teams in the state competing for the title of RedSnook Champions! Sunday’s weather and tides were duplicates of Saturday’s conditions, so the stage was set for a record setting Top Five Weigh In. As the 3:30pm deadline approached, the crowd at Harpoon Harry’s was anxious to see another round of big snook.  Our Top Five teams didn’t disappoint them! Starting off the weigh in with the redfish round, the weights indicated that our final five still spend some time redfishing.  Four of the five teams weighed solid redfish.  As it usually does, the snook round is always the deal maker in the RedSnook Challenge.  Team Lake & Bay started round #2 off with a impressive 10.98 lb. snook.  Not to be out done.  Kyle Potts and Team Towboat US put an 11.08 lb. snook on the scales.  Team Renegade led the redfish round with a 6.77 lb and added to their total with a solid 10.07 lb. snook. 

 

Leaderboard after Day #2

The RedSnook Challenge is the final regular season event for the 2008 Maverick Boats Flatsmasters Season.  It is the last opportunity for teams to earn points towards the Flatsmasters Championship and The Bimini Big Game Resort “Team of the Year’ Award.  Several teams were in the Hunt for Team of the Year honors.  A good showing in the RedSnook would insure victory and a chance to enjoy a weekend at The Bimini Big Game Resort as the Flatsmasters  “Team of the Year”.

Consistency plays a big part in the race for Team of the Year and one team showed off their skill as backcountry anglers this season above all others.  Team Ego Nets –Brad Brown, Jason Dudley, and Derek Carlson, amassed 551 points out of a possible 600 points to earn “Team of the Year” honors.  With three top 10 finishes, including two top 5, one of them a win, Team Ego nets stayed the course for the entire season.  At one time they led the point’s race, but after a 40^th place disaster in the RedPlug Challenge, had dropped to 6^th place going into last weekend’s event.  With five tough teams ahead of them, they knew it would take a top five finish and some help to climb back on top.  They weighed 17.54 lbs. on day one and led the field going into the finals.  The five teams ahead of them in the point’s race all faltered and left the Team of the Year Award theirs for the taking.  Congratulations to Team Ego Nets on their 2008 Flatsmasters” Team of the Year” award sponsored by the Bimini Big Game Resort. 

“Team of the Year-  Team Ego Nets”