Day two had a shorter time frame, boats had to be in by 3:30, so the captain’s choices were dramatically limited. Word had spread about Machacek’s honey hole so competitors put two and two together and headed west to Freeport. It paid off!

Lon Herbert was one of those. Fishing his 27 foot Pro Line, Stormy, he found Deanna a 43.7. She had started a new job recently and couldn’t get off work for Friday’s action but made great use of her time on Saturday. Using a custom Marsh Rat rod she let a ribbonfish entice the big fish to eat and after a good fight moved past Machacek on the leaderboard

At stake was a ProLine center console boat complete with a Mercury Outboard, Loadmaster trailer, and a Breakwater Electronics package for the prize boat.

On Call, with Sean Welsh at the helm, came in next with a 43 pounder to move into second place and first in the Class of 23, a division for boats 23 feet and under. The 21 foot Mako ran 30 miles south to 65 foot of water and with fishing a silver eel down found their fish at 9:30 am. “We’re just a small boat and with the short time we has to limit our range. It paid off,” said the proud captain.

Killin Time, a 26 foot Wellcraft, came next with a king that replaced all others atop the events leaderboard. “We were only 13 miles east of here,” said Glenn Vann, eying that ProLine prize boat. “Danny Atchison fished his first tournament and caught the 45.8 pounder. We trolled a fresh caught ribbonfish about 10 feet down on a weighted free line.”

Several fish came in with little consequences to the leaderboard. Then the Potter family, fishing their 26 foot Mako, Tooth & Nail, slid up to the dock and held up a 48.8 for the cameras. Leaf, Carl, and Heather had nailed a 30 pounder on the first day and ran back to the same spot 8 miles off Freeport. Sound familiar? “She hit a big hardtail on the surface,” said Captain Leaf. “She ran off 200 yards of line and ended up in the rig. We knew it was a good fish but as line was gained we were fearful we would loose the fish due to heavily frayed line. As Carl stuck her with the gaff, the hooks fell out of her mouth. We were lucky, just real lucky!” Leaf works with All Star Graphite Rods.

No other boat this day would challenge the 48 pounder and Carl and his family would reap the benefits of victory, a beautiful 19’ Proline. Victory was theirs.

Machacek dropped to fifth, On Call earned fourth, while Stormy’s 43.7 earned them third. The Killin Time was the runner up.

Two other boats in the Class of 23 finished in the top 10. Clifford McCrummen’s Bite It earned 6th with a 40.7 while Johnny B, with John Benkenstein at the helm, earned eighth with a 39.9. That’s four boats in the top ten that fished in boats 23 foot and under.