Sandestin was a great venue to host our first annual Emerald Coast Redfish Classic. Day 1 weather was good, but unfortunately on Day 2 the weather did not cooperate and we had to cancel a day of tournament fishing for the first time since Jim, Ken and I took the reins. We know from experience just how dangerous Choctaw Bay can be for flats boats (a couple tournaments that we’ve fished have had boats capsize). Since we were teaming with Sandestin and folks were split between having boats in the water or on the trailer, we did not have the option of moving launch locations…the bottom line is that we hated having to cancel, but it is much better to error on the side of caution. Remember that for our ECR Circuit Championship standings, only teams that have fished at least one ECR Circuit event with us this year are counted into our results. The results are as follows (Names, Fish 1, Fish 2, Total Wt, Points):
| Place | Winners | Fish 1 | Fish 2 | Total Weight | Points |
| 1 | Bobby Weir/Matt Schoen | 5.77 | 5.52 | 11.29 lbs | 100 |
| 2 | Ken Cube/Mike Pattison | 5.50 | 5.46 | 10.96 lbs | 99 |
| 3 | Wes Nelson/Steve Schutt | 5.11 | 5.78 | 10.89 lbs | No Pts |
| 4 | Fred Myers/Jake Matney | 4.19 | 6.19 | 10.38 lbs | 98 |
| 5 | Trevor Taylor/John Morris | 4.02 | 5.52 | 9.54 lbs | 97 |
| 6 | Bo Sullivan/Alan Chase | 4.02 | 5.35 | 9.37 lbs | 96 |
| 7 | Hunter Ray/Frankie Brogniez | 5.00 | 3.96 | 8.96 lbs | 95 |
| 8 | Kevin Sherwood/Robert Gautney | 4.00 | 4.51 | 8.51 lbs | 94 |
| 9 | Daryl Weaver/Joseph Weaver | 2.73 | 5.76 | 8.49 lbs | 93 |
| 10 | Brad Henry/Jack Foley | 3.96* | 3.86 | 7.82 lbs | 92 |
| 11 | Steve Ward/Michael Hawkins | 3.62 | 3.62 | 7.27 lbs | 91 |
| 12 | Neil Modlin/Bryant Modlin | 3.04 | 3.98 | 7.02 lbs | 90 |
| 13 | Lionel James/Jimmy Garibaldi | 3.31 | 2.91 | 6.22 lbs | No Pts |
| 14 | Scott Lane/Kevin Quaranta | 5.92 | 0.00 | 5.92 lbs | No Pts |
| 15 | John Ott/Mike McClure | 3.07 | 2.64 | 5.71 lbs | 89 |
| 16 | Mark Cowart/Michael Cowart | 2.88 | 2.88 | 5.61 lbs | 88 |
| 17 | Sean Jeanneret/ Jim Whitaker | 2.37 | 3.01 | 5.38 lbs | 87 |
| 18 | Heath Lavin/James Whitaker | 2.32 | 2.50 | 4.82 lbs | 86 |
| 19 | Brian Baller/Pat Mayo | 1.91* | 1.70* | 3.61 lbs | No Pts |
| T20 | Sid Little/Brenda Forstall | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 lbs | No Pts |
| T20 | Hallie Burnett/Corey Maxwell | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 lbs | 76 |
| T20 | MJ White/Bill Burke | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 lbs | 76 |
* – includes 0.50 lb penalty for dead fish
Just to show how competitive our group of fisherman are, looking at the results…3 of the 4 teams finishing in the money have all won IFA Tournaments (all except Ken and I and we were close)! The first place Trout Calcutta went to Brad/Jack (1.69 lb) with second to Mark/Michael (1.48 lb); most spots went to Brad/Jack (11) and second to Jim/Sean (10); Big Red went to Fred/Jake (6.19 lb) and second to Bobby/Matt (5.77 lb); the Day 1 leader Calcutta ended the same as the final results…first to Bobby/Matt (11.29 lb) and second to Ken/Mike (10.96 lb).
A couple of shout-outs…Ken and I broke down at Legendary Flat while coming in at about 2:30 and my first instinct was to call Mark and he jumped back in his boat to come tow us in (we were able to get it going ourselves, but it shows what kind of guys that we have). Also, we all know how much effort and passion that Hallie puts into these tournaments. She and Corey were on their way back from a long run with 2 good fish and ran out of gas also by Legendary…she called me at 2:45 and we quickly sent fuel on the way to them, but they were not able to beat the clock. Sorry for that Hallie, but you totally impress me with your hard work and attitude.
Congratulations to Bobby and Matt for another great win and putting and exclamation point on their TOY win. It was great to see so many people stick around for the awards ceremony. Our schedule was all messed up due to the weather, but it sure impressed the Sandestin folks that so many of us stayed.
