Florida Flathead Only Tournament Win Goes to Marc Earnest on the Apalachicola
by Ron Presley,
Big Fish honors and new personal best claimed by solo angler as he wins the Legends Flathead Tournaments event.
For the third year in a row, Bristol Florida and the Apalachicola River was the site of a recent Legends Flathead Tournaments competition. The May 18-19 event attracted 62 teams representing 135 anglers on the hunt for flathead catfish. The family-friendly event included 12 youth anglers, 18 lady anglers, and 13 veteran anglers.
The Apalachicola River is a popular destination for flathead catfish enthusiasts. The tournament is a flathead-only tournament with a tournament limit of 2 fish. Legal fishing began at 5:00 pm on May 18th and anglers had to be back at the weigh-in by 11:00 am on May 19th.
The anglers were challenged by a rising river due to recent torrential rainfall in the area and even more rain on tournament morning. All the adversity did not stop the dedicated angler who came to compete. When all the weights were tallied the anglers had brought 642 pounds of Flathead catfish to the scales.
First Place and Big Fish 
The top spot in the Legends event went to Marc Earnest. He was fishing solo in adverse conditions to pull out the win. Luck was with him and one of his two entry fish turned out to be Big Fish of the Tournament. He weighed a total of 59 pounds including the Big Fish at 36 pounds to earn the first place check of $5,000 plus the Big Fish award pot to boost his total winnings.
Because of work requirements and being without a boat, Marc had not fished a tournament in six years. He recently obtained a boat and decided to try his luck at the Legends event.
With the tournament starting in daylight and continuing into dark and then daylight again, Marc decided to begin in deep water and make some planned moves as the tournament progressed.
“Before it got dark I caught 2 small flatheads in deep water,” reported Marc.
His plan of attack paid off. As darkness came he moved from deeper holes to shallower holes until he found the fish that he was looking for.
“Once it started getting dark I decided to move from hole to hole all night long,” explained Marc.” I fished first in deeper water and then in shallow water on sandy bottom and structure. I was using live bluegill for bait.”
As the morning wore on with not much action he remained persistent and his luck changed.
“Around 5:00 a.m. I found a 10-foot hole to fish in,” concluded Marc. “After about 10 minutes in my rod slammed down, It was a 38-pound flathead that helped me win the tournament and get the big fish pot too!
Second Place 
The runner-up spot went to Andrew Summers and his son Jordon with a bag of 48.5 pounds.
Third Place 
Third place went to Eugene Earnest and his son Chris with 39 pounds. Eugene also claimed the Top Veteran Award.
Other Awards
The Top Youth Award went to Blake Sasser with 20.5 pounds; Top Lady Anger was awarded to Selena Capps with 13.5 pounds, and the Top Veteran Award was claimed by Eugene Earnest with 39 pounds.
Note: To view more photos and more winners from the event visit the Legends Flathead Tournaments Facebook page.
Final Thoughts
The Legends Flathead Tournaments events are about more than flathead fishing. They are known for their family-friendly environment and the lifetime Florida fishing licenses they give out to youth competitors.
“We were very lucky this year to be able to hand out a grand total of $14,230 in prize money and door prizes,” said co-tournament director Tommy Earnest. “We also gave out 3 Lifetime Fishing Licenses to kids.”
“Our directors of the tournament are myself, Ken Keel, and Tiff Thompson,” concluded Tommy Earnest. “We would like to thank all our sponsors and our volunteers, Christi Earnest, Shelbi Earnest, Emily Eamest, Lynsey Eamest, Eric Snipes, Alex Combs, and Lori Keel.”
For more information on the Legends Flathead Tournaments visit their Facebook page.
