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The latest from The Road to the Final Fish.
Thank you for helping to promote Cheeky March Madness. We’re excited to have raised almost $1,000 that will be donated to the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, Casting for Recovery and Stripers Forever. We appreciate you and your readers helping to support these great causes, below is a recap of the tournament thus far.
3,088 votes have been cast, and after two rounds and a week and a half of Cheeky March Madness, we find ourselves entering the Elite Eight with a strong group of usual suspects still in contention.
While the top seeds handled their first round matchups with ease, we saw a handful of nail biters that came down to the wire. Round one included a spectacular upset by the sixth seeded Albies (51%) over Giant Trevally (49%) and a tight battle in which Peacock Bass (51%) took down Cutthroat Tout (49%) by only a handful of votes. In another tightly contested matchup, the fourth seeded Largemouth Bass (54%) prevailed over the number five seeded Landlocked Salmon (46%) in a victory for warm water species around the world.
The Sweet Sixteen pitted a lineup of the top gamefish against one another in matchups that should have been tight. Unexpectedly, the voting results left Striped Bass, Sea-Run Browns, Peacock Bass and Marlin (who fell to Tarpon, Rainbow Trout, Steelhead, and Bonefish respectively) heading home in the aftermath of double-digit losses. In an epic clash between two of salt water’s top fish, Permit remained unbeaten by taking 61% of the vote against Redfish.
The excitement builds as we enter the Elite Eight. With the leaderboard tight and matchups as unpredictable as the flip of a coin, anyone with fish still in the tournament has a chance at the Championship.
Elite Eight Matchups include:
Tarpon vs. Roosterfish
Atlantic Salmon vs. Rainbow Trout
Steelhead vs. Brown Trout
Permit vs. Bonefish
Right now the brown trout is beating the steelhead, ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Come on steelheaders! Are you going to let an invasive trout species from Germany beat out pure wild chrome? Bad enough the rainbow trout has beat out the Atlantic salmon in the eastern bracket where it now faces the tarpon for a trip to the finals. Go poons!