Second place is always a good finish in a tournament, but when you do it twice in the biggest tournament of the year you can only wonder when it is your time. Ken Bragg and Charlie Epperly just came off another second-place finish in the 2022 Marshall Fishing Cup. In 2021, at The Cup, they also finished second there. Leaving us with a story that is worth talking about.

Ken and Charlie weighed in a two-day total of 17.27 and just missed the win by 0.21. The duo last year just missed the win by 0.53 in one they claimed they should have won.

“Last year Charlie lost a quality fish that just came unpinned that would’ve given us the win,” Ken said. “This year we lost a couple on Day 1 they would’ve given us the route to victory. It was a decent largemouth and had we got it in I think that fish would’ve given us a shot to win.”

Ken and Charlie had an excellent year on the Marshall Bass Trail finishing up 11th in the points race with two Top 15 finishes throughout the season. With the great finish in the points, the duo had their sights on The Cup and getting revenge after a second in 2021.

“On Day 1 we did the opposite of what most of the field was doing. Our bite offshore was pretty strong and we culled five or six times fishing slow and deeper than the field,” Bragg said. “After Day 1 we felt cautiously optimistic that our bite would hold up on Day 2, especially with fewer boats.”

Day 2 brought way different conditions than Day 1 of The Cup. On Day 1 the winds blew steady around 17 to 20mph with overcast conditions. Day 2 was the complete opposite with only 5mph winds and bluebird skies.

“To our surprise on Day 2 our bite was much slower,” Bragg said. “At 1:00 Charlie recommended making a move to a different spot and we finally landed our 5th fish.”

The duo again would come up just short of the victory, but would walk away with 2nd place and $1450. In 2022 the Marshall Fishing Team made some significant changes to the The Cup. Ken spoke highly of the new format change to The Cup with the Day 1 cut and making Day 2 only open to the Top 10.

“To finish 2nd amongst that field of fisherman was great, of course, 1st would’ve been much better,” Ken said. “The two-day format was a great change I think and the way the trail was run by the Marshall Fishing Team was 1st class. Congratulations to Cody and Zach on a great accomplishment. The Trail has been around quite a while now and many friendships have been built as a result.”