FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Team Folgers / Off Shore Authority captained by David Kingery of Melbourne, Fla., caught a monster kingfish weighing 57 pounds, 13 ounces Thursday to lead day one of the $330,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour event presented by Raymarine in Fort Pierce, where the nation’s top king mackerel teams are competing for a top award of as much as $100,000 cash.
Scattered storms rolled through the area to start the tournament, but seas remained relatively calm and Florida’s big king mackerel were on the prowl. Captain Kingery and his crew – Randy Truitt and Brett Taylor – reported catching four fish before landing the team’s biggest at approximately 9 a.m.
“When it bit, we knew it was a big one,” said Kingery, whose team placed fourth during the 2005 Fort Pierce FLW Kingfish Tour event. “We were trolling a blue runner on top in about 50 feet of water.”
While the majority of boats ran south out of the Fort Pierce inlet, Kingery headed north toward his Melbourne home.
“We pre-fished there and that was our game plan,” he said. “There were only three or four other boats that made the trip north, so we pretty much had the area to ourselves.”
Rounding out the top five teams are team Lured Away captained by Robert Schoenfeld of Conroe, Texas (45 pounds, 4 ounces); team Tripple Gobble captained by Greg Weathers of Pawley’s Island, S.C. (44 pounds, 11 ounces); team East Coast Sports captained by Randall Edens of Hampstead, N.C. (38 pounds, 9 ounces); and team The Reel Won captained by Robert Woithe of Placida, Fla. (34 pounds, 5 ounces).
FLW Kingfish Tour qualifying tournaments are three-day events. The entire field competes Thursday and Friday, and the top five teams compete Saturday. The winning team is determined based on the heaviest kingfish from Thursday or Friday plus the heaviest kingfish from Saturday. Teams will take off from Fort Pierce Marina located at 1 Avenue A in Fort Pierce at 6:30 each morning. Scales open at the marina at 3 p.m. Friday and all teams must check-in by 5 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 5100 Okeechobee Road in Fort Pierce beginning at 4:30 p.m. The takeoff and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Coverage of the Fort Pierce tournament hosted by the St. Lucie Chamber of Commerce will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States July 23 as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 350 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
The $1.82 million Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour consists of four regular-season events. After four events are complete, the top 50 teams compete in the three-day, no-entry-fee $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship to be held in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Nov. 9-11. The winning team at the championship will take home as much as $150,000.
The FLW Kingfish Tour will stop in Beaufort, S.C., Aug. 10-12 for its third regular-season event, presented by Yamaha, followed by the last qualifying event, powered by Tyson, in Southport, N.C., Sept. 21-23.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 events in 2006.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.