SARASOTA, Fla. – Team Lured Away captained by Bobby Schoenfeld of Conroe, Texas, caught a kingfish weighing 45 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to capture the lead in the $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour event presented by Land O’ Lakes in Sarasota, where the nation’s top king mackerel teams are competing for a top award of as much as $100,000 cash.
Teaming with Elvin Chamorro of Spring, Texas, Tony Loverdi of Seabrook, Texas, and Sharon Kamp and Albert Vrazel, both of Houston, Texas, Schoenfeld ran 165 miles south of Sarasota to fish rock piles in 110 feet of water west of Key West. On day one, Team Lured Away placed seventh with a 32-pound, 12-ounce kingfish.
“I’d fished down there a couple weeks ago and I knew that there were good fish in the area,” Schoenfeld said. “I didn’t want to have to go that far, but I figured if I had a chance to win this tournament we had to make the run.”
Schoenfeld said the journey south took about four and a half hours. That left a narrow window of opportunity, but the action was quick to start.
“We fished for a total of 45 minutes and caught seven fish – the smallest was about 32 pounds,” Schoenfeld said. “I knew that we had a very tight time frame, but I knew that if the fish were there, it wouldn’t take long to get them going. I figured it was worth the gamble.”
The team chummed heavily with Capt. Mark’s frozen chum blocks. Their big fish hit a 2-pound blue runner on a long line shortly before 11 a.m. Vrazel fought the fish for 20 minutes and Chamorro handled the gaff duties.
Schoenfeld said that he ran in 4- to 6-foot seas for most of the morning trip. Coming back to Sarasota, the seas built as high as seven feet. Leaving sufficient time for the return trip was an integral part of his strategy.
“The biggest key today was sticking to our game plan 100 percent even though the seas were rougher than we would have liked,” he said.
With Sunday’s forecast calling for even rougher conditions, Schoenfeld said he will not be making the same run in the final round. “I’m sure we’ll be doing some thing closer tomorrow. I think we’ll need at least a 30-pounder. I know that there have been a few of them caught (locally) but I don’t think it’s going to come easy.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Team Reelin captained by Marc Pincus of Hilton Head Island, S.C. (40 pounds, 1 ounce); Team Pro Marine USA.com captained by Kevin Hannon of Seminole, Fla. (39 pounds, 10 ounces); Team Koolau captained by Conrad Lau of Neptune Beach, Fla. (37 pounds, 11 ounces); and Team The Reel Won captained by Robert Woithe of Placida, Fla. (37 pounds, 7 ounces).
FLW Kingfish Tour qualifying tournaments are three-day events. The entire field competes Friday and Saturday, and the top five teams compete Sunday. The winning team is determined based on the heaviest kingfish from Friday or Saturday plus the heaviest kingfish from Sunday. Teams will take off from the Hyatt Sarasota on Sarasota Bay located at 1000 Boulevard of the Arts at 6:30 a.m. Sunday, and the final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 13140 South Tamiami Trail in Osprey beginning at 4:30 p.m. The takeoff and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Coverage of the Sarasota tournament hosted by the Sarasota Convention & Visitors Bureau will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States May 20 as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern Time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to 429 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed fishing program 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 $1.7 million Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour consists of four regular-season events. After four events are complete, the top 50 teams will compete in the three-day, no-entry-fee $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship presented by BP in Biloxi, Miss., Nov. 2-4. The winning team at the championship will take home as much as $150,000.
The FLW Kingfish Tour will stop in Fort Pierce, Fla., June 8-10 for its second regular-season event, presented by Evinrude Outboards, followed by an event August 17-19 at Beaufort, SC presented by Yamaha Motors. The tour’s last qualifying event, presented by Raymarine, will be held in Atlantic Beach, NC, September 28-30.
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, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, 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 of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
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 Walmart.com.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.