Team Sarah Jo wins Kingfish Series event in Southport

SOUTHPORT, N.C. – Team Sarah Jo, headed by Chris Edens of Wilmington, N.C., caught a kingfish weighing 39 pounds, 5 ounces Saturday to win the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series North Carolina Division event in Southport, N.C., and $21,000 cash.

Edens, along with teammates Lucio Rodriguez, Matt Markley, Chris Edens Jr. and Matthew Mauldin., caught their smoker king on a Blue Water Candy skirt slow-trolled 27 miles off-shore around the local hot-spot coined the horseshoe.

“It was pretty rough offshore today,” Edens said. “We got out and caught our bait early this morning and was lucky enough to get a good boat number. We were able to go straight to our spot and start fishing. We ran close to 30 miles offshore in some pretty violent seas. We had to stop about every five miles just to give ourselves a break.

“We caught probably four fish today including a nice sized mahi. About 10 this morning we hooked into the big one. On its first initial run, it stripped off about 250 yards of line. It took us about 25 to 30 minutes to bring the fish in. The water temperature was just right and there was a good blue green water break to bring these big fish in.

“We have been close to winning a few tournaments before but I was holding my breath all the way to the end. You can never know what’s going to happen. I’m just glad to get this win off my shoulders,” Edens added.

Rounding out the top five teams were Team Reel Time, captained by Craig Hughes of Leland, N.C. (32 pounds, 1 ounce, $13,650); Team Concept, captained by Blake Justice of Graham, N.C. (31 pounds, 10 ounces, $3,640); Team Wall Hanger, captained by Brian Allen of Raleigh, N.C. (30 pounds, 1 ounce, $4,208); and Team Carolina Girl, captained by Gary Slaughter of Atlantic Beach, N.C. (29 pounds, 3 ounces, $1,820).

Cole Edens of Hampstead, N.C., placed 33rd with a 12-pound, 8-ounce kingfish as a member of Team East Coast Sports to earn the tournament’s award for the highest-finishing competitor under 16 years old.

The award for highest-finishing woman went to Robin Hollar of Advance, N.C., who placed 21st with a 15-pound, 9-ounce kingfish as a member of Team Reel Culture.

FLW Kingfish Series qualifying tournaments are one-day events. Each team is allowed to weigh in one kingfish, and the winning team is determined by the heaviest fish. The next FLW Kingfish Series North Carolina Division event will be held Aug. 25 in Southport, N.C., followed by the final regular-season event of the year for the division in Atlantic Beach, N.C., Sept. 15.

The FLW Kingfish Series consists of five divisions – East Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina-Georgia, Gulf and Upper Gulf. Each division is comprised of three events with a $100,000 purse for each event. The top three teams from each tournament and the top 16 teams (who are not already qualified) from each division after all qualifiers are complete will advance to the three-day, $275,000 no-entry-fee Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship in Orange Beach, Ala., Oct. 4-6, which will be featured in a one-hour episode of “FLW Outdoors” broadcast to 80 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) households in the United States and more than 429 million households in Europe, Asia and Africa. The points champion from each division will also advance directly to the $500,000 no-entry-fee Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship in Biloxi, Miss., Nov. 2-4, where they will compete against top FLW Kingfish Tour teams for a top award of $150,000.

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, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.