Worth the wait
Team Chevy/Miss Micki 2 weathers storm, bags top king
VENICE, La. – They only saw two kingfish, but one was big enough to give Team Chevy/Miss Micki 2 the lead in the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour event at Venice Marina.
Captain Ricky Rowland, his wife Shannon and Bill McLamb – all of Raleigh, N.C. – fished about 45 miles west of the Mississippi River Delta and caught a 51-pound, 15-ounce king near a drilling rig in 170 feet of water.
The big king ate a dead ribbonfish on a downrigger at 85 feet deep around 12:15. Shannon Rowland handled the rod duty and endured a couple of long runs and then a test of wills, as her big fish just headed deep and played tug-of-war.
McLamb recalled: “I saw the strike so I lifted the rod from the downrigger and handed it to Shannon 
because she fights all our fish. I told Shannon `We have a real good one here.’ You could tell he had some butt to him.”
McLamb grabbed the gaff and joined Shannon on the bow for a 15-minute battle. Things nearly took a turn for the tragic, but McLamb’s quick recovery saved the day.
“I had a little difficulty gaffing (this fish),” he recalled. “He made a turn on me right there at the end. I hit the line with the gaff, which worried me, but I came right back and we got him.”
Shannon said she was thrilled to see the big fish hit the deck. “This is the biggest kingfish I’ve ever seen on my boat, so it was a good feeling.”
The top anglers caught their other kingfish, a 30-pounder, inshore while they waited for a Gulf storm to pass. The rough weather had been blocking the course to their main big-fish spot. Once the door opened, Team Chevy/Miss Micki 2 made a beeline for the deeper spot and quickly
As Shannon noted, the top team had to adjust their trolling tactics to avoid the rig’s other toothy resident. “We stayed on the outskirts of the rig because when we tried to hug tight earlier and we caught a few barracuda. If you get too close (to a rig) that’s what you get.”
With the likelihood of beating their day-one weight highly improbable, Team Chevy/Miss Micki 2 will spend the second qualifying day preparing for the final round. It’s a risky call, as a spike in second-round action could bump them out of the top-5. However, Ricky Rowland said he was confident that his team had already weighed their best fish.
My Three Sons settles into seconds
Captained by Terry Grantham of Florence, S.C., My Three Sons caught the day’s second heaviest 
kingfish, a 43-pound, 9-ounce smoker that ate a live blue runner. Teammate Joel Coker said he’s not comfortable with the first day weight, but he’s optimistic about their day-two prospects.
“I think it’s going to take a 50-pound fish to make the top-5,” Coker said. “I don’t think this will hold up – I hope so, but I don’t think it will. I think there’s a 50 where we’re fishing. We caught a couple of nice fish today.”
In third place, Capt. Ozzie Fischer and his Fort Myers, Florida-based Team Century-Yamaha picked through about 40 kingfish in the 20- to 30-pound range until they found their 42-12. Fischer said his team had just moved to a new drilling rig to get away from the smaller fish when their first bait in the water – a live blue runner – got nailed by the big king.
Logan’s Run captained by David Logan of Belville, N.C. took fourth with 41-05 and Native Premonitions 
captained by Leon Wilcox of Hollywood, Fla. clinched the fifth-place spot with 41-0.
Best of the rest
Rounding out the top-10 leaders at the FLW Kingfish Tour Venice event are:
6th: Kwazar, captained by Marcus Kennedy of Mobile, Ala., 40-10
7th: Team Castrol, captained by Nick Parrish of Jacksonville, Fla., 39-14
8th: Crawgator, captained by Bill Butler or Belle Chase, La., 39-14
9th: The Reel Won, captained by Robert Woithe of Placida, Fla., 39-08
10th: Team National Guard, captained by Dieter Cardwell of Winston Salem, N.C., 37-06
FLW Kingfish Tour action in Venice continues at Saturday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 7 a.m. (CT) at Venice Marina, located at 237 Sports Marina Road in Venice. Weigh-ins start at 4 p.m. at Venice Marina.