Eager for action - Major League Fishing

Eager for action

Kingfish Tour Championship finalists champing at the bit following weather cancellation
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A cold front passing through the Biloxi area left clear, windy conditions by the end of day two. Photo by David A. Brown.
November 15, 2008 • David A. Brown • Archives

BILOXI, Miss. – After a day at the dock, five teams are prepped, packed, rested and ready for the final round of competition in the Walmart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship.

A cold front moving through the area late Friday night brought high winds and big seas, along with a big drop in air temperature. Saturday’s marine forecast, which included a small-craft advisory, prompted FLW tournament management to cancel the second day of competition. The top five teams from day one Team Loose Lucy leads the field with a 57-pound 10-ounce kingfish, their biggest in FLW competition.will compete during Sunday’s finale.

Compared to today’s slop – winds of 20 to 25 mph and 6- to 8-foot seas – Sunday’s outlook of 15-mph winds and 4-foot seas doesn’t look nearly as intimidating. Nevertheless, teams will have no cakewalk, and time management will be essential, as the final day is a short one. Teams launch at 6 a.m., and they must be checked in by 2:30 p.m.

Mike Kaminsky of Charleston, S.C., captains the first-place Loose Lucy, a team sitting pretty with a 57-pound, 10-ounce kingfish and an 8-pound, 3-ounce lead over second-place Team BP (49-7). Kaminsky said the big fish is his team’s largest in FLW competition. Loose Lucy’s David Van Lent said the top team will fish conservatively at first and then look for the homerun once they put some weight in the boat.

Team BP found a 49-pound, 7-ounce kingfish on day one, but they have to overcome an 8-pound lead to reach the top spot.“The biggest factor that everyone will face is the weather,” Van Lent said. “With the seas and the wind the way that they’ll be, we’ll have to start out just trying to catch a fish. If we think we have something to work with, we’ll head out to deeper water.”

Van Lent said the Loose Lucy team will probably start fishing in about 60 feet, and if they catch a fish in the 25- to 30-pound range, they’ll move as deep as 200 feet.

K Sea Lake holds the third-place spot with 45-10, Team Coppertone is fourth with 44-1, and Sake 1 sits in fifth with 43-15.

Tactical tip

Live blue runners, locally called “hardtails,” are popular kingfish baits because of their hardy, durable Team Coppertonenature. Trolling runners on surface lines creates an active topside display that attracts kingfish. Most anglers attach the lead hook of their wire stinger rig to a blue runner’s snout, but James “Big Chief” Hammonds of Team Coppertone has a strategic modification.

“If you hook (your bait) a little further back and troll a little slower, he’ll swim deeper,” Hammonds said. “That helps – you get more strikes that way.”

FLW Kingfish Tour action in Biloxi continues at Sunday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 6 a.m. CST at Point Cadet Marina, in Biloxi. Weigh-ins start at 3 p.m. at Point Cadet Marina.