Marcia-D takes Morehead City FLW Kingfish qualifier
North Carolina team wins $70,000, field set for championship
MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. – On day two, Team Marcia-D couldn’t top the 35-pound, 3-ounce kingfish it caught on day one, but it didn’t matter. Nobody else did, either.
The team, headed by Capt. Perry Johnston of Oak Island, N.C., won the final Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour qualifier of the season Tuesday and took home a total of $70,000 in winnings and contingencies – $40,000 for the win plus a $30,000 bonus from Hydra-Sports.
“We’re happy. We’re just glad to win it,” Johnston said. “I’ve never won a big event, so this is nice. It’s definitely the biggest thing we’ve ever won.”
Team Marcia-D – which consists of Capt. Johnston and crew members Barry Adkins, Sandy Tyner and Don Wilsey, as well as Johnston’s 14-year-old daughter, Kristin – had to sweat it out Tuesday. The inclement weather that dampened day one let up on day two, and a couple teams made a push with kings over the 30-pound mark. That, combined with a less successful day on Marcia-D’s part, made it a nail-biter until the last fish was weighed.
“The best thing about today is that the sun came out and we didn’t need rain gear,” Johnston said. “I didn’t expect to win with a 35-pound fish, especially with this field and this level of competition. We got a little lucky today.”
Actually, yesterday was much luckier for Marcia-D, by comparison. Fishing a wind-protected area about a mile west of Cape Lookout Shoals, they caught their winning fish on naked-rigged live menhaden about 40 feet behind the boat. Upon motoring through a school of baitfish marked by diving birds, they quickly caught two small kings in the morning. Then they saw their winning kingfish sky on their baits and succeeded in catching it around 10:30 a.m.
“We knew he was a good 35-pounder. As soon as the scales were open, we came in,” Johnston said. “We had no idea he was that good a fish, though. We just knew that we had a good fish and were tired of getting rained on.”
Ironically, it was the testy weather that led directly to Marcia-D’s win. The team hails from the Southport, N.C., the original site for this tournament before Hurricane Ophelia forced it to be moved to Morehead City this week. Some teams from the Southport area decided to make the rough 100-mile run down to their home waters to fish on day one, but they mainly came back empty-handed.
Marcia-D, however, decided to stay closer to Morehead City – and stay out of the bumpy seas.
“There was no temptation to run down there at all,” Johnston said. “The weather actually made me go where I wouldn’t have normally gone. I decided not to cross the shoals, and we took the sheltered approach.”
Slip N’ Slide second
Team Slip N’ Slide – winner of the FLW event at Venice, La., earlier this season – mounted a valiant comeback attempt with a 33-pound, 10-ounce fish Tuesday and finished in second place at Morehead City. The team, captained by Tom Aberle of Wilmington, N.C., earned $35,000.
Like Marcia-D and a bevy of other boats, Slip N’ Slide fished near Cape Lookout Tuesday. The team reported having some eight or nine bites, but it was the big one later in the afternoon that made the difference.
“We had a good bite in the morning and a good bite in the afternoon. It’s been like that the last two days,” crew member Adam Aberle said. “We caught a lot of small fish today. We had just changed baits and put out a fresh spread. I think that did the trick. We just had fresh menhaden oil and caught him on a live pogy.”
Streaker takes third
Team Streaker, captained by Roger Walker of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., finished in third place and collected $15,250 with a king weighing 31 pounds, 1 ounce. Besides the top two finishers, it was the only other fish to break the 30-pound barrier.
“Our mission yesterday was just to get a fish because we were 52nd in the standings,” crew member Felton Perdue said. “Today, we went for bigger fish, and that was the only one we got. The area we were fishing, you might catch bigger fish there, but you certainly don’t catch near as many.”
Fishing about 15 miles offshore, Streaker’s big king bit on a pogy on the long line about a hundred feet behind the boat.
“We lost part of our fishing team before we got here,” Perdue said. “My sister, Paulette (Walker), got sick on the way up here, and she couldn’t fish with us, so we caught that one for her.”
Early Riser fourth, Young Guns fifth
Team Early Riser, captained by John Parks of Jacksonville, N.C., finished fourth and collected $16,500 with a 27-pound, 12-ounce fish caught Tuesday.
Bunnell, Fla., Capt. Harvey Way Jr. and his Team Young Guns took the fifth position with a fish weighing 27 pounds, 10 ounces. The team earned $10,750.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 team finishers at the Morehead City FLW Kingfish qualifier:
6th: On the Edge, Capt. Johnnie Sears of Fuquay Varina, N.C., 27-7, $12,000
6th: No Doubt, Capt. Trae Ross of Oxford, Ga., 27-7, $5,500
8th: Miss Micki, Capt. Bill McLamb of Raleigh, N.C., 26-8, $8,500
9th: Sea Bandit, Capt. Dennis Stark of Pinebluff, N.C., 26-4, $4,750
10th: Miss Behavin’, Capt. Danny Duncan of Catawba, S.C., 26-0, $5,500
Championship field set, $500,000 competition ensues Thursday
The regular season of the 2005 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour is done and the standings are set.
In a tight race, Team Hannon’s Cannon, captained by Kevin Hannon of Seminole, Fla., won the inaugural season’s points title with 544 points. It edged out second-place Team Young Guns (543 points) by merely one point and third-place Team Rebecca Ann (542) by just two points.
Hannon’s Cannon finished in the top five at the first two events and 39th at the third – the team’s lowest finish of the year. This week, it finished 13th.
Now, the top 50 teams will go on to fish the $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship, beginning Thursday out of Morehead City, where the championship winner will take home as much as $150,000.