Team Mellow Yellow wins FLW Kingfish Series event

44 ½-pound king takes South Carolina-Georgia Division tourney

BRUNSWICK, Ga. – Team Mellow Yellow, headed by Captain Steve Lucie of Jacksonville, Fla., caught a kingfish weighing 44 pounds, 8 ounces to win the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series South Carolina-Georgia Division event in Brunswick. The top prize of $21,000 included a $9,000 Yamaha bonus.

Fishing with Andy Pettit of Jacksonville and Jimmy McIntire or Bluffton, S.C., Lucie targeted live bottom in 110 feet of water about 50 miles east of Cumberland Island. When the winning kingfish hit a double pogie rig 20 feet deep on a downrigger shortly after noon, McIntire handled the rod and Lucie gaffed the fish.

The winning team enjoyed a day of nearly nonstop action during which they caught 15 kingfish. “It was red hot,” Lucie said. “We had a bite on the first bait we were letting back and we had four doubles today. We were getting dehydrated because we didn’t have time to stop and drink water.”

Networking with fellow tournament anglers led Lucie to the right spot. “We knew there were a lot of fish in this location. We’d rather catch a lot of fish than wait all day for one big fish. We got in the right area with a lot of fish and got lucky enough to get one big one.”

A hefty kingfish and stiff winds convinced Team Mellow Yellow to end their day early. “Just about the time we were fighting the big fish, the wind kicked up to about 20 knots and that made it really tough to keep the boat in position,” Lucie said.

“When we got that fish in the boat, we knew it was a good one so we said there wasn’t any reason to stay out any longer. We packed it up around 12:30 and took our time coming in. We were thankful for the reliability of our Yamaha engines to get us in with our big fish.”

Rounding out the top five teams were Team Frayed Knot, captained by Jeff Smith of Wilmington, N.C. (40 pounds, 4 ounces, $3,721 plus $2,790 Yamaha bonus and $2,790 Wellcraft bonus); Team Mikey Likes It, captained by Michael Hubbard of Vance, S.C. (37 pounds, 5 ounces, $2,480 plus $1,860 Yamaha bonus and $1,860 Hydra-Sports bonus); Team Hogg Heaven, captained by Jason Hogg of Mt. Pleasant, S.C. (33 pounds, 11 ounces, $1,860 plus $1,395 Yamaha bonus and $1,395 Hydra-Sports bonus); and Team Bear Cat, captained by Barrington Page of Swansboro, N.C. (31 pounds, 3 ounces, $1,240 plus $930 Yamaha bonus).

Teams caught 45 kingfish Saturday weighing a total of 937 pounds, 14 ounces.

FLW Kingfish Series qualifying tournaments are one-day events. The field competes Saturday, and the winning team is determined based on the heaviest kingfish. The next FLW Kingfish Series event will be held Sept. 9 at Port Aransas, Texas.

The FLW Kingfish Series consists of five divisions – East Florida, West Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina-Georgia and Gulf Coast. Each division is comprised of three events with a $100,000 purse for each event. The top 100 teams – 20 from each division after three qualifying events – will qualify for the three-day, no-entry-fee $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship to be held in Orange Beach, Ala., Oct. 26-28. The championship winner will take home as much as $75,000.

Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series, as well as the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.

For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.

Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as title sponsor of the FLW Tour in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.