ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – Team Sweet Maria, headed by Matt Henderson of Jacksonville, Fla., caught a kingfish weighing 44 pounds, 8 ounces to lead the $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship in Orange Beach where teams are competing for as much as $75,000.
Teams fished in windy conditions on day one, but inclement weather will provide them with a break from the action. After reviewing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast for rough seas Friday, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series management postponed the event’s second day of fishing until Saturday. The top five teams will fish the event’s final round Sunday.
Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series tournament director Chris Hoover said: “The safety of our fishermen is always our foremost concern. We know these teams have put a lot of time and expense into just getting here, so we want to give them the best possible chance to shine.”
Fishing with Rocky Warpool of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., Henderson found the top kingfish near a drilling rig in 70 feet of water, approximately 30 miles south of Mobile Bay. Around 11:45 a.m., the fish ate a live blue runner with a double stinger rig on the short top line position. Seas of 4 to 6 feet complicated the capture.
Warpool handled the rod and Henderson gaffed the fish about 40 minutes later.
“It should have been about a 15-minute fish,” Henderson said. “But it was harder because of the rough seas and only two of us on the boat. Every time we tried to gaff him, I’d have to let go of the wheel and go to neutral, and then the fish would run under the boat. We had to try and stick him several times, and he finally just wore out.”
The leaders had fished a few other rigs in the general area before working their way over to the site of their big catch.
Remaining diligent paid off, Henderson said: “When we started fishing, there were about 10 boats around us, and when we caught that fish, they had all left. We just stuck with our game plan.”
Henderson said that postponing day two doesn’t have much effect on his team. With a 44-pound kingfish on the board, he and Warpool know they are unlikely to better their chances of reaching the final round.
“We were going to take the day off tomorrow anyway. But it’s good for everyone. We don’t want anyone to go out there and get hurt. (The postponement) was a good call by the FLW.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Team Psycho, captained by Gill Strelec of West Palm Beach, Fla. (41 pounds, 9 ounces); Team LoungAir/Cat Daddy, captained by Danny Mathis of Gonzales, La. (41 pounds, 6 ounces); Team Blondie, captained by James McNab Jr. of Merritt Island, Fla. (37 pounds, 13); and Team Papotanic, captained by Bill Platt of Dickinson, Texas (37 pounds).
Teams caught 65 kingfish Thursday weighing 1,620 pounds, 11 ounces in total.
The FLW Kingfish Series Championship is a three-day event. The winning team is determined based on the heaviest kingfish from Thursday or Saturday plus the heaviest kingfish from Sunday. Boats will launch from Zeke’s Landing Saturday and Sunday at 7:00 a.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at Zeke’s Landing beginning at 3 p.m., and the final weigh-in will be held at the Gulf Shores Wal-Mart located at 170 Fort Morgan Road at 4 p.m. The public is invited to watch teams take off and enjoy free coffee and doughnuts at the Folgers Morning Coffee Break Saturday and Sunday from 6-7 a.m. at Zeke’s Landing.
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 – qualified for the three-day, no-entry-fee $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship.
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, 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.