Force 10 wins Kingfish Series Championship
Team Sweet Maria nets second place at Orange Beach event
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – Team Force 10, headed by Kevin Alexander of Conroe, Texas, caught a two-kingfish total weighing 69 pounds, 11 ounces to win the $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship in Orange Beach. The top prize of $52,500 included a $22,500 bonus from Evinrude.
Fishing with Brett Donnahoe of Spring, Texas, Chris Machacek of Freeport, Texas, and Terry Pool of Conroe, Texas, Alexander targeted a drilling rig in 120 feet of water, 70 miles southwest of Mobile Bay. Around 10:30 a.m., the anglers paired a kingfish weighing 32 pounds, 1 ounce with their 37-pound, 10-ounce fish from day two.
“There were multiple rigs in about a 10-mile radius, and this was the third place that we fished,” Donnahoe said. “At this location, we caught approximately 30 to 35 fish in about an hour, and they were all quality fish.
“We actually had a larger kingfish that would have been in the high 30s, but as we were bringing it in to the boat, it had a shark attached to its tail. The fish just kind of gave up on us and stopped fighting. We were wondering if it just wasn’t a very big kingfish, but then we pulled it up alongside the boat and saw that a shark had just the tail in its mouth. It was quite a scary sight.”
By the time the anglers wrestled the kingfish from the shark, its tail had been mutilated. FLW rules prohibit teams from entering a fish that suffers any damage that impairs its fighting ability.
Donnahoe said, “Our hearts kind of sunk, but we just went right back at it. We knew good fish were in the area, so, immediately, we got back in the game.”
Their top kingfish ate a live 2-pound blue runner with a single 7-inch stinger rig comprising a 2/0 lead hook, No. 4 trailing hook and No. 5 wire. The team dressed the bait with a pink duster. Alexander fought the fish, and Donnahoe gaffed it about 15 minutes later.
Alexander said his team’s success hinged on planning and execution: “We have a system that we think is very effective, and we have a lot of confidence in what we do. We have key roles, and everybody knows what they do. When we pull up on a spot, everybody has their movements down, and they know what to do. So when the bite goes off, we’re ready.”
Earlier in the competition, a cold front brought high winds and rough seas that necessitated the postponement of day two from Friday to Saturday. Sunday’s final round saw improved conditions.
“Today was beautiful offshore – clear skies and not windy at all,” Donnahoe said. “We were very happy to have the sea conditions we had today to make the run that we needed to make.”
Rounding out the top five teams were Team Sweet Maria, captained by Matt Henderson of Jacksonville, Fla. (two kingfish, 63 pounds, 15 ounces, $15,000 plus $11,250 Yamaha bonus); Team Psycho, captained by Gill Strelec of West Palm Beach, Fla. (two kingfish, 63 pounds, 2 ounces, $12,500); Team LoungAir/Cat Daddy, captained by Danny Mathis of Gonzales, La. (two kingfish, 61 pounds, 3 ounces, $10,000 plus $7,500 Hydra-Sports bonus and $7,500 Yamaha bonus); and team Blondie, captained by James McNabb Jr. of Merritt Island, Fla. (two kingfish, 53 pounds, 8 ounces, $8,500 plus $6,375 Yamaha bonus).
Teams caught five kingfish Sunday weighing 108 pounds, 9 ounces in total.
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.