Team Keephers takes Striper Series Championship - Major League Fishing

Team Keephers takes Striper Series Championship

Fleisher and crew earn $50,000 payday in inaugural Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series Championship in Virginia Beach
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Team Keephers, captained by Mathew Fleisher of Niantic, Conn., won the inaugural Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series Championship in Virginia Beach and $50,000 Saturday with a three-day total of five striped bass weighing 73 pounds.
December 9, 2006 • MLF • Archives

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Team Keephers, captained by Mathew Fleisher of Niantic, Conn., won the inaugural Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series Championship in Virginia Beach and $50,000 Saturday with a three-day total of five striped bass weighing 73 pounds.

“It is absolutely awesome,” said Fleisher, whose award included $20,000 plus a $15,000 Hydra-Sports boat bonus and a $15,000 Evinrude motor bonus “Fishing was really good today. We had about nine bites today and they were all within the slot limit. It started of slow this morning but by this afternoon it was really good.

“We were so excited about this circuit starting up that when they announced it, I went and bought a new Hydra-Sports with twin Evinrudes the next day. We love it and had a really great time this season.”

Team Keephers proudly displays part of their first-place 73-pound catch.Team Keephers, which consists of Fleisher and his wife, Amy, plus Mark and Amy Brett of Old Lyme, Conn., fished a parachute rig with a Mojo Bucktail Jig in 75 to 90 feet of water around two big clouds of suspended bait no more than 2 miles offshore. They caught two striped bass weighing 27-7 Thursday, one striped bass weighing 13-9 Friday and two striped bass weighing 32 pounds Saturday.

Team Hydra-Sports, captained by Phillip Gootee II of Church Creek, Md., used a catch of 57 pounds, 3 ounces to capture second place at the 2006 Striper Series Championship.Rounding out the top five teams are Team Hydra-Sports, captained by Phillip Gootee II of Church Creek, Md. (four fish, 57-3, $4,500 plus $3,125 Hydra-Sports boat bonus and $3,125 Yamaha bonus); Team Right Hook, captained by Samuel Fisher of Heathsville, Va. (two fish, 35-2, $2,500); Team Atlantic Outboard, captained by Dan Wood of Waterford, Conn. (two fish, 32-15, $2,000 plus $1,500 Hydra-Sports boat bonus and $1,500 Evinrude engine bonus); and Team Power Play, captained by Kenneth Zwirko of Union, N.J. (two fish, 30-13, $1,500 plus $1,250 Yamaha engine bonus).

Team Right Hook was the only one of four Virginia-based teams to finish in the top five. The next highest-placing team from Virginia was Team Castrol, captained by David Dudley of Lynchburg, in 13th place with two fish weighing 22 pounds. Dudley is well known in bass-fishing circles for his accomplishments on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour. In 2002, at the age of 26, he became the youngest angler in history to surpass $1 million in tournament winnings. Earlier this year, at the age of 30, he became the youngest angler in history to surpass $2 million in tournament winnings. His passion, however, has always been fishing for striped bass.

Team Amazing Grace, captained by Jamie Judy of Middletown, and Team Dialed In, captained by Jonathan Dehart of Virginia Beach, round out the home-state contingent in 21st and 22nd place, respectively.

To qualify for the FLW Striper Series Championship hosted by the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, teams competed in six FLW Striper Series events held in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Maryland this season. Twenty-six teams competed in the lucrative championship.

Only artificial lures are allowed in FLW Striper Series competition, and each team may weigh in only two striped bass ranging in size from 28 to 34 inches per day. In order to avoid a 2-pound penalty, the fish must be kept alive in new keep-alive boxes developed by FLW Outdoors and KeepAlive Systems. These innovative boxes, based on proven live-release techniques, allow all FLW Outdoors striper tournaments to be catch-and-release events – thus helping to protect the nation’s striped bass population and ensure a vibrant fishery for generations to come.

Coverage of the FLW Striper Series Championship will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing Jan. 28, 2007. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to approximately 350 million households in Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary, the United Kingdom, among other others, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.

Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 events in 2006.

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