ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – Team “Kwazar” captained by Marcus Kennedy of Mobile, Ala., won the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship and $50,000 Saturday in Orange Beach, Ala., with a total catch of two kingfish weighing 77 pounds, 1 ounce. The top prize included a $20,000 Yamaha bonus.
Kennedy and his teammates Max Williams of Milton, Fla. and Mike Ward and Todd Kercher, both of Mobile, ran approximately 65 miles southwest of Orange Beach and caught a 25-pound, 6-ounce kingfish over an area of rocky bottom in 180 feet of water. “This was a place that we usually bottom fish and we’ll occasionally catch a big king off the bottom, so this is a good time of year to go get them.”
The team’s final-round kingfish ate a live blue runner set about 60 feet deep on a downrigger. Kennedy fought the fish and Williams gaffed it after a 25-minute fight. Team “Kwazar” caught 11 kingfish and a white marlin Saturday.
Inclement weather caused the cancellation of Thursday’s scheduled start, so teams competed Friday to qualify for Saturday’s top-five finale. While some teams struggled with the shortened schedule, Kennedy said he relied on his local knowledge to overcome the loss of a qualifying day.
“It didn’t affect me any, I just went out and did the same thing I was doing,” he said. “It just saved me $600 in gas and another day of butt-whipping.”
Team “Kwazar” advanced to the final round of five boats in first place Friday on the strength of a king mackerel weighing 51 pounds, 11 ounces. They caught this fish by slow trolling a live blue runner on a downrigger. For Saturday’s competition, the winners returned to the same area they fished on day one and caught their winning king about a mile from where they caught their Friday fish.
“We had an idea of where the fish were and we stuck with our plan,” Kennedy said. “Fortunately, we got a big one yesterday and went out today and got a big enough one.”
Rounding out the top five teams were team “Old School” captained by Scott Jennings of Port Royal, S.C. (two kingfish, 69-7, $7,800 plus $5,200 Evinrude bonus and $5,200 Wellcraft bonus); team “Sake” captained by Neil Nix of Okeechobee, Fla. (two kingfish, 67-3, $6,500 plus $4,160 Yamaha bonus and $4,160 Wellcraft bonus); team “Square & Level/Reel Wild” captained by Frank Eldridge of Waycross, Ga. (two kingfish, 66-13, $5,200 plus $3,640 Yamaha bonus); and team “Catch 22” captained by Kevin Arnold of Houston, Texas (two kingfish, 51-6, $4,420 plus $3,120 Yamaha bonus and $3,120 Hydra-Sports bonus).
One hundred and twenty five teams – the top three from each of 15 qualifying tournaments and the top 16 in the points standings from each of five divisions – qualified to fish the tournament. After Friday’s weigh-in, the field was cut to the top five teams based on the heaviest kingfish. The final standings were determined by the total weight of the heaviest kingfish from Friday plus Saturday’s catch.
The Kingfish Series Championship will be featured in a one-hour episode of “FLW Outdoors” broadcast to 80 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) households in the United States and more than 429 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom on Dec. 9. This reach makes “FLW Outdoors” the most widely distributed fishing program 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.
The Alabama Gulf Coast Sports Commission hosted the FLW Kingfish Series Championship along with The Wharf, Brett-Robinson, Live Bait at the Wharf and the cities of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. For more information, visit www.gulfshores.com.
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, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, 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 of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
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 Walmart.com.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000.