BILOXI, Miss. – Biloxi, Miss., is the epicenter of high-stakes kingfishing this week with the top 50 teams from the 2007 FLW Kingfish Tour and five FLW Kingfish Series points champions competing in the $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship presented by BP. At stake in the lucrative championship is a top award of $150,000, and following opening day action Friday, team “M&M’S” captained by Randy Griffin of Hampstead, N.C., looks to be the team to beat with a kingfish weighing 51 pounds, 10 ounces.
Captain Griffin and his crew – Shayna Griffin and Richard Williams of Hampstead, N.C., and Ronald Miller Jr., of Wilmington, N.C. – reported catching at least 20 fish before landing their biggest right before they had to pack up and come to the scales. All of the fish came on hardtails and ribbonfish trolled in a four line spread near offshore oil rigs.
“We ran a long way today,” said Griffin, whose team has already put up two top five finishes this season. “We had the coordinates to this one spot all week but haven’t tried it until today. We rig hopped all day then pulled off to this spot and put some lines out and we just got lucky like we have all year. We had several in the 20 pound range and the big one we weighed. Today all the hooks just pulled right, stayed together and we got the right one in the boat. We look at this as basic is better and so far it’s paid off.
“Our plan for tomorrow is to just go hard at it. I don’t think this is going to be enough. This is an awesome fishery and we expect the weights to get better. We are going to go look for a big fish and see how it goes. Hopefully we will get another big bite.”
Rounding out the top five teams are team “Collins” captained by Johnnie Sears of Fuquay Varina, N.C. (49-03); team “Pro Marine USA.com/Hannon’s Cannon” captained by Kevin Hannon of Seminole, Fla. (42-12); team “Intense” captained by Neal Foster of Mobile, Ala. (39-13); and team “Castrol” captained by Nick Parrish of Jacksonville, Fla. (38-06).
Teams fished under almost picturesque weather and sea conditions today. Anglers were greeted by sunny skies and a slight chop this morning and by the afternoon it was slick calm. When the scales finally closed, 37 teams had landed kingfish weighing more than 1,000 pounds.
The FLW Kingfish Tour Championship is a three-day event. The entire field competes Friday and Saturday, and the top five teams, based on the heaviest fish from Friday or Saturday, compete Sunday. The winning team is determined by the heaviest kingfish from Friday or Saturday plus the heaviest kingfish from Sunday.
Teams will take off from the Isle of Capri Casino and Hotel of Biloxi located at 151 Beach Blvd. at 6:30 each morning. Saturday’s weigh-in will also be held at the Isle of Capri Casino beginning at 4 p.m. Sunday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 3615 Sangani Blvd. in D’lberville, Miss., beginning at 4:30 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Coverage of the FLW Kingfish Tour Championship will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States Jan. 6, 2008, as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 429 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed fishing 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, 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.