Gangbusters

Sea Rat pops 50-pounder as five new teams slide into FLW Kingfish Tour Championship finals

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – As predicted, the kingfishing picked up steam on day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship. The sun came out, the wind laid down, and many teams caught them fast, furious and big.

Team Sea Rat, captained by Mitch Yates of Winston-Salem, N.C., led the charge into the finals with an eye-popping 50-pound, 6-ounce king Friday. They were one of four teams topping the 40-pound mark just a day after no team caught anything more 36 1/2 pounds.

“This is by far my biggest personal tournament fish,” Yates said. “It hit at about 9:30, and it was about 15 minutes of agony while we fought it. We saw it three times before we got it into the boat. When we got it to the top, it had its mouth wide open, and it looked like you could put a football in there. When we gaffed it and the fish finally hit the deck, the hooks fell out. So I guess it was just our day.”

While big fish like Sea Rat’s were the story of the day – it was the second-heaviest mackerel caught on tour this season – where they caught them was also curious. Nearly the entire 50-boat field, at some point, fished the same general area Friday. Located about 35 miles to the north of Charleston Harbor, a natural live-bottom area with ledges and warmer water aptly named “Not-So-Secret Hole” provided the bulk of the day’s quarry.

“It’s just one of those places that holds fish here,” Yates said. “There were probably some 44 boats in there, and everybody was catching them. I usually don’t like fishing in a crowd, but when the fish are there, you’ve got to go there and fish. As soon as we got there, we let out our first line, and that’s when the fish bit. It was a really good bite this morning; it was just a matter of what fish bit your hook. We just got our number called today.”

Sea Rat caught their smoker on the top long line using a blue runner as bait. If Yates has his way, he’d love to repeat the catch in Saturday’s finals. Sea Rat plans to head back out to the Not-So-Secret Hole tomorrow, but he knows Friday was one special day for the team. They’re carrying a 5-pound lead into the finals.

“I’d like to have another one just like that, but that’s a once-in-a-lifetime fish,” Yates said. “On the way in today, we kept asking, `Are we dreaming? Are we dreaming?’ I don’t know what to say. It’s just a really great feeling. What a beautiful day.”

Wild Ride pops 45-pounder for second

Team Wild Ride, led by Capt. Randy Griffin Jr. of Hampstead, N.C., qualified for the finals in the second position after catching a monster king weighing 45 pounds, 6 ounces.

They, too, fished among the pack at the Not-So-Secret Hole and ended up catching their smoker on the surface using what Griffin called “live bait.”

“I’m surprised, actually, that it weighed 45,” Griffin said. “We measured it at only 52 1/2, 53 inches long, but it was fat. We bent the gaff pulling him in. We caught it on a different bait, and that’s why I’m not saying yet what it is. When the wind laid down, I knew the bite was going to get turned on.”

Sea Bandit third with 43-15

Capt. Dennis Stark of Pine Bluff, N.C., and Team Sea Bandit made the cut in third place by climbing the charts with a 43-pound, 15-ounce kingfish.

Stark, who calls this area his home fishing grounds, said Sea Bandit carried a small local advantage into the Not-So-Secret Hole Friday. They caught and live-released a slew of fish Friday.

“We had our own set of numbers,” he said. “November’s usually pretty great here if the temperature’s right. For the first time in my life, I’ll say that I’m tired of catching 30-pound fish. It was just gorgeous fishing out there today. We call it `Lake Atlantic’ when it’s like this.”

Defending champs Raymarine at it again in fourth

Capt. John Parks of Jacksonville, N.C., and Team Raymarine/Early Riser, last year’s championship winners, positioned themselves for another run at the title by catching a 40-pound, 7-ounce king Friday.

The team rose from a disappointing 35th-place showing Thursday to make the cut Friday in fourth place.

“We’re come-from-behind-type guys,” crew member Willie Humphrey said. “We did the same thing last year.”

Lured Away fifth

Team Lured Away, captained by Robert Schoenfeld of Conroe, Texas, earned the last qualifying spot into the finals with a kingfish weighing 39 pounds even.

This will be the third top-five finish for Lured Away this season.

“We’ve had a phenomenal year,” Schoenfeld said. “I think any one of the top five boats – even though there’s a 50 on the table – can come through tomorrow. It’s anybody’s game.”

Thursday’s leaders out

In a somewhat unusual twist for a kingfishing competition – but one that many anglers could have predicted due to the improving fishing conditions – all five of Thursday’s leading teams missed the cut Friday. Double Gobble, Kellogg’s, Hogg Heaven and House-Autry each failed to better their day-one catches and finished out of the top five.

Only Team Koolau, in third place Thursday, managed to improve their catch Friday with a 38-pound, 15-ounce king, but they missed the cut in sixth place by an agonizing 1 ounce.

Potential $150,000 champion to be decided Saturday

The top 10 boats will take off at 6:30 a.m. Eastern time Saturday morning from Charleston Harbor Marina for the final round of championship competition. The winner – and a potential $150,000 check – will be determined by combined opening-round and final-round weight.

Final weigh-in is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. Eastern at the Wal-Mart store located at 1481 U.S. Highway 17 North in Mount Pleasant.