Kingfish champion to be crowned
With $150,000 on the line, it’s another beautiful day on Lake Atlantic
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – With slick seas, sunny skies and just a touch of early fog, the top five team finalists took off from Charleston Harbor Marina Saturday morning for one last gorgeous day of fishing in the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship.
Saturday should prove to be another profitable day for the anglers. Weather conditions are strikingly similar to Friday, when the kings came fast and furious for the field fishing at the Not-So-Secret Hole. The calm, sunny weather makes for pleasurable fishing on “Lake Atlantic,” as Capt. Dennis Stark of third-place Team Sea Bandit put it. It also helps that the bite turned on dramatically under similar conditions and that these finalists were catching multiple 40-pound fish.
With just five boats heading to the Not-So-Secret Hole Saturday, as opposed to the 40-some vessels that went there yesterday, logic says that the fishing should loosen up even more. As it stands, with 50 pounds, 8 ounces, first-place Team Sea Rat holds a 5-pound lead over second-place Team Wild Ride. Fifth-place Team Lured Away is just under 11 1/2 pounds off the lead, with everyone else in between.
“If the weather stays like it is, it will probably take another 40 pounds to win it,” Wild Ride Capt. Randy Griffin said.
Still, the teams will have to focus and adjust to the fish, regardless of the favorable conditions.
“The place where everybody is fishing turns on and off, based on everything that’s happening,” Sea Bandit crew member Jay Huggins said. “It’s like a light switch flipping out there. You catch a lot of fish, but it could be a 40 or it could be a teenager. You just never know.”
Also of note, keep your eye on fourth-place Team Raymarine, which is sitting just under 10 pounds off the lead. Last year, competing as Team Early Riser, they won this championship at Morehead City, N.C., and they had an especially determined look on their faces Saturday morning.
“Yes sir, we hope to repeat,” crew member Robert Daugherty said.
The 2006 FLW Kingfish Tour champion and a potential $150,000 payday will be decided at today’s final weigh-in, which starts at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time at the Wal-Mart store located at 1481 U.S. Highway 17 North in Mount Pleasant.
Saturday’s conditions
Sunrise: 7:13 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 65 degrees
Expected high temperature: 80 degrees
Inshore water temperature: 61-63 degrees
Tides: 5:54 a.m. low, 6:51 p.m. low
Seas: 1-2 feet
Wind: SSW at 10 mph
Maximum humidity: 69 percent
Day’s outlook: mostly sunny