Lured Away to the top

Texas team tops 45 pounds for lead heading into Sarasota finals

SARASOTA, Fla. – At first, it didn’t look like many teams were catching good fish in Saturday’s Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour competition at Sarasota. The early weigh-in was quiet, with just a few low-30s coming to the scale.

Then Team Lured Away stepped to the podium and blew the lid off the competition.

Coming into the day in seventh place, the vaunted team captained by Robert Schoenfeld of Conroe, Texas, caught a hefty, 45-pound, 7-ounce kingfish to grab the overall lead heading into Sunday’s five-team final round. That weight not only helped to knock some hopeful teams in the high 30s out of the top five, it was over 5 pounds heavier than their closest rival, Team Reelin’, which had a 40-1 Saturday.

“The guy that’s in second place right now (Capt. Marc Pincus of Team Reelin’), he’s a really good fisherman,” Schoenfeld said. “We need at least a 6-pound lead heading into tomorrow to feel comfortable.”

Many of the top fish often come in early in the day, and Saturday’s weigh-in started slowly, leading many in attendance to believe that the windy conditions brought on brought a cold front had slowed down the kingfishing. However, most of the top teams that ventured far south past Sanibel Island still managed to get down there Saturday despite choppier seas. When they started coming in close to the cutoff time, 6 p.m., they had some good fish on ice.

Lured Away was one of those teams. Having made a more than 350-mile round-trip run south, they hooked into a mess of fish on a burst of action late in the morning.

“We caught a 38(-pounder) and then five more from 30 to 35 pounds. Then we caught this one,” Schoenfeld said. “It was within a span of about 45 minutes. We got there at 10:45 and by 11:30 we were cleaning up the boat.”

Lured Away caught the 45-pounder, the biggest fish of the week so far, on the long line with a big blue runner and fought it for roughly 20 minutes before landing it. The key to their big day was simple: find the right area with big fish in it.

“I knew there were fish there if I could get to them. Fortunately, we stayed down there long enough to catch a few,” Schoenfeld said. “I knew this spot was holding high 30s and 40s from when I fished there two weeks ago.”

No one was surprised to see Schoenfeld and Co. come barreling in to make the cut and lead the event. Lured Away is a serious force on the kingfish circuit, having already posted four top-five finishes on the young FLW Kingfish Tour in two years, including three top finishes last season.

The brass ring of victory, however, has been elusive for them as of yet.

“I’m very comfortable making this top five. Tomorrow, we’ve just got to go out and get a big fish to go with it,” Schoenfeld said. “No matter what happens, we’ll get fifth place regardless. But this is the best position we’ve ever been in to win an FLW.”

Reelin’ also rocks a 40, claims second

Pincus, who hails from Hilton Head Island, S.C., and Team Reelin’ caught the only other fish over 40 pounds Saturday, hooking it within 30 minutes of dropping their lines after making the grueling run south about a hundred miles.

“We only fished for three hours because it took us so long to get there. We’re one of the slower boats in the fleet, so everybody was going past us,” crewmember Eric Moore said. “We caught three fish. We didn’t get any good bites all week until yesterday, so I feel great about that fish today.”

Moore said Reelin’ caught their 40-1 on a big blue runner in about 60 feet of water.

Hannon’s Cannon, Koolau hold on

Friday’s first- and second-place teams, Pro Marine USA.com / Hannon’s Cannon and Koolau, both failed to weigh in a bigger fish Saturday, but they each made the cut in third and fourth place, respectively, on the strength of the first day’s catches. Hannon’s Cannon has 39 pounds, 10 ounces and Koolau has 37-11.

Reel Won climbs to fifth

Team The Reel Won, captained by Robert Woithe of Placida, Fla., worked its way into fifth place with a nice kingfish weighing 37 pounds, 7 ounces, edging out both Team Yo-Zuri / The Fischer King and Team Strategix by a single ounce.

“That fish hit mackerel right in the prop wash,” crewmember Bob Woithe said. “It looked big, but it was short. We caught it right at the end of the day and just put it in the bag. I didn’t know how big it was.”

Curiously, The Reel Won almost didn’t even come in to weigh the fish. They fished near Key West and on their run back, they lost a lower unit near Boca Grande Inlet.

“We were right near my mother’s house, so we almost just went in right there,” Woithe said. “What made us come in was the points. We learned last year that every point is crucial to make that championship. It was slow going on only two engines, but we gambled and it paid off.”

Final round Sunday

The top five boats will take off at 6:30 a.m. Eastern time Sunday for the final round of competition. The winner – and a potential $100,000 check – will be determined by combined opening-round and final-round weight.