SARASOTA, Fla. – As expected, adverse weather is going make things interesting for the top five teams fishing the final round of Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour competition at Sarasota. The wind is up, thunderstorms are coming, and seas will be heavy today.
That leaves one question remaining: Which teams have a stash of fish close to home to fall back on? Because it doesn’t look likely anybody’s going anywhere today.
Winds are expected to blow a constant 20 mph, and a squall line of thunderstorms looks imminent to crash into the area sometime in late morning. Seas could reach from 6 to 10 feet in the morning and build up to 14 feet by afternoon.
All five of the finalists, led by Team Lured Away, made the cut by heading as far south as Key West to catch bigger kings the first two days. Having battled bumpier runs back even yesterday afternoon, most of the finalists said they probably wouldn’t venture far to fish Sunday.
“We’re probably going to stay close and go for 20- to 25-pound fish,” Lured Away Capt. Robert Schoenfeld said. Lured Away has an almost 5 1/2-pound lead on the rest of the field.
“The way this wind this wind is blowing, we’ll probably end up in Tampa Bay fishing within sight of my house,” said Bob Woithe, crewmember for fifth-place Team The Reel Won.
Wind or no wind, $100,000 on the line
The winning team is guaranteed a top cash award of $40,000, plus another potential $30,000 in Hydra-Sports, Seaswirl, Scarab or Wellcraft contingency money and $30,000 in Yamaha or Evinrude money.
The final weigh-in Sunday will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 13140 South Tamiami Trail in Osprey, Fla., beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern time.