Talkin’ Trash tops 47, ties Miss Micki for lead

North Carolinians dominate to make final-round cut at Fort Pierce

FORT PIERCE, Fla. – When all was caught and weighed Saturday, only two more teams pushed their way into the top five to make the final cut of Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour competition at Fort Pierce. However, like the other three team finalists, they hail from North Carolina.

Team BP / Talkin’ Trash caught the fish of the day – a 47-pound, 1-ounce kingfish – that tied Friday’s leader, Miss Micki 2, for the overall lead.

“We found some fish and we caught them early,” BP Capt. Mike Edwards said. “We’re just fishing the same area as everyone else.”

Like Friday, most of the leading fish Saturday again came from the same groups of boats targeting kings on the beach about 35 miles north of Fort Pierce Inlet. And the fishing was good again. A fair number of 40-pound-plus fish crossed the scale, which cluttered up the leaderboard. After two days, a 40-pound fish at this tournament was only good for 21st place.

With all the groupthink going on, perhaps it was no coincidence that all of the top five teams to make the final-round cut call North Carolina home. But with the big money on the line Sunday, will the elbows fly once all the team finalists reach the honey holes up around Sebastian Inlet?

“Nah. All these guys can fish really well, and we all pretty much know each other,” said Edwards, who hails from Wilmington, N.C. “But it’s not like we’re going to swap baits with them tonight or anything.”

As it was, BP / Talkin’ Trash used a little different bait than the predominant blue runner to catch its smoker king Saturday. Fishing in a crowd, that could have been the difference.

“Ribbonfish have been doing the best for us,” Edwards said. “We always do ribbonfish down low at 15 feet because we keep getting hit on it. We’re not going to change it now. If it works, stick with it.”

That also goes for tomorrow’s overall game plan and fishing location, as far as BP / Talkin’ Trash is concerned.

“We’re not going to change a thing. Micki’s fish came there and mine came there, plus we pulled some 30s out of there, too,” Edwards said. “Hopefully, there’s more there tomorrow.”

Micki thanks the Chief

Now tied for the lead, Team Miss Micki 2 and Capt. Ricky Rowland of Fuquay Varina, N.C., laid low Saturday, catching bait and eliminating water for Sunday’s finals.

Kingfish Tour tiebreakers are decided by season standings, and BP / Talkin’ Trash has a lead on Miss Micki 2 at this point.

But Miss Micki 2 wouldn’t even have been in a position to worry about tiebreakers and leading the tournament if it wasn’t for Team Play N’ Hookie, which tipped them off on their big-fish spot Friday.

“I just want to thank these guys,” Miss Micki 2 crewmember Mitch Yates said as Play N’ Hookie crewmember James “Big Chief” Hammonds weighed in their fish Saturday. “They gave us a call yesterday about a spot, and if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t be here today.”

House-Autry pack hunts, maintains third

Capt. Ronald Sutton of Carolina Beach, N.C., and Team House-Autry didn’t better their catch but held onto third place with a weight of 46 pounds, 10 ounces from Friday.

“We fished all day long on the beach, but we didn’t catch anything bigger,” Sutton said. “If we saw a pack of boats, we’d just go right up in the middle of them. It’s been a great weekend for us.”

Sutton said they caught their keeper king Friday on a blue runner.

M&M rides into fourth

The only other team to break into the top five Saturday was M&M / Wild Ride, captained by Randy Griffin Jr. of Hampstead, N.C. They caught a 46-pound, 2-ounce kingfish and made the cut in fourth place.

“When we saw this fish, we didn’t know if it was a top-five or not, but we were hoping,” Griffin said. “We caught two fish, and the other one was about 40 pounds.”

Bounty fifth

Capt. Tom Aberle of Wilmington, N.C., and Team Bounty held onto the fifth slot with a Friday weight of 45 pounds, 9 ounces.

Rebecca Ann sharked out of cut

Team Rebecca Ann’s Capt. Frank Strickland had what was easily the biggest kingfish of the week to his boat Saturday – and he weighed it in – but it didn’t count.

Strickland placed a massive king on the scale. Judging by the size of its head, it would have easily broken the 50-pound mark. However, it was missing a crucial piece: its tail.

“We had it up and gaffed it once, but it got off made about a 20-foot run. That’s when the shark got it,” Strickland said, indicating that a shark bit off about a foot of the king’s tail end after it escaped the gaff. “That’s the first time I’ve had a shark do that, and it broke my heart. That’s fishing, I guess. But if I see him again, that’s one dead shark.”

Even with 12 inches of its meaty tail end missing, the truncated fish weighed in at 42 pounds, 4 ounces. However, Rebecca Ann’s official weight Saturday came from its second-biggest – and whole – fish, a 40-9.

Final round Sunday

The top five boats will take off at 6:45 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.

Sunday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 5100 Okeechobee Road in Fort Pierce beginning at 5 p.m. The takeoff and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.