BILOXI, Miss. – Captain Randy Griffin Jr. and Team M&M’s have figured something out about fishing on day one of big Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour events. They pounded out a big 51-pound, 10-ounce king mackerel Friday to lead opening day of the 2007 Kingfish Tour Championship in Biloxi.
“Basically, what it comes down to is a lot of luck and a little skill,” said Griffin, who hails from Hampstead, N.C. “We just decide to work hard at it. We feel like, if we work hard, it’ll pay off for us sometimes.”
Sometimes is more often than not for Team M&M’s, formerly known as Team Wild Ride. It’s been a stout season for Griffin’s squad. They started the 2007 FLW Kingfish Tour season at Sarasota, Fla., with a top-15 finish. Then they won the next event at Fort Pierce, Fla. After that, they led day one at Beaufort, S.C., and ultimately finished fourth.
But luck has a way of rearing its head in funny ways; you get the good with the bad. Today, for instance, Griffin was in the process of dealing with a hook that had embedded itself in his hand when the big fish hit. He had to hand off the reel to crew member Richard Williams, who was more than happy to do the heavy lifting.
“Richard’s never weighed in a 50 in a tournament before,” Griffin said.
And neither has anyone else on Team M&M’s, at least on the FLW Kingfish Tour this season. Friday’s fish was their heaviest of the year and ranked 10th on the all-time heaviest list of kings caught in FLW Outdoors competition (The heaviest – 57 pounds, 13 ounces – was caught by Team Folgers at a 2006 tour event in Fort Pierce).
But just don’t ask them how and where they caught it, at least this early in the contest.
“We ran to a spot that a friend had given me the (GPS) numbers to, and we fished there until just about the end of the day,” Griffin said. “It was a good spot, but I can’t say where it was. I will say this: We burned 200 gallons of gas today.”
Griffin did say that the team had practiced around the productive oil rigs where many teams were fishing before the event, but they decided to go to today’s spot based on the information he received. He said they caught about 25 kings Friday – on ribbonfish and blue runners – but didn’t say whether they came off of rigs.
“Yeah, we’ve networked with really good guys all year long, and it’s paid off. And we can repay favors, I’ll tell you that,” he said. “I don’t want to make a big deal out of this spot. We caught one big fish, and that was it. But it’s a good spot, and I’m not going to give it to anybody.”
Collins second
Capt. Johnny Sears of Fuquay Varina, N.C., and Team Collins placed second with a kingfish weighing 49 pounds, 3 ounces.
“That’s a lot bigger fish than I thought it was,” crew member Mike Muhlbauer said. “I thought it was only in the high 30s or low 40s.”
Collins took advantage of calmer conditions Friday afternoon, catching their fish near an oil rig on blue runners and ribbonfish.
“We were fortunate. On that spot, there were a lot of fish. It’s a place where they were all bunching up because the fish are pushed offshore right now to those rigs,” Muhlbauer said. “We’re going to do the same thing tomorrow. We saw a couple more big ones just hammer the bait and sky.”
Pro Marine USA/Hannon’s Cannon third
Team Pro Marine USA/Hannon’s Cannon landed in the third position with a fish weighing 42 pounds, 12 ounces.
The team, led by Capt. Kevin Hannon of Seminole, Fla., also worked around oil rigs Friday and caught their keeper king on a blue runner in about 50 feet of water.
“We were rig-hopping,” Hannon said. “Some of the rigs seem to hold fish more than others, and, just from experience, we’d say, `Let’s try that one first.’ A lot of times, you see a bunch of rigs all together, and you’ll see a bunch of boats all on one rig.”
Intense fourth
Team Intense, which qualified for the championship through the FLW Kingfish Series, placed fourth with a kingfish weighing 39 pounds, 13 ounces.
They caught the fish at the last second on a hardtail on the downrigger in about 80 feet of water.
“We only caught about four or five fish today,” said Capt. Neal Foster of Mobile, Ala. “When we put that fish on the deck at 3 o’clock, we were about 112 miles out from the start boat. That tells you how hard we had to haul in to get here. And we got in with just one minute to spare. It was a good day, but it wouldn’t have been a good day without that last bite.”
Castrol fifth
Capt. Nick Parrish of Jacksonville, Fla., and Team Castrol rounded out the top five teams with a fish weighing 38 pounds, 6 ounces.
Opening round continues Saturday
The second half of opening-round competition in the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship at Biloxi begins Saturday as the full field of boats takes off from the Isle of Capri Casino at 7 a.m. Central time. Teams are fishing for heaviest fish over the first two days to determine the top five to advance to Saturday’s finals.