MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. – Team Early Riser headed by Captain John Parks of Jacksonville, N.C., caught a kingfish weighing 20 pounds, 1 ounce Saturday for a two-kingfish total weighing 58 pounds, 2 ounces to win the inaugural $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship in Morehead City. For the win, the Wellcraft/Yamaha team earned $150,000 in cash – the largest award in the history of professional kingfishing.
The sun finally made an appearance Saturday as the first two days of the event were blanketed with overcast skies. Most teams, however, preferred the overcast conditions, and Saturday’s catch proved fishing was tougher on the final day.
After only catching a 15-pounder on day one, Team Early Riser got on a hot bite on day two, catching a big king weighing 38 pounds, 1 ounce, along with several other fish that would have cracked the top 10. The 38-pounder gave Team Early Riser a 4-pound lead heading into the final round, and the team ended up winning by more than 5 pounds.
“The day didn’t start like we wanted it to,” Parks said. “We got on some small fish early, so we moved to another area. We saw some big fish but just couldn’t get them to bite. We ended up catching the winning fish about 6 miles from the inlet and a mile and a half off the beach. The fish hit a bare pogy at about 10 a.m. on a medium-long line in about 50 feet of water. It only took about 10 minutes to land the fish.
“We really didn’t think it was big enough to win, but when the sun came out with this full moon, I figured a lot of small fish would be brought to the scale. This is a great win. With this money, now I can go redfishing all winter.”
Team Early Riser had an excellent year, with three top-10 finishes. They started the year with an 89th-place finish in Ft. Pierce, Fla., but rebounded in Venice, La., with a ninth-place finish. Then after a poor 81st-place finish in Mayport, Fla., they hit a hot streak in their home waters with a fourth-place finish in Morehead City earlier in the week at the final qualifier and then winning the championship Saturday. The team’s 2005 FLW Kingfish Tour winnings were an impressive $173,200.
Rounding out the top five teams were Team Reel Culture captained by Shane Hollar of Advance, N.C. (two kingfish, 52 pounds, 12 ounces, $50,000); Team Rebecca Ann captained by Frank Strickland of Valdosta, Ga. (two kingfish, 52 pounds, 9 ounces, $26,250); Team Double Shot captained by Gerald Wagner III of Richmond Hill, Ga. (two kingfish, 50 pounds, 4 ounces, $25,000); and Team Chevy captained by Larry Fowler of Little River, S.C. (two kingfish, 49 pounds, 9 ounces, $20,000).
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $35 million through 235 events in 2006.
For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, explore FLWOutdoors.com.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as title sponsor of the FLW Tour in 1997 and today is the title sponsor of all FLW Outdoors events. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.