‘FLW Outdoors’ airs season-opening Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour event from Sarasota

May 28 show to highlight $330,000 king mackerel tournament

The king that they caught was the heaviest of the day – 26 pounds even – and set My Three Sons apart from the pack with a final winning aggregate weight of 63-10. Photo by Jeff Schroeder.

May 23, 2006 • MLF • Archives

MINNEAPOLIS – Tune in Sunday to “FLW Outdoors” on FSN for the season-opening $330,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour event held in Sarasota, Fla. The first event of the $1.82 million FLW Kingfish Tour season concludes with the winning team claiming a cash prize of $100,000.

The “FLW Outdoors” saltwater series is a reality-format show told from the anglers’ perspective. Each week the top-five finalists are followed from takeoff to weigh-in, allowing the audience to feel the anglers’ nerves, listen to their strategy and learn from their mistakes. The stories evolve and the suspense grows throughout the one-hour show until the final weigh-in results are announced.

FLW Kingfish Tour qualifying tournaments are three-day events. The entire field competes on day one and day two and the top five teams compete on day three. The winning team is determined based on the heaviest kingfish from day one or day two plus the heaviest kingfish from day three.

Sunday’s show follows Team Relentless, who boated a 49-pound, 9-ounce kingfish on day two. The team, led by Capt. Tony Davenport, caught the giant king mackerel in about 35 feet of water on a ribbonfish setup while fishing near the Boca Grande Inlet. Watch as these Hydra-Sports anglers look to seal the deal after establishing a monster 11-pound lead over the rest of the field.

Team Slip N’ Slide, who won the 2005 FLW Kingfish Tour event in Venice, La., sits in second place with a weight of 38 pounds, 9 ounces. In only six tournaments, this team, captained by Tom Aberle of Wilmington, N.C., has already pocketed over $150,000. Fishing right up on the beach just south of Sarasota, the team caught their fish on a blue runner in approximately 30 feet of water.

FSN also follows Team My Three Sons of Florence, S.C. After catching a 37-pound, 10-ounce kingfish on day one, the team failed to upgrade their fish on day two and trail the leader by 11 pounds, 15 ounces coming into the finals. The team continues to fish a 50-foot ledge about 50 miles down the coast from Sarasota with live mullets. Their area holds all kinds of fish including snook, bluefish, Spanish and

king mackerel.

FSN broadcasts “FLW Outdoors” Sundays from 11 a.m. to noon ET. Check local listings for show times and channels in your area. FLWOutdoors.com also provides an online show guide listing what events are coming up on “FLW Outdoors.”

FSN reaches more than 81 million homes through its network of 20 regional sports channels. Established in 1996, FSN is the only cable network that supplies national, regional and local sports programming. FSN serves as the cable TV home to 62 of the 82 MLB, NHL and NBA teams based in the United States, and produces over 4,500 live events each year. FSN has an extensive catalog of original national programs, including “Best Damn Sports Show Period” and “Beyond the Glory” documentary series, along with national packages of collegiate sports. Based in Los Angeles, FSN is part of the vast FOX Sports television family. For the latest up-to-the-minute sports news and opinions, visit the FOX Sports/FSN website at www.FoxSports.com.

“FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 350 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 service men and women stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.

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 presented by Abu Garcia, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 events in 2006.

Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.