FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Eighty-five of the world’s best king mackerel teams couldn’t overtake the 57-pound, 13-ounce monster kingfish caught by Team Folgers / Off Shore Authority captained by David Kingery of Melbourne, Fla., on day two of the $330,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour event presented by Raymarine in Fort Pierce. Teams fishing the Fort Pierce event are competing for a top award of as much as $100,000 cash and valuable points toward the FLW Kingfish Tour Championship.
Captain Kingery and his crew – Randy Truitt and Brett Taylor landed the heaviest king caught to date in the two-year-old FLW Kingfish Tour, besting two fish from last year, a 56-9 caught by Team Slip N’ Slide at Venice and a 56-5 caught by Team Cat Daddy at Fort Pierce.
“After that big fish yesterday, we just cruised around and checked out some other spots today,” said Kingery, whose team placed fourth during the 2005 Ft. Pierce FLW Kingfish Tour event. “We eliminated a bunch of water today and it looks like we will be right back in the Sebastian inlet tomorrow.”
Kingery and his Folgers team will not likely be alone when they return to the same area where they caught their record-setting king.
“Three, maybe four, of the top five teams were fishing that area today and they were catching some big fish,” Kingery said. “There will be four of us racing there in the morning. Team Lured Away will probably run south to Saint Lucie.”
Rounding out the top five teams are team Steve’s Seafood captained by Steve Riley of Jacksonville, Fla. (47 pounds, 9 ounces); Lured Away captained by Robert Schoenfeld of Conroe, Texas (45 pounds, 4 ounces); team Triple Gobble captained by Greg Weathers of Pawley’s Island, S.C. (44 pounds, 11 ounces); and team Bitta Sweet captained Jerry Tumbleston of Mt. Pleasant, S.C. (43 pounds, 12 ounces).
FLW Kingfish Tour qualifying tournaments are three-day events. The entire field competes Thursday and Friday, and the top five teams compete Saturday. The winning team is determined based on the heaviest kingfish from Thursday or Friday plus the heaviest kingfish from Saturday. Teams will take off from Fort Pierce Marina located at 1 Avenue A in Fort Pierce at 6:30 each morning. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 5100 Okeechobee Road in Fort Pierce beginning at 4:30 p.m. The takeoff and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Coverage of the Fort Pierce tournament hosted by the St. Lucie Chamber of Commerce will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States July 23 as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “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 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
The $1.82 million Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour consists of four regular-season events. After four events are complete, the top 50 teams compete in the three-day, no-entry-fee $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship to be held in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Nov. 9-11. The winning team at the championship will take home as much as $150,000.
The FLW Kingfish Tour will stop in Beaufort, S.C., Aug. 10-12 for its third regular-season event, presented by Yamaha, followed by the last qualifying event, powered by Tyson, in Southport, N.C., Sept. 21-23.
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.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
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.