Team Blue By U wins Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series event in Southport

Capt. Welsh Carson’s crew lands top prize of $30,000, outfishes full field of teams in North Carolina Division event

SOUTHPORT, N.C. – Team Blue By U, headed by Captain Welsh Carson of Holden Beach, N.C., caught a kingfish weighing 27 pounds, 8 ounces to top a full field of 100 boats and win the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series North Carolina Division event in Southport. The top prize of $30,000 included a $9,000 Wellcraft bonus and $9,000 Yamaha bonus.

Aboard a 35-foot Wellcraft center console with triple 300-hp Yamahas, Carson fished with Aaron Price of Augusta, Ga., and Cory Jones and Allen Williams, both of Holden Beach, N.C. The team spent their day on a patch of natural bottom known as the “30-30 Hole” about 18 miles off Carolina Beach in 70 feet of water.

“We had heard that a fish that won a recent tournament was caught there and some other good fish had come from that spot during the week,” Carson said. “We were undecided this morning as to where we’d fish, so we caught bait and then made up our minds to run to that spot.”

The winning fish ate a live menhaden on the port outrigger line around 3 p.m. The late day heroics justified the team’s decision to stay put. A couple hours earlier, the anglers had contemplated moving inshore to fish the tide line at Carolina Beach Inlet. Rough seas dissuaded them from making the run and kept them on the right spot.

Jones fought the top kingfish for about 30 minutes and Williams gaffed it. Carson said he was cautiously optimistic about the fish’s potential.

“We knew we had a good fish that would put us high in the points, but we didn’t know how it would do in the tournament,” he said. “It was a good enough to do some high fives and a little dancing.”

Rounding out the top five teams were Wild Ride Fishing Team captained by Randy Griffin Jr. of Hampstead, N.C. (24 pounds, 2 ounces, $6,000 plus $,4,500 Wellcraft bonus and $4,500 Yamaha bonus); Team Ain’t Life Grand captained by David Henderson of Charlotte, N.C. (22 pounds, $4,000 plus $3,000 Yamaha bonus); Team National Guard captained by Lonnie Jones III of Clayton, N.C. (20 pounds, 4 ounces, $2,500 plus $1,875 Yamaha bonus and $1,875 Wellcraft bonus); B.A.D. Boys Fishing Team captained by Joe Buie of Welcome, N.C. (20 pounds, 4 ounces, $2,500 plus $1,875 Yamaha bonus and $1,875 Wellcraft bonus).

FLW Kingfish Series qualifying tournaments are one-day events. The field competes Saturday, and the winning team is determined based on the heaviest kingfish. The next FLW Kingfish Series North Carolina Division event will be held Aug. 19 in Southport.

The FLW Kingfish Series consists of five divisions – East Florida, West Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina-Georgia and Gulf Coast. Each division is comprised of three events with a $100,000 purse for each event. The top 100 teams – 20 from each division after three qualifying events – will qualify for the three-day, no-entry-fee $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship to be held in Orange Beach, Ala., Oct. 26-28. The championship winner will take home as much as $75,000.

Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series, as well as the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse 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 title sponsor of the FLW Tour in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.