MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – Team Double Gobble headed by Ellis Phillips of Richmond Hill, GA caught a kingfish weighing 36 pounds, 8 ounces to lead day one of the $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship in Mount Pleasant where teams are competing for a top award of as much as $150,000 cash.
Fishing aboard a Yamaha-powered 33-foot Hydra-Sports center console, Phillips teamed with Rodney Rogers, also of Richmond Hill. The anglers ran 50 miles southeast of Mt. Pleasant and trolled live baits over a sprawling patch of natural reefs in 120 feet of water.
A passing cold front brought blustery weather ahead of the tournament. Teams fished in sunny conditions Thursday, but seas were still rough. “The weather has been nasty this week so we weren’t able to fish down there,” Phillips said. “But this place is known for holding a good fish or two.”
When Phillips and Rogers arrived at their first spot, they found 68-degree water and no bait schools. But they moved out a couple of miles and started marking bait in water measuring 71-72 degrees. The top kingfish ate a live blue runner around 10 a.m. Rogers fought the fish for 15 minutes and Phillips gaffed it.
The team’s big fish was hungry and impatient. “We caught it on the biggest blue runner I had in the live well,” Phillips said. “I was letting the bait down on the port downrigger and that fish pulled it right out of the (release) clip.”
Phillips said his day comprised a brief, but meaningful period of intense action, followed by conservative strategy. “The bite was on for about 45 minutes and then it was over. We caught 3 or 4 other fish up to the mid 20’s and we were back in by 1 p.m.
“If we get a good fish like that in the boat, I want to run back in and get closer to port. You don’t want something to happen on the way in.”
Team Triple Gobble will return to the same area on Friday with short-term and long-term objectives. “I don’t feel secure with a 36-pound fish when there are a couple of 35’s right behind us. We have to go back out and get a bigger one. We’re not going to have a lot of pressure on us tomorrow, but I’m going to try and better myself. I’m also looking for something to catch on (Saturday’s top-5 finale).”
Rounding out the top five teams are Team Kellogg’s captained by Bryan Edwards of Little River, S.C. (35 pounds, 9 ounces); Team Koolau captained by Conrad Lau of Neptune Beach, Fla. (35 pounds, 9 ounces); Team Hogg Heaven captained by Jason Hogg of Mt. Pleasant, S.C. (32 pounds, 13 ounces); and Team House-Autry captained by Ronald Sutton of Carolina Beach, N.C. (32 pounds, 12 ounces).
Teams caught 38 kingfish Thursday weighing a total of 831 pounds.
The FLW Kingfish Tour Championship is a three-day event. 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. Boats will launch from Charleston Harbor Marina Friday and Saturday at 6:30 a.m. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at Charleston Harbor Marina beginning at 3 p.m., and the final weigh-in will be held at the Mount Pleasant Wal-Mart store located at 1481 U.S. Highway 17 North at 4 p.m.
The $1.82 million Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour consists of four regular-season events. The top 50 teams qualified to compete in the no-entry-fee $500,000 FLW Kingfish Tour Championship.
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, Stratos Owners’ 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 $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.For more information on 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 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.