MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – Team Sea Bandit headed by Dennis Starke of Pine Bluff, N.C., caught a two-kingfish total weighing 82 pounds, 1 ounce to win the $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship in Mount Pleasant. The top award of $150,000 included a $37,500 Hydra-Sports bonus and a $37,500 Yamaha bonus.
Teaming with Jay Higgins of Mullins, S.C., Starke ran his Yamaha-powered 29-foot Hydra-Sports center console 32 miles northeast of Mount Pleasant and fished over live bottom in 70 feet of water. With abundant baitfish schools, the site produced consistent action for tournament teams throughout the three-day event.
“We had seven to eight kings over 30 pounds today,” he said. “All five tournament boats were there and everybody around us was catching fish. We went there all three days.”
Tournament teams fished in rough seas on day one as a cold front pushed through the area. Day two saw flat seas and Saturday also brought pleasant fishing conditions. Starke and Higgins, who entered a 43-pound, 15-ounce kingfish on Friday, caught their final-round fish on a live blue runner around 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
“We knew it was close,” Starke said of their catch. “We figured we had a good fish, but we knew we had to better ourselves.”
Higgins fought the kingfish for about 20 minutes and Starke handled the gaffing. They took no chances with the big fish.
“It took a while for us to catch up with him and when we did, he looked pretty good so we backed off the drag and let him run a little more,” Starke said. “We got him up to the boat three times before we could gaff him.”
Team Sea Bandit’s victory proved even sweeter after their rocky start. A mishap with their battery charger deprived their live well of power and nearly all of the bait they had procured Friday afternoon died.
“Only five blue runners survived and they weren’t looking too good,” Starke said. “But one of our competitors, Robert Schoenfeld and Team Lure Away, gave us about eight baits this morning. We thanked them 100 times today.”
Higgins added: “They wanted us all to be on the same playing field. That’s great sportsmanship.”
Higgins said their misfortune compelled him and Starke to alter their strategy and maximize their resources. “Our game plan was just to go out and catch a good fish. But after the baitwell incident, it was just Hail Mary.
“We fished no more than three to four lines at one time. We kept rotating baits in and out of the livewell to revive them enough to swim for 30 more minutes.”
Starke and Higgins reached the FLW Kingfish Tour Championship by finishing 48th in the season standings.
“This feels great – I never thought we would make it this far,” Higgins said. “I was surprised and happy that we made it to the Championship. But consistency was our middle name this year. We never finished high or low, we just stayed in the running.”
Also exemplifying consistency was John Parks of Jacksonville, N.C., and his Team Raymarine crew, who took second place and $50,000 ($25,000 plus $12,500 Wellcraft bonus and $12,500 Yamaha bonus) with two kingfish weighing 78 pounds, 1 ounce, a year after winning the inaugural FLW Kingfish Tour Championship in Morehead City, N.C.
Fishing with Charlie Neele of Morehead City, N.C., Robert Daugherty of Swansboro, N.C., and Willie Humphrey of Richlands, N.C., Parks said: “I fell very proud of our team for making it this far. We really showed what we can do.”
Parks described his formula for success: “Get a good game plan and don’t change it. And make no mistakes. If you’re making any mistakes like getting lines crossed and pulling hooks, you don’t have a chance at this level. You’re competing against the best king mackerel fishermen in the nation.”
Rounding out the top-five teams were Team Lured Away captained by Robert Schoenfeld of Conroe, Texas (two kingfish, 77 pounds, 7 ounces, $17,500); Team Sea Rat captained by Nick Yates of Winston-Salem, N.C. (two kingfish, 66 pounds, $12,500 plus $6,250 Yamaha bonus); and Wild Ride Fishing Team captained by Randy Griffin Jr. of Hampstead, N.C. (two kingfish, 63 pounds, $10,000 plus $5,000 Wellcraft bonus and $5,000 Yamaha bonus).
Teams caught five kingfish Saturday weighting a total of 147 pounds, 7 ounces.
The FLW Kingfish Tour Championship was a three-day event. The entire field competed Thursday and Friday and the top five teams competed Saturday. The winning team was determined based on the heaviest kingfish from Thursday or Friday plus the heaviest kingfish from Saturday. The $1.82 million 2006 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour consisted 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 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 tournaments, 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 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.