Team Sake wins FLW Kingfish Series event in Fort Pierce

FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Team Sake, headed by Neil Nix, of Okeechobee, Fla., caught a kingfish weighing 39 pounds, 2 ounces Saturday to win the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series East Florida Division event in Fort Pierce and $30,000 cash. The top prize included $9,000 bonuses from Yamaha and Wellcraft.

Fishing with Eric Kindell of Okeechobee, Fla., and Danny Marsocci of Fort Pierce, Fla., Nix targeted an area north of Fort Pierce, Fla., called the Vero Cove. Trolling about 300 yards off the beach, the anglers caught their fish in 25 feet of water. Clear conditions and abundant schools of baitfish signaled a promising area.

“I looked at this spot the other day when I was out bottom-fishing, and it looked good,” Marsocci said. “Also, a couple of friends said it was looking even better (before the tournament), so that’s where we went. Apparently, the (concentration of) bait is better in the morning.”

The winning fish ate a live goggle-eye at 8:30 a.m. Marsocci fought the fish for about 25 minutes, and Nix gaffed it. Marsocci said the kingfish’s stubborn fight was probably influenced by the manner in which it became ensnared.

“He had the trailer hook in his mouth, and the lead hook was stuck in the side of his head, so that made him stay down,” Marsocci said. “He just kept making big circles under the boat.”

The winners fished their spot another four hours and stayed busy with kingfish action.

“We left there around 1 o’clock, but the fish bit extremely well all morning,” Marsocci said. “We caught about 15 others today. We were just grabbing them by the tails, pulling the hooks out and dropping them back in the water because we knew that they weren’t bigger than what we had.

“The first fish we caught was a 20-pounder, so we went ahead and gaffed that one just to make sure we had a fish. But after we caught the big one, we released the rest.”

Team Sake’s day began with an adrenaline rush. Moments after setting their first four-bait spread, the winning anglers found themselves scrambling with a triple-header. Oddly, all three fish escaped, and the anglers reeled in lines with no baits and no hooks.

Marsocci surmised that at least two of the fish crossed lines and severed one another’s leader, while the third fish may have hit the bait at an odd angle and broken free. Regardless, he said the early action was like a strong cup of coffee.

“It got a little bizarre right at the get-go. That woke everyone up.”

Rounding out the top five teams were Team Chaos, captained by Dan Hess of Sebastian, Fla. (37 pounds, 15 ounces, $3,120); Team Knot Scared, captained by Michael Faurot of Fort Pierce, Fla. (36 pounds, $2,080 plus $1,560 Yamaha bonus and $1,560 Hydra-Sports bonus); Team Sweet T, captained by Tom Whittingslow of Neptune Beach, Fla. (35 pounds, 10 ounces, $1,560); and Team Carrera II, captained by Juan Adan of Atlanta (35 pounds, 8 ounces, $1,040 plus $780 Yamaha bonus).

Daniel Hess of Sebastian, Fla., placed second with a 37-pound, 15-ounce kingfish as a member of Team Chaos to earn the tournament’s award for the highest-finishing competitor under 16 years old. The award for highest-finishing woman went to Lisa Hess, also of Team Chaos.

FLW Kingfish Series qualifying tournaments are one-day events. Each team is allowed to weigh in one kingfish, and the winning team is determined by the heaviest fish. The next FLW Kingfish Series event will be held June 30 in Dauphin Island, Ala.

The FLW Kingfish Series consists of five divisions – East Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina/Georgia, Gulf and Upper Gulf. Each division is comprised of three events with a $100,000 purse for each event. The top three teams from each tournament and the top 16 teams (who are not already qualified) from each division after all qualifiers are complete will advance to the three-day, $275,000 no-entry-fee Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship in Orange Beach, Ala., Oct. 4-6, which will be featured in a one-hour episode of “FLW Outdoors” broadcast to 80 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) households in the United States and more than 429 million households in Europe, Asia and Africa. The points champion from each division will also advance directly to the $500,000 no-entry-fee Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship in Biloxi, Miss., Nov. 2-4, where they will compete against top FLW Kingfish Tour teams for a top award of $150,000.

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, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, 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 of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.

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 Walmart.com.

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