BEAUFORT, S.C. – Team “Second Mortgage” captained by Larry McDuffie of Pittsboro, N.C., caught a kingfish weighing 41 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday to capture the lead in the $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour event presented by Yamaha in Beaufort, S.C., where the nation’s top king mackerel teams are competing for a top award of as much as $100,000 cash.
Captain McDuffie and his crew – Chris McDuffie, Lawrence Bullard, Jordan Williamson all of Pittsboro, N.C., and Don Williamson of Morris, Ill. – reported catching a number of smaller fish before landing the team’s biggest at approximately 3 pm. All of the fish came on a combination of blue runners and pogies trolled on a 6 line spread in 50 to 55 feet of water over a live bottom near the Gray’s Reef area.
“Things are looking pretty good right now,” said McDuffie, whose team jumped into first place after a 40th place finish on Friday. “The fishing was a little slow and frustrating for us today. We watched everyone around us land fish after fish. We just kept circling the bait until we finally got our good one. We came into this event knowing that we were going to need a good fish to qualify for the championship and after today, I think we will have enough to get in.
“Tomorrow, the time frame is going to be pretty tough on us. If the weather will allow us to make another 50 mile run back to our area we will go. We fished there the last two days and know it is holding big fish. We will either be a hero or a zero. We will just have to wait and see.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Team “Relentless” captained by Tony Davenport of Jacksonville Beach, Fla. (41 pounds, 1 ounce); Team “M&M’s” captained by Randy Griffin Jr. of Hampstead, N.C. (39 pounds, 6 ounces); Team “Blue By U” captained by Welsh Carson of Holden Beach, N.C. (38 pounds, 7 ounces); and Team “Evinrude” captained by Rick Smith of Brunswick, Ga. (35 pounds, 9 ounces).
FLW Kingfish Tour qualifying tournaments are three-day events. The entire field competes Friday and Saturday, and the top five teams compete Sunday. The winning team is determined based on the heaviest kingfish from Friday or Saturday plus the heaviest kingfish from Sunday. Teams will take off from the Downtown Marina of Beaufort located at 1006 Bay Street in Beaufort at 6:30 Sunday morning. Sunday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 350 Robert Smalls Parkway in Beaufort beginning at 4:30 p.m. The takeoff and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Coverage of the Beaufort tournament hosted by the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States Oct. 14 as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to 429 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed fishing program 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 $1.7 million Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour consists of four regular-season events. After four events are complete, the top 50 teams will compete in the three-day, no-entry-fee $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship presented by BP in Biloxi, Miss., Nov. 2-4. The winning team at the championship will take home as much as $150,000.
The FLW Kingfish Tour will stop in Atlantic Beach, N.C., Sept. 28-30 for its final regular-season event, presented by Raymarine, followed by the $500,000 Kingfish Tour Championship in Biloxi, Miss., Nov. 2-4.
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.