Team Gambler wins Kingfish Series event in Atlantic Beach

ATLANTIC BEACH, N.C. – Team Gambler, headed by Dale (Allen) Kinney of Oak Island, N.C., caught a kingfish weighing 35 pounds, 9 ounces Saturday to win the final Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series North Carolina Division event of the season, in Atlantic Beach, N.C., and $30,000 cash.

Kinney, along with teammates Bruce Jones and Shane Berry, caught their winning kingfish on a live pogy pulled just yards from their boat about 30 minutes after loosing a big king mackerel that hit a live bluefish on a kite rig.

“I’ve won several local tournament with 200 to 300 boats, but winning an FLW event is a lot more exciting,” said Kinney, whose team also finished 11th in the FLW Kingfish Series North Carolina Division event held in Southport, N.C., last month and ninth at the FLW Kingfish Series South Carolina Division event held in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., last week. “The other tournaments may be bigger, but a majority of the field is made up of teams that may only fish one or two events a year. In the FLW tournaments, you are fishing against 75 to 100 top quality fishermen every time you head out. These guys know what they are doing. The FLW brings out the best, and that is why this win is so exciting for us.”

Kinney and his team were anchored about 4 miles offshore in an area where Spanish mackerel were feeding. The crew ground pogies for chum and fished using kite rigs and balloons, techniques Kinney has perfected during more than 15 years of tournament action.

Rounding out the top five teams were team Wild Ride/M&M’s, captained by Randy Griffin Jr. of Hampstead, N.C. (32 pounds, 15 ounces, $11,100); Team Release, captained by Mike Williams of Clayton, N.C. (30 pounds, 11 ounces, $5,180); Team Live Line, captained by Mike Jackson of Wilmington, N.C. (28 pounds, 8 ounces, $3,422.50); and Team OBX Girl/Calcutta, captained by Jim Dupree Jr. of Tarboro, N.C. (28 pounds, 5 ounces, $2,590).

Team Stupid Money, captained by Mathew Smith of Goldsboro, N.C., won the tournament’s “25 and Under” bonus of $2,000 as the highest-finishing team running a boat 25 feet long or shorter. Team Stupid Money runs a Hydra-Sports powered by Yamaha. They caught a 10-pound, 2-ounce kingfish and finished 38th, earning another $1,480 in addition to their bonus.

Travis Basinger of Wilmington, N.C., placed 17th with a 17-pound, 12-ounce kingfish as a member of Team Frayed Knot to earn the tournament’s award for the highest-finishing competitor under 16 years old.

The award for highest finishing woman went to Amy Jordan of Pittsboro, N.C., who placed ninth with a 22-pound, 9-ounce kingfish as a member of Team Second Mortgage.

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 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, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.