WEST DENNIS, Mass. – Team Quahog, captained by Shane Hoctor of Buzzards Bay, Mass., caught two striped bass weighing 36 pounds, 2 ounces Saturday to win $20,000 at the third stop of the Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series, a tournament presented by BP in West Dennis, Mass.
“This is something we weren’t planning on winning,” Hoctor said. “We prefished all week, every chance we had, and we didn’t catch any fish until Friday. Up until then we were kind of worried. This win was a great highlight to our summer. It’s just overwhelming.”
The team, which consists of Hoctor, Jamie Bess and Charles Bess, wire-line jigged with red and black jigs over the Burssers Shoals near Monomoy Island. The team was fishing in about 35 feet of water on the slope of the shoal. Tidal movement seemed to dictate which side of the shoal would hold fish.
“We went right back to where we had found fish the day before and had a fantastic, textbook day,” Hoctor said. “We had our first fish in the box about 15 minutes after we arrived. Around 2 p.m. Charles Bess hooked into a good one that we all thought was too big. I measured it, and it was right in the slot limit. That was our $20,000 fish. We opted to go back in after we caught that one.”
In accordance with tournament regulations, both fish fell within a 28- to 34-inch slot limit and were successfully weighed in alive and subsequently released to fight again.
Rounding out the top five finishers were Team Hailey’s Comet, captained by Gordon Campbell of West Yarmouth, Mass. (two fish, 35 pounds, 9 ounces $2,900); Team Lucky Stripes, captained by Michael Greene of Ship Bottom, N.J. (two fish, 34 pounds, 14 ounces, $2,465); Team K.Marie, captained by Ron Lambert of Charlton, Mass. (two fish, 34 pounds, 7 ounces, $2,030 plus a $580 Seaswirl bonus); and tied for fifth place, Team Atlantic Boats Inc., captained by Ed Coggeshall of Buzzards Bay, Mass., and Team Peanut Bunker, captained by Jefferson Detwiler of Norwell, Mass. (each team with two fish, 32 pounds, 11 ounces, $1,595).
Teams, ranging in size from two to four anglers each, compete for a guaranteed top award of $10,000 cash in each event and as much as $30,000 cash based on boat and engine bonuses from Hydra-Sports, Seaswirl, Wellcraft, Evinrude and Yamaha. The winning team is determined by the heaviest accumulated weight of two striped bass falling within a 28- to 34-inch slot limit.
The next FLW Striper Series tournament will be held at Lynnhaven Marine located at 2150 Great Neck Road in Virginia Beach, Va., Dec. 8. Entry fees are $450 per team for all entries received prior to the Dec. 7 registration. The entry fee for entries received on Dec. 7 is $500 per team. Teams may register online at FLWOutdoors.com or by calling (270) 252-1000. Teams may also register at Lynnhaven Marine on Dec. 7.
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.