BILOXI, Miss. – Team “Hooligan” captained by Joe Winslow of Sunset Beach, N.C., won the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship presented by BP Sunday, earning $112,500 with two king mackerel weighing a total of 84 pounds, 06 ounces.
“We are all stunned. Where do you find the words for this,” said Winslow, whose team is no stranger to the first place spot, earning another win in 2006 out of Southport, N.C. “To compete and win at this level is an indescribable feeling. I’m truly blessed to have such great teammates. We are just thrilled to be here. We had no idea what to expect. We are never too confident, we are just hopeful. The fish from Saturday that got us here was a classic example of a blind hog finding an acorn. We had very little practice time and there are just too many big fish in this area. We just tried to stay optimistic and keep on the fish.”
Winslow and his crew – Alan Ambrose, Fred Coyne and Jared Floyd all of Sunset Beach, N.C., and Michael Kennedy of Semmes, Ala., – caught a 47-pound, 15-ounce kingfish Saturday and a 36-pound, 07-ounce kingfish Sunday to win the lucrative championship. Both fish were caught on a combination of hardtails and ribbonfish near offshore oil rigs about 60 to 70 miles offshore. Both of the fish that team “Hooligan” weighed in hit late in the day right before the team had to make the long run back the scales.
Team “Hooligan” qualified for the FLW Kingfish Tour Championship by finishing eighth in the FLW Kingfish Tour Land O’Lakes Team of the Year standings. The crew started the season off with a ninth-place finish in Sarasota, Fla., in April. They then finished 24th in Fort Pierce, Fla., in June and 31st in Beaufort, S.C., in August. They wrapped up the qualifying events with a 26th-place finish in Atlantic Beach, N.C., in September.
“We knew that the area in the east that we committed to had good fish in it and we knew that we were going to catch fish. The big variable was how big are the fish going to be. We didn’t know if we were going to get lucky and catch the bigger fish and find a better class of fish,” Winslow said. “Later in the day our bait started looking a little shabby so we pulled up to a rig and jigged up a few fresh baits. We noticed that the bait was holding really close to the rig. When that happens, it usually means that there is a predator in the area. We decided to put a few lines out and see what we could do. We made about three or four laps and got a bite. We stuck around for a little while longer, caught the one we weighed in, threw him in the bag and came on in. Fate shines on people for random reasons and today was our day.
“We will be back next year. We just got a new boat and this is a heck of a way to break it in,” Winslow added.
Rounding out the top five teams were team “M&M’S” captained by Randy Griffin of Hampstead, N.C. (two kingfish, 78-01, $20,750 plus $10,375 Wellcraft bonus and $10,375 Yamaha bonus); team “Collins” captained by Johnnie Sears of Fuquay Varina, N.C. (two kingfish, 74-00, $12,450 plus $6,225 Hydra-Sports bonus and $6,225 Yamaha bonus); team “Pro Marine USA.Com/Hannon’s Cannon” captained by Kevin Hannon of Seminole, Fla. (two kingfish, 70-02, $9,960); and team “Reelin” captained by Marc Pincus of Hilton Head, S.C. (two kingfish, 58-00, $8,300).
Teams fished under sunny skies throughout the day but with fairly rough seas in the morning. As the day drew on, the seas clamed and gave way to another large catch of toothy kings on Sunday.
The FLW Kingfish Tour Championship was a three-day event. The entire field fished Friday and Saturday, and the top five teams, based on the heaviest fish from Friday or Saturday, competed Sunday. The winning team earned $75,000 cash plus a $37,500 cash bonus from Yamaha for a total award of $112,500.
Coverage of the FLW Kingfish Tour Championship will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States Jan. 6, 2008, as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 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 show 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.
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.