VENICE, La. – Team “Chevy/Miss Micki2” captained by Ricky Rowland of Raleigh, N.C., caught a kingfish weighing 51 pounds, 15 ounces Friday to lead day one of the Wal-mart FLW Kingfish Tour event in Venice, where the nation’s top king mackerel teams are competing.
Captain Rowland and his crew – Shannon Rowland of Raleigh, N.C., and Bill McNabb of Raleigh, N.C. – reported catching four fish before landing the team’s biggest at approximately 12:15 p.m. All of the fish came on ribbonfish fished on downrigger lines at 85 feet.
“It ran off about 2/3 of the line off the spool,” said crew member Shannon Rowland, whose team placed second in the FLW Kingfish Tour tournament in Fort Pierce, Fla. in 2007. “The weather on the ride out there was pretty rough-it was choppy going out, but very nice weather coming in. It was very cloudy until late afternoon, but we were able to navigate around the storms for the most part.
“We were getting ready to bring the lines in and move to a different spot when the fish hit,” Rowland added. “We weren’t expecting it, because the ribbonfish was really rough looking, and we didn’t think anything would hit it.”
Rounding out the top five teams are team “My Three Sons” captained by Terry Grantham of Florence, S.C. (43-09); team “Century-Yamaha 350” captained by Ozzie Fischer of Fort Myers, Fla. (42-12); team “Logan’s Run” captained by D. Logan of Belleville, N.C. (41-05); and team “Native Premonitions” captained by Leon Wilcox of Hollywood, Fla. (41-00).
Anglers fished in temperatures in the mid 80s with a southwest wind of 10 knots and 1- to 3-foot seas. Gulf surface temperatures measured approximately 89 degrees in the Venice area.
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 Venice Marina located at 237 Sports Marina Drive in Venice at 6:30 each morning. Scales open at the marina at 4 p.m. Saturday and all teams must check-in by 5 p.m. Sunday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart store located at 1501 Manhattan Blvd. in Harvey, La., beginning at 5 p.m. The takeoff and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Coverage of the Venice tournament hosted by the Venice Marinawill be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing Sept. 21. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast in Canada on WFN (World Fishing Network) and to more than 429 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. The program airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time in most markets. Check local listings for times in your area.
The Walmart 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 Walmart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship in Biloxi, Miss., Nov. 14-16. The winning team at the championship will take home as much as $150,000.
The FLW Kingfish Tour will stop in Orange Beach, Ala., Sept. 12-14 for its third regular-season event. The tour’s last qualifying event will be held in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., Oct. 17-19.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest cash awards in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FantasyFishing.com.
Awards are based on a full field of 100 boats in qualifying tournaments.