VENICE, La. – Team “Chevy/Miss Micki 2” captained by Ricky Rowland of Raleigh, N.C., caught a kingfish weighing 47 pounds, 5 ounces Sunday to win $50,000 in the Wal-mart FLW Kingfish Tour event in Venice with a two-day total of two king mackerel weighing 99-04.
Captain Rowland and his crew – Shannon Rowland of Raleigh, N.C., and Bill McNabb of Raleigh, N.C – reported catching five or six fish before landing the team’s biggest at approximately 11:15 a.m. All of the fish came on blue runners fished on medium lines near the 130 rig. Team Chevy/Miss Micki 2 caught a 51-pound, 15-ounce kingfish on Day 1 using ribbonfish fished in 170 feet of water on downrigger lines at 85 feet to qualify for the final round of five teams in first place.
“We did everything exactly like the first day,” said crew member Shannon Rowland. “We went to the same spots in the same order at about the same time and had results pretty close to Day 1.
“We started off catching bait at the West Delta 75 rig and had a lot of strikes, catching a small kingfish by about 8:30 in the morning,” Rowland added. “At 9:15, we went to our main spot near the 130 rig about 54 miles out in about 170 feet of water; we were there 25 minutes when we got our first hit, and that was the fish we weighed in. We caught another an hour later that was exactly the same size-they both hit on a medium line up top with a blue runner.”
Rounding out the top five teams were team “M&M’s” captained by Randy Griffin Jr. of Hampstead, N.C. (two kingfish, 92-07, $20,000); team “Fish Fever 2/Strike Zone Melbourne” captained by Ed Mecchella of St. Simons Island, Ga. (two kingfish, 79-12, $10,000); team “Folgers” captained by David Kingery of Melbourne, Fla. (two kingfish, 78-14, $10,000); and team “My Three Sons” captained by Terry Grantham of Florence, S.C. (two kingfish, 78-09, $7,250).
Anglers experienced cloudy skies, fishing in temperatures in the mid 80s with a southwest wind of 15 to 20 mph.
FLW Kingfish Tour qualifying tournaments are three-day events. The entire field competed Friday and Saturday, and the top five teams based on the heaviest kingfish from either day competed Sunday.
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.