SARASOTA, Fla. – Team My Three Sons captained by Terry Grantham of Florence, S.C., caught a 2-kingfish total weighing 63 pounds, 10 ounces to win the $330,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour event presented by Castrol in Sarasota. Grantham, along with teammates Chris Blanton and Joe Coker, both of Murrells Inlet, SC, and Kelly Fisk of Jacksonville, Fla., won $100,000 cash.
The anglers converted their only strike of Saturday’s final round into a tournament winner when a 26-pound kingfish blasted a live mullet that they were slow-trolling on a long flat line in Boca Grande Pass. The team’s lucky bait was a tale in itself.
“When we found out we were going to the [final round] last night, we caught one little mullet after about three hours of trying,” Grantham said. “And I’ll be if that kingfish didn’t eat that one mullet. Kingfish have to be pretty hungry when they hit a big bait like a mullet and that’s how he hit it. He had all the hooks in his mouth.”
Fishing Boca Grande Pass through the entire tournament, the anglers caught a 37-pound, 10-ounce kingfish Thursday and placed third on day one. They caught nothing on day two, but remained steadfast.
“We hung with our game plan to fish in Boca Grande all three days,” Grantham said. “A local buddy of ours gave us some good information on how to fish the pass. He said just sit tight and on low tide, when that tide turns and starts coming in, those kingfish will go to biting. That’s just what happened.
“We didn’t get a bite yesterday, but we figured we go back there again and see if something good would happen. We saw a lot of activity there today. The ocean was alive with bluefish and Spanish mackerel jumping and a lot of baitfish running in and out.”
Rounding out the top five teams were Team Hooligan captained by Joe Winslow of Sunset Beach, N.C. (2 kingfish, 59 pounds, 11 ounces, $26,000); Team Devocean captained by Scott Routh of Sarasota, Fla. (2 kingfish, 53 pounds, 6 ounces, $10,000); Team Relentless captained by Tony Davenport of Jacksonville Beach, Fla. (1 kingfish, 49 pounds, 9 ounces, $16,500); and Team Slip N Slide captained by Tom Aberle of Wilmington, N.C. (1 kingfish, 38 pounds, 9 ounces, $14,500).
As has become somewhat the standard in the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour events, fishermen from the Carolinas fared very well. Three of the top five boats were from the Carolinas and that presence continued well into the field as 23 of the top 50 teams were from the Carolinas.
Seas were calm in the morning, but became rough later in the day when the wind increased. With a full moon Thursday night, teams found daytime feeding was still slow.
FLW Kingfish Tour qualifying tournaments are three-day events. The entire field competes Thursday and Friday and the top five teams compete Saturday. The winning team is determined based on the heaviest kingfish from Thursday or Friday plus the heaviest kingfish from Saturday.
The next FLW Kingfish Tour event will be held June 1-3 in Fort Pierce, Fla.
The $1.82 million Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour consists of four regular-season events. After four events are complete, the top 50 teams compete in the three-day, no-entry-fee $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship to be held in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Nov. 9-11. The championship team will take home as much as $150,000.
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