CHARLESTON, S.C. — Eren’s Addiction Too, with Capt. Jack Bracewell of Summerville, S.C. and his one woman crew consisting of his wife, Eren, caught a kingfish weighing 36 pounds, 11 ounces to clinch the top spot at the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series South Carolina-Georgia Division event in Charleston on August 5. The Bracewells collected $21,000 for topping the 78 boat field. The prize money included $12,000 for catching the largest king mackerel and a $9,000 bonus for doing it while using a Yamaha outboard.
Taking advantage of the excellent sea conditions early in the day, the Bracewells pointed their 23-foot, Yamaha-powered Contender offshore to a location that had been good to them several times in the past, most recently for a 5th place in the Charleston King Classic the previous weekend. They were headed for a live bottom area in 60 feet of water approximately 50 miles southeast of Charleston.
The big kingfish hit a double menhaden rig on a flat line set 75 feet back.
The Bracewells have been competing as a 2-person, family team for years and were ready to take advantage of the opportunity when it was presented.
“We’ve been fishing together so long that everything runs smoothly,” Jack Bracewell said. “When Eren caught the winning fish, we had a double-header on. Eren had a rod in her hand and I had a rod in my hand and luckily all the other lines were cleared. I just reeled in my fish while she kept pressure on hers until I was ready to gaff it.”
Bracewell said they had been fishing almost every weekend and the time on the water had helped him figure out where the kings were holding and what their preferred baits had been.
“We have been doing a lot of fishing here the past few weeks,” Bracewell said. “We knew where the fish were coming from and where the congregations of fish were. We were fishing for numbers of fish, not just one single fish. We probably caught close to 20 kingfish today.”
Eren’s Addiction Too now leads the South Carolina-Georgia FLW Kingfish Series Division after placing second in the opening event at Beaufort during June. A solid finish at the final tournament, August 25 and 26, in Brunswick, Georgia, would seal the divisional title, secure an invitation to the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship in Orange Beach, Alabama, October 25 to 28, guarantee them a slot in the 2007 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and cover their 2007 entry fees in the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series South Carolina-Georgia Division.
The second place finishers were Team House Autry, captained by Ronald Sutton of Carolina Beach, N.C. They had run east to the “Not-So-Secret Hole” near Georgetown. There were quite a few fish caught at this spot, with their 34 pounds, 4 ounces smoker being the largest. They earned $4,679 for the finish, plus dual bonuses of $3,510 from Hydra-Sports and Yamaha, for total winnings of $11,699 for the tournament.
Team In 2 Deep, Captained by Kevin O’Neal of Charleston, S.C finished in third place and earned $5,460 for their 34 pounds, 2 ounces king.
Fourth Place was a tie. The Big Bad Wolf, with Capt. Stacy Wester of Wilmington, N.C. and Hammer Time, with Capt. Randy Howell of Waycross, Ga., landed identical kings weighing 31 pounds, 5 ounces.
FLW Kingfish Series qualifying tournaments are one-day events, with fishing on Saturday after a Friday afternoon final registration and Captains Meeting. The winner is determined by the weight of each team’s heaviest kingfish.
The next FLW Kingfish Series event will be the second in the N.C. Division, August 18 and 19 at Southport, N.C., followed one week later on August 25 and 26 by the final South Carolina-Georgia event in Brunswick, Ga.
The FLW Kingfish Series consists of five divisions – East Florida, West Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina-Georgia and Gulf Coast. Each division is comprised of three events with a $100,000 purse for each event. The top 100 teams – 20 from each division after three qualifying events – will qualify for the three-day, no-entry-fee $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship to be held in Orange Beach, Ala., Oct. 25-28. The championship winner could win up to $75,000.
For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse www.flwoutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
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