ATLANTIC BEACH, N.C. — On a day when the ocean was rather rough and not a lot of kings were caught, Team East Coast Sports, headed by Captain Randall Edens of Hampstead, N.C., caught a pair of kings, with the larger weighing 42-pounds, 10-ounces to win the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series North Carolina Division event in Atlantic Beach. The winner’s purse was $30,000 and included a $9,000 bonus for fishing from a Wellcraft boat and a $9,000 bonus for using Yamaha outboards.
Teaming with his father, George Edens of Surf City, N.C., Edens fished east of Cape Lookout in the 1700 Rock area in roughly 80 feet of water. The father and son team found their fish early and they came quickly as a double header. A 22-pounder ate a live pogy on the shotgun line, and the winning fish followed by grabbing a double pogy rig on the medium flat line.
“It’s an area that’s known for producing good fish, and we finished seventh in another tournament at the same spot last week,” Randall Edens said. “The water clarity was good. There was a decent amount of bait, but when we found the bait, we found the fish.
Team Gain, captained by Joe Buie of Welcome, N.C., finished in third place with a king that weighed 38-pounds, 3-ounces. Buie and crew collected $3,480 in tournament winnings, plus $2,610 as a Yamaha bonus and $2,610 as a Wellcraft bonus. Even more importantly, they clinched the divisional win which includes an invitation to the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship in Orange Beach, Ala., Oct. 26-28, secured a spot in the 2007 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and won their 2007 entry fees for the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series regional division of their choice.
Rounding out the top five teams were: Second place, Wild Ride Fishing Team, captained by Randy Griffin Jr. of Hampstead, N.C. (40-pounds, 12-ounces, $5,221 plus $3,915 Yamaha bonus and $3,915 Wellcraft bonus); Third Place, Team Gain; Fourth Place, Team Bear Cat, captained by Barrington Page of Swansboro, N.C. (34-pounds, 15-ounces, $2,610 plus $1,958 Yamaha bonus); Fifth place, Team Wrench Head, captained by Kevin Lawson of Ramseur, N.C. (30-pounds, 7-ounces, $1,740 plus $1,305 Wellcraft bonus).
FLW Kingfish Series divisional tournaments are one-day events. The competition is on Saturday, and the winning team is determined based on their heaviest king mackerel.
The Atlantic Beach event was the final 2006 regular-season tournament in this series. The top 100 teams – 20 from each division after three qualifying events – have qualified for the three-day, no-entry-fee $300,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series Championship to be held in Orange Beach, Ala., Oct. 26-28. The championship winner could pocket up to $75,000.
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.
For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, you can visit www.flwoutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
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