BEAUFORT, S.C.—It really wasn’t a hard way, as Team Hard Way, captained by Todd Korker of Jupiter, Fla., only needed 2 of the three possible fishing days to catch a 2 king mackerel total weighing 62-pounds, 3-ounces and win the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour event presented by Yamaha in Beaufort, SC August 9 to 12. The most difficult feat for the winning team was handling the weather. After being nice on Thursday, choppy and windy on Friday morning, but calming some later in the day, scattered squalls harassed anglers throughout much of Saturday, with a heavy storm pounding the coast during the afternoon.
After bringing a 44-pound, 15-ounce king to the scales on Thursday and leading the tournament by almost 9-pounds, Korker and crew decided not to fish on the second preliminary day on Friday and spent the day gathering bait for the final fishing day on Saturday. They felt they would remain in the top 5 boats and would be competing for the top prize on Saturday.
They were correct in their considerations and entered the final competition as the leader, with that same 9-pound advantage. All they had to do on Saturday was find a king within 9 pounds of the largest weighed and they would be crowned the winners of the tournament.
Gathering bait on Friday and information from some of their fellow competitors really paid off. For their efforts they collected the $40,000 top prize in the tournament, plus a $30,000 bonus from Hydra-Sports Boats for a total of $70,000.
Korker, along with teammates Marty Koehler and Jeshua Koehler, both of Hopewell Junction, N.Y., and Josh Denton of Melbourne, Fla. headed Korker’s 33-foot Hydra-Sports center console up the South Carolina Coast and slightly offshore to concentrate that final day on the Edisto 60 reef. This popular reef is approximately 30 miles northeast of Port Royal Inlet in 60 feet of water.
Team Hard Way encountered some rough going on Saturday, other than the stormy weather. They had defective fishing line break on several hookups. Korker said his team had to strip the top half of each reel’s spool and replace the bad monofilament with backup line he fortunately found in his tackle bag.
“We had about eight fish break off today and we had to re-line all the rods while underway just to get a fish in the boat,” Korker said. “I know one of the kingfish we lost was in the 30-pound class because we saw it. We had to dig deep to keep going.”
Their heaviest king on Saturday weighed 17 pounds, 4 ounces and was the largest caught that day also. It hit a dead ribbonfish given to them by the crew of Team Lured Away, who weren’t fishing that day. The ribbonfish was deployed on a break-away rig set about 40 feet deep and 50 feet behind the boat.
“The reason I use break-away rigs instead of downriggers is because I find that kingfish tend to snag on the downrigger cable and baits can tangle around it,” Korker said. “I’m an old South Florida swordfisherman, so I find that works best for me.
“With all these great fishermen out here, I thought we’d need a 30-pound fish to win, but it just didn’t work out that way,” Korker said. “I didn’t know if we had enough to win today. I was on pins and needles all the way until the end of this thing.”
Marty Koehler fought the winning kingfish and Denton gaffed it. They said it was 25 minutes of pure anxiety, after having the other lines break earlier in the day. Korker said his team can normally boat a 17-pound kingfish in about 10 minutes. With new line on the top half of the spool and the weak line underneath, Koehler had to work with a very light drag setting and finesse the fish to the boat.
The only other team to boat a king on Saturday was Team Cat Daddy/LoungAir, captained by Danny Mathis of Gonzalez, La. They added a 16-pound, 8-ounce king to their 36-pound, 8-ounce fish from Thursday, for a total of 53 pounds and $35,000 in prize money and bonuses from Hydra-Sports Boats and Yamaha Outboards.
Team Cat Daddy/LoungAir was trying to become the first repeat winner in the FLW Kingfish Tour, after winning the inaugural event in Fort Pierce, Florida in April 2005.
Team Salty Dog captained by Jeff Osborne of St. Augustine, Florida finished in third place with their single fish of 38-pounds, 3-ounces from the preliminary round. They collected $10,000 in tournament winnings, plus a $5,250 bonus from Wellcraft boats and a $5,250 bonus from Yamaha Outboards.
Team Castrol/Royal Flush captained by Nick Parrish of Jacksonville, Fla. was the fourth place finisher on the strength of their 35-pounds, 14-ounces king from the preliminary days. Their payday included $8,000 in tournament winnings, plus a pair of $4,250 bonuses from Hydra-Sports Boats and Yamaha Outboards.
Rounding out the top five was Team Wild Ride, captained by Randy Griffin Jr. of Hampstead, N.C. Their 34-pounds, 11-ounces king was the fish caught closest to the inlet as they were fishing with a temperamental engine on Thursday. Their winnings were $14,500, which included $7,000 from the tournament, plus a $3,750 bonus from Wellcraft Boats and a $3,750 bonus from Yamaha Outboards.
Wal-Mart 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 Sept. 21-23 in Southport, N.C.
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 winning team could win up to $150,000.
For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, visit www.flwoutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
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