FLW Kingfish Series - North Carolina
Southport (Aug. 19-19, 2006)
SOUTHPORT, N.C. — Ole’ Fishing Team, captained by Eddie Cameron of Morehead City, N.C., caught a kingfish weighing 38 pounds, 2 ounces to win the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series North Carolina Division event in Southport. The top prize of $21,000 included a $9,000 Hydra-Sports boat bonus.
Fishing with his wife Michelle, Cameron focused his efforts in the river channel.
“It started out pretty slow,” Cameron said. “We hooked into a fish at 8:15 this morning on a double-pogy rig.”
Cameron said he battled the hard-fighting kingfish through several long runs and boat traffic before he was able to get it to the boat.
“We knew we had a good fish, but we didn’t know how good,” he said. “Fortunately it held up, because it was the only fish we caught today.”
Cameron and his wife have fished together since 1985 and welcomed the introduction of the FLW Kingfish Series.
“I’m self employed, so work has to come first,” he said. “I’m glad FLW Outdoors has given us an opportunity to compete in tournaments close to home.”
Cameron hopes to qualify for the Kingfish Series Championship and possibly the Kingfish Tour.
“We have a seven-year-old son, who isn’t quite used to the ocean yet,” he said. “But if we can get him onboard, we’ll go for it. It shouldn’t be too hard, because he went crazy when he saw that big trophy today. And he’s all about trophies.”
Rounding out the top five teams were Team The Right One Baby captained by Todd Matthews of Swansboro, N.C. (37 pounds, 3 ounces, $6,000, plus $4,500 Yamaha bonus); Team Open Wide captained by Benson Ybanez of Emerald Isle, N.C. (32 pounds, 14 ounces, $4,000); Team Cruise Control captained by John Cruise of Stoneville, N.C. (31 pounds, 9 ounces, $3,000); and Team Second Chanze captained by John Lewis of Morehead City, N.C. (30 pounds, 1 ounce, $2,000, plus $1,500 Yamaha bonus).
FLW Kingfish Series qualifying tournaments are one-day events. The field competes Saturday, and the winning team is determined based on the heaviest kingfish. The final regular-season Carolina Division event event will be held Sept. 16 at Atlantic Beach, N.C.
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. 26-28. The championship winner will take home as much as $75,000.
The Kingfish series championship will also be televised nationwide as part of “FLW Outdoors” on FSN (Fox Sports Net). This broadcast will reach approximately 80 million households in the United States plus 350 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making “FLW Outdoors” the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sundays at 11 a.m. Eastern time.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 events in 2006.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.
