FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Buoyed by the tour-heaviest 57-pound, 13-ounce kingfish it caught on day one, Team Folgers-Offshore Authority easily held on to the lead as the opening round of Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour competition wrapped up Friday. But it was the little boat of Team Steve’s Seafood and the 47-9 king that came in with it – not to mention its most notorious crew member – that stole the show on day two.
That’s right, on Friday former pro wrestler Jake “the Snake” Roberts reeled in the biggest fish of the day at one of the world’s richest professional kingfish tournaments.
Team Steve’s Seafood – which this week consists of Roberts, his son Dustin and Capt. James Schmelz of Jacksonville, Fla. – caught the 47 ½-pounder early in the morning while fishing the area known as the Pines, north of Sebastian, Fla. The second-heaviest fish of the week, it launched the team, which zeroed on day one, all the way into second place heading into Saturday’s finals.
“We caught this fish within 30 minutes of when we got to our spot,” Schmelz said. “I’m guessing tomorrow we’re probably going to go the same way we went today and do the same things.”
Schmelz said they caught four kings at the Pines, which is also the area that coughed up the leading fish to Team Folgers on day one. Steve’s Seafood hooked the big one on the outrigger in water about 55 feet deep. When it hit, it was Jake Roberts – kingfishing for just the second time in his life – who grabbed the reel.
“We got it on one of those blue things (a blue runner),” said Roberts, who fought the fish for some 35 to 40 minutes. “It was pretty wild. We never even got all our poles out (by the time it hit). That reel just kept on singing and singing.”
“We took it real easy on him. When I saw that fish pop up beside the boat, man, did I scramble to get the gaff,” Schmelz said. “Jake did an excellent job fighting this fish. He brought him to the boat and right to the gaff.”
Schmelz and Roberts are brothers-in-law, and when Schmelz was putting together the Steve’s Seafood team for the 2006 FLW Kingfish Tour season, he asked the novice Roberts to come along.
“It’s all about the rush of adrenaline. When that line starts screaming, it’s the same thing as stepping into the ring,” Roberts said, then laughed. “(Heck), I’ll be here for a couple more weeks of these things. Maybe the rest of these guys’ll quit.”
While having a former pro wrestler on the reel was an advantage, at least today, Roberts contends that the secret to Steve’s Seafood’s success Friday was his son, Dustin, who is an equally novice offshore fisherman.
“He did nothing but puke all day long. I think he actually chummed them up for us,” Roberts laughed. “Hey, we saved on chum.”
Bitta Sweet savors second-biggest king, last qualifying spot
Team Bitta Sweet, captained by Jerry Tumbleston of Mount Pleasant, S.C., caught the second-best fish of the day, a 43-pound, 12-ounce king that squeezed the team just under the final-round cut in fifth place.
“We weren’t fishing for more than 30 minutes when this fish just scalded the line and ran straight back. It ran off a good ways and stayed really deep,” said crew member Ronnie Broach, who was on the gaff. “We fought it hard for an hour and then found that we had a shark.”
“That really put us in a different mood. It mellowed us out,” Tumbleston said. “All three of us just stuck it out all day.”
Their perseverance paid off when, at 1:15, they hooked into their big kingfish near an area called the Boil, south of Fort Pierce Inlet.
“It bit on a ribbonfish rig right behind the boat in the prop wash. We caught it in 20 feet of water, right on the beach,” said Tumbleston, who reeled it in. “This fish was unique. The water cleared really well on the beach, so for 30 minutes we watched it on top the whole time. It would get within 12 feet of the boat and just take off again. It looked like an airplane out there.”
“We needed a fish like that,” Broach said. “We haven’t seen one like that in a long time.”
Folgers maintains authority, gunning for 35 pounds more
Capt. David Kingery of Melbourne, Fla., and Team Folgers-Offshore Authority didn’t catch a keeper kingfish on day two. In fact, the team really didn’t even need to leave the marina Friday thanks to its 57-pound, 13-ounce leading king Thursday, but it took to the seas, regardless, in search of new fish.
“Actually, we went all the way up to Port Canaveral,” Kingery said. “We didn’t find anything, though. We were basically just eliminating water. But we went by our spot (from day one), and people were catching them there again. Tomorrow, I think at least one of (the top five finalists) will have a 35-pound fish, so what we have is not enough by a long shot. We’re going to go back to day one, do things the same way, the same spread, everything.”
Folgers leads Steve’s Seafood by 10 pounds, 4 ounces.
Lured Away, Triple Gobble third, fourth
Though neither team weighed in a fish Friday, Team Lured Away, captained by Robert Schoenfeld of Conroe, Texas, and Team Triple Gobble, captained by Greg Weathers of Pawleys Island, S.C., held on to make the final cut thanks to their respective day-one catches.
Lured Away took third place with 45 pounds, 4 ounces, and Triple Gobble claimed fourth with 44-11.
Final round Saturday
The top five boats will take off at 6:30 a.m. Eastern time Saturday from Fort Pierce Marina for the final round of competition. The winner – and a potential $100,000 check – will be determined by combined opening-round and final-round weight.
Saturday’s final weigh-in begins at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time at the Wal-Mart store located at 5100 Okeechobee Road in Fort Pierce.
