May 31, 2019 by Montana Cats Staff
6/1/19 (Glasgow, MT) - The 20th Annual Milk River Catfish Classic was historic in more ways than one. In the weeks leading up to the tournament, the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce announced a “New” event in conjunction with the Catfish Classic. The Inaugural Milk River Catfish Days brought a whole new flavor to downtown Glasgow that lasted the entire weekend. The community enjoyed two nights of live music, a pancake breakfast, a bloody mary and breakfast burrito brunch hosted by the Elks, a Corn hole tournament for both youth and adults, a beer pong tournament, a catfish fry catered by the Cottonwood, the school’s out carnival hosted by the Children’s Museum, a 1 Mile / 5k Race called the Catfish Crawl, a pitching booth hosted by the Glasgow Reds, Catfish “Crazy Days” for vendors and retail stores alike, a youth fishing tournament at Home Run Pond, and a youth outdoors clinic hosted by the Hi-Line Sportsmen. All of the aforementioned events added to the traditional; Friday night Calcutta, Social, and Street Dance, the 20th Annual Cat Classic, and the “Famous Midnight Weigh-ins” to make this year’s version one that will not be soon forgotten.
This year’s 80-team field was filled during the first month of open registration. Five teams were pulled off of a waiting list as the tournament neared making it a mix of veteran and inexperienced tournament anglers. This year’s roster was also littered with an abundance of local anglers and teams from all over the region; most notably Montana Cats Circuit anglers from Billings, Laurel, Sidney, and everywhere in between.
In previous years we have had high water, low water, warm weather, cold weather, windy, no wind, and just about every possible condition you can imagine. This year was interesting for the simple fact that the weather was cooperative for tournament night and most of the week leading up to the event. Weather hovered in the 80s on Friday and again on tournament day. Little to no wind, no precipitation, and slightly dropping water conditions provided anglers with a chance to put up big weights and the entire 80-team field did NOT disappoint.
Steve Harris Jr., Sidney, MT., and Steve Lowrey, Fairview, MT. are Cat Classic veterans and they hit the shoreline running on Saturday night. These teammates own jet boats and live on the Yellowstone River, but went it came to navigating the Cat Classic on an evening where water levels were average, the teammates elected that sticking to the shore would be in their best interest. Boy are they happy they did! This is Harris’ 11th year fishing the event and he has particularly focused on one main stretch of river and reading it and studying it as much as he can. Their time was now. The Richland County catfish junkies toted their 5 cats up on the stage at nearly 1:00 AM and watched the scale dial up to an impressive 36.42 lbs. Good enough to take home the 20th Annual Cat Classic Championship and command a loud ovation from an estimated 500 spectators in attendance.
Claiming runner-up honors was the sibling duo of, Carter Pedersen, Wolf Point, MT., and Peyton Pedersen, Billings, MT., with an impressive basket of fish in their own right. The anglers weighed in a limit of 34.81 lbs. Carter also claimed the Jumbo Whiskers Award for the largest catfish of the evening with his 11.12 lb. behemoth. The fish is a trophy Milk River Cat in every sense of the word. Maybe the most impressive of all is the fact that Peyton had never fished the event prior to this year and Carter had just made his debut the previous year.
Defending Champions and Glasgow natives, Jason Flaten and Cole Plouffe put together another impressive night of fishing, following up last year’s championship with a weight of 32.94 lbs. Just under their total weight from 2018. Bo Boreson and Vance Anderson finished just ½ lb. back of 3rdplace with 32.41 lbs. Brady Flaten and Jason Molstad rounded out the top five with a weight of 31.64 lbs. The finish marks an 11th Top 5 finish for Flaten in 20 years of fishing the event.
Three native local teams finished 6thto 8th respectively. Brendan Waarvik and DJ Elletson, Joel Smith and Marc Kloker, Timm Canen and Aimee Kloeckner ALL weighed in over 30 lbs. making it the first time in Cat Classic history that eight teams could make the claim of catching 30+ lbs.
Montana Cats Circuit anglers; Rod Seder, Billings, MT., Rob Seder, Hardin, MT. and Bobby Wise, Billings, MT., Robert Wise, Billings, MT. claimed the last two spots in the all-important “Top 10”.
A record tying twenty-eight teams weighed in 20+ lbs. and an all-time Montana Cats Circuit record 78 teams weighed in fish! Congratulations to the entire tournament field for being a part of a history making night of fishing.
The Montana Catfish Association would like to take this time to thank the following sponsors for the 20th Annual Milk River Catfish Classic: Glasgow TBID, Nemont Beverage Corporation (Busch Light), Montana Bar, Thompson and Sons, Scottie Nation Apparel, Ag-Land Co-op Glasgow, D&G Sports & Western, Thrivent Financial Shelly George, Newton Motors, B’n’M Poles, Whisker Seeker Tackle, Cat River Anchors, RS Jet Boat Anchors, and Hi-Line Sportsmen. Also a HUGE thanks you to all of those local businesses that sponsored the Glasgow Chamber’s Inaugural Milk River Catfish Days. You are all greatly appreciated. We hope to have everyone back on board for next year’s Milk River Catfish Days and the 21stAnnual Cat Classic on June 5th-7th, 2020.
In the meantime enjoy the completed final results from this weekend below and gear up for the third leg of the 2019 MT Cats Circuit. The 11th Annual Monster Cat Roundup in Sidney, MT. on Saturday July 20th.
20th Annual Milk River Catfish Classic
Final Results 6/1/2019
1. Steve Harris Jr., Sidney, MT., Steve Lowrey, Fairview, MT. 36.42
2. Carter Pedersen, Wolf Point, MT., Peyton Pedersen, Billings, MT. 34.81
3. Jason Flaten, West Wendover, NV., Cole Plouffe, Glendive, MT. 32.94
4. Bo Boreson, Perrysville, IN., Vance Anderson, Glasgow, MT. 32.41
5. Brady Flaten, Glasgow, MT., Jason Molstad, Glasgow, MT. 31.64
6. Brendan Waarvik, Billings, MT., DJ Elletson, Glasgow, MT. 30.94
7. Joel Smith, Glasgow, MT., Marc Kloker, Glasgow, MT. 30.35
8. Timm Canen, Miles City, MT., Aimee Kloeckner, Glasgow, MT. 30.20
9. Rod Seder, Billings, MT., Rob Seder, Hardin, MT. 28.96
10. Bobby Wise, Billings, MT., Robert Wise, Billings, MT. 28.85
11. Jacob Aune, Glasgow, MT., Shawn Wersal, Glasgow, MT. 28.47
12. Callahan Belling, Richland, MT., JD Bailey, Opheim, MT. 27.05
13. Jake Knaff, Hinsdale, MT., Colt Knaff, Hinsdale, MT. 25.99
14. Cale Swanson, Glasgow, MT., Dominik Zimdars, Glasgow, MT. 25.88
15. Corey Bushman, Billings, MT., Matt Bushman, Billings, MT. 25.02
16. Cody Tribby, Glasgow, MT., Dylan Sander, Glasgow, MT. 24.57
17. Steve Norcutt, Glasgow, MT., Brien Norcutt, Glasgow, MT. 24.31
18. Casey Peterson, Sidney, MT., Tobin Bell, Sidney, MT. 24.21
19. Eric Billmeyer, Turner, MT., Casey Riggin, Glasgow, MT. 24.12
20. Chris Kolstad, Williston, ND., Willy Lauckner, Nashua, MT. 24.07
21. Bryon Armour, Lewistown, MT., Tyler Thomas, Lewistown, MT. 23.96
22. Brady Burgess, Glasgow, MT., Myles Kittleson, Glasgow, MT. 22.22
23. Scott Redstone , Glasgow, MT., Aidan Redstone, Glasgow, MT. 21.97
24. Tyler George, Sheridan, WY., Ryan George, Joliet, MT. 21.74
25. Dan Achten, Laurel, MT., Amber Achten, Laurel, MT. 21.48
26. Cody King, Minot, ND., Casey King, Glasgow, MT. 21.21
27. Curtis Meiers, Missoula, MT., Jacob Meiers, Nashua, MT. 20.70
28. Dave George, Glasgow, MT., Candy Lagerquist, Glasgow, MT. 20.51
29. Kyle Gibson, Glasgow, MT., Trevin Gibson, Glasgow, MT. 19.94
30. Blaine Berg, Glendive, MT., Damen Scherting, Glendive, MT. 19.91
31. Jerry Molstad, Miles City, MT., Nate Molstad, Havre, MT. 19.81
32. David Irving, Glasgow, MT., Rod Ost, Glasgow, MT. 19.76
33 Troy Vandall, Glasgow, MT., Tristin Vandall, Glasgow, MT. 19.76
34. Jeff Irving, Belgrade, MT., Dylan Hughes, Glasgow, MT. 19.67
35. Blake Gauer, Park City, MT., Lindsey Gauer, Park City, MT. 19.57
36. Seth Combs, Beulah, North Dakota, Mark Combs, Glasgow, MT. 19.42
37. Steve Harris., Sidney, MT., Quinten Nelson, Sidney, MT. 19.09
38. Norm Braaten, Fort Peck, MT., Dustin Braaten, Fort Peck, MT. 19.01
39. Andrew Malmend, Saco, MT., Mike Vinson, Glasgow, MT. 18.96
40. Mike Zoanni, Glasgow, MT., Nate Doornek, Glasgow, MT. 18.51
41. Sam Malmend, Vandalia, MT., Wrangler Jones, Hinsdale, MT. 17.82
42. Landon Holte, Fort Peck, MT., Carter Holte, Fort Peck, MT. 17.60
43. Tara Geer, Glasgow, MT., Allan Harrington, Glasgow, MT. 17.38
44. Lacey Flaten, Glasgow, MT., Keegan Morehouse, Glasgow, MT. 17.33
45. Hawk Hockhalter, Bismarck, ND., Dale Borgen, Glasgow, MT. 17.10
46. Kevin Howie, Billings, MT., Travis Kennedy, Billings, MT. 16.91
47. Brien Gault, Glasgow, MT., Autumn Gault, Glasgow, MT. 16.90
48. Brodie Boreson, Hinsdale, MT., Alex Partridge, Glasgow, MT. 16.48
49. Katie Anderson, Glasgow, MT., Cody Kuka, Glasgow, MT. 16.46
50. Hayden Clark, St. Marie, MT., Blaine White, Glasgow, MT. 16.29
51. Wayne Linder, Glasgow, MT., Keigan Ingram, Glasgow, MT. 15.66
52. Cody Evans, Billings, MT., Jeremy Johnson, Worden, MT. 15.00
53. Shawn Hopstad, Glasgow, MT., Chaz Hopstad, Glasgow, MT. 14.68
54. Ed Sugg, Verndale, MN., Storm Jackson, Glasgow, MT. 14.51
55. Stone Tahista, Nashua, MT., Mike Merideth, Nashua, MT. 14.37
56. Coel Stutheit, Glasgow, MT., John Grimes, Glasgow, MT. 14.17
57. Paul Parra, Laurel, MT., Renea Parra, Laurel, MT. 13.73
58. Colton Hill, Dickinson, ND., Wyatt Pedersen, Glasgow, MT. 13.33
59. Josh Marottek, Medicine Lake, MT., Drew Henry, Glasgow, MT. 12.84
60. George Stuckers, Sidney, MT., Cody Stensland, Fairview, MT. 12.82
61. Bob Kemp, Glasgow, MT., Jodi Schock, Glasgow, MT. 12.64
62. Cooper Larson, Glasgow, MT., Dylan Linder, Glasgow, MT. 11.17
63. Karl Krause, Glasgow, MT., Jake Kuka, Glasgow, MT. 11.14
64. Terry King, St. Marie, MT., Lindsey Brune, St. Marie, MT. 10.68
65. Perry Vandersloot, Laurel, MT., Alyssa Vandersloot, Laurel, MT. 10.09
66. Melissa Sigmundstad, Glasgow, MT., Briana Page, Glasgow, MT. 9.59
67. Curtis Shipman, Glasgow, MT., Darci Shipman, Glasgow, MT. 9.41
68. Craig Compton, Mount Ulla, NC., Quentin Compton, Glasgow, MT. 9.17
69. Spencer Marsh, Glasgow, MT., Caleb Lagree, Glasgow, MT. 9.07
70. Jason Schultz, Glasgow, MT., Hunter Schultz, Glasgow. MT. 8.01
71. Andy Gardner, Dickinson, ND., Greg Fewer, Glasgow, MT. 7.55
72. Robert Petersen, Billings, MT., Jayson Riggin, Billings, MT. 7.34
73. Todd Lindsay, Billings, MT., Kellie Lindsay, Billings, MT. 7.34
74. Rick Pedersen, Nashua, MT., Marcia Pedersen, Nashua, MT. 7.23
75. Kobe Sibley, Glasgow, MT., Trevor Klind, Glasgow, MT. 7.13
76. Aaron Wittmer, Havre, MT., Derek Mahlum, Havre, MT. 5.42
77. Ben Unterseher, Glasgow, MT., Garrett Morken, Glasgow, MT. 4.47
78. Spencer Gay, Glendive, MT., Pat Gay, Glasgow, MT. 2.53
79. Shawn Weber, Billings, MT., Kade Compton, Billings, MT. 0
80. Tyler Johnson, Nashua, MT., Zach Watts, Nashua, MT. 0
Jumbo Whiskers Award -- Carter Pedersen 11.12 lbs.
Big Whiskers Award -- Steve Harris Sr. 9.75 lbs.
Posted in: Milk River Catfish Classic
