Montana Catfish Association - News & Updates

June 05, 2022 by Montana Cats Staff

Glasgow, MT 6/4/22 -  Low water.  That was the theme for this year's version of the Milk River Catfish Classic.  How would the fishermen adapt?  Would fishing become increasingly difficult?  Would teams still find a way to put together impressive baskets of fish?  Yes, fishing proved to be very difficult on an otherwise beautiful evening, however, many teams adapted and simply found a way.  Eighty teams brought 276 cats to the scales at the famous midnight weigh-ins in downtown Glasgow.  Forty two teams caught their limit of five Channel Cats, but only five teams brought in over 20 lbs.  Those numbers, unfortunately, bore a stark resemblance to the low water years of the early 2000's.    

May 14, 2022 by Montana Cats Staff

The 16th Annual Yellowstone Challenge Catfish Tournament kicked off the 2022 Montana Cats tour this past weekend in Huntley.  The total 60 team field filled weeks in advance, a clear indication of the excitement surrounding this year’s event.  The teams gathered on Friday night at the NEW tournament headquarters at the beautiful Rhoadside Event Center in downtown Huntley for the rules meeting and Calcutta.  If the “chatter” at the initial meeting were any indication, this year’s event would present a whole NEW set of challenges.  

Area drought conditions created uncharacteristically LOW flows, which required not only NEW fish locating re but requirements also superb boat navigation skills.  The week leading up to competition days saw flows as low as 4K CFS.  For comparison’s sake, the 2019 tourney boasted 40,000 CFS flows on the high side, more than 10X for flows for the 2022 event.  It’s these constant changing river conditions year-to-year and day-to-day, especially early season, that force anglers to adapt their skills to maximize catch rates.  

August 21, 2021 by Montana Cats Staff

8/21/2021 (Williston, ND) – Low Water. That was the theme of the 11th Annual Missouri River Catfish Clash held in Williston, North Dakota over the weekend.  The event came into question mid-week due to the low water levels and issues with the boat launch at tournament headquarters.  Thankfully, Montana Cats worked collectively with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department to ensure safe access for all the anglers and assured that the event would go on as planned.  Despite conditions that had not been seen over the last decade of the event, and a drop in prop boat attendance, 42 boats still signed up to give it a go.  

July 17, 2021 by Montana Cats Staff

7/17/21 - Sidney, MT. - The Yellowstone River is very low and recent temperature's have been unseasonably scorching.  With those conditions unlikely to change over the weekend, the Montana Catfish Association Board of Directors held discussion early this week and took unprecedented action to protect the health of the fish during the event.  For the first time in the 13-year history of the event, the 5-fish limit was reduced to just 4 for this year's event.  The change would allow anglers a better chance to keep their fish healthy and return them safely to the river after weigh-ins.  Mission accomplished!  It was a highly successful event once again.  Despite 96 degree heat, the Montana Cats anglers passed the test with flying colors and proved yet again that they are committed to keeping the fish in great shape.    

June 05, 2021 by Montana Cats Staff

Glasgow, MT 6/5/21 - The Cat Classic is the gift that keeps on giving!  Simply unbelievable.  On a week where it seemed big fish would be hard to come by, it proved to be anything but.  With very lower water conditions and a heat index in the 90's for the days leading up to the tourney there was an expectation among anglers that this years tourney would be a real challenge and the resident population of catfish in the Mighty Milk would be tight lipped on tourney night.  Leave it the Cat Classic to throw everyone a wrench and come out swinging.  The fishing was fantastic again this year for the 80-team field as twenty eight teams weighed in over 20 lbs. of fish!  That ties the all-time record set in 2017 and 2019.