May 09, 2009 by Montana Cats Staff
Huntley, MT 5/9/09 – The Yellowstone Challenge continues to grow at an all-time high, this was evidenced by the nice crowd gathered around the Minnow Bucket in Huntley this past Saturday. This years 3rd Annual event provided fun and thrills for all the ages involved. The 60-team limit was filled 3 weeks in advance of the event, as anglers rushed to assure their entry. The local anglers are becoming more excited about catfishing and if this year’s tourney is any indication, we should see continued growth and positive changes into the future.
After a short opening rules meeting at 11:00 a.m., tournament director, Tyler George released all the teams onto the mighty Yellowstone River bottom. Seeing all 60 teams being released at one time is a spectacle in itself. 38 teams fished from boat, while 22 teams braved the conditions from shore. The month of May always provides us with a lot of weather changes throughout the day, and this particular day was no different. With highs peaking in the upper 50’s it was a relatively cool day on the water for most teams. River conditions were once again slowly rising, and very similar to the previous two years. The combination of unpredictable weather and predictable river flows gave way to some big weights for the top teams, as the entire top five weighed in a limit of four cats of at least 28.5 total pounds.
Tournament veterans, Art Adame of Ballantine and Larry Green of Billings, were able to put it all together and rise above the 60-team field with 31.7 lbs., a new Yellowstone Challenge Record! The record catch turned out to be worth $2,740.00, as they also purchased themselves in Friday nights Calcutta. When asked about their incredible catch, Larry Green replied, “It was pretty slow for a few hours there, then we caught a shad and cut it up, they seemed to like it.” The Green-Adame duo are no strangers to success at The Challenge either, as they already had a 3rd place finish in 2007 and a 5th place finish in last years event to their credit. The tournament championship total weight wasn’t the only Challenge record to go down this weekend, as Levi Walter of Shepherd smashed the previous big fish record, with his 12.4 lb. Yellowstone bruiser! The big cat helped Walter’s team fly up the leader board and finish in a very respectable 7th place. This years top 10 was littered with teams making return trips to the leader board and showing consistency on the big river.
This event was brought to you by the Montana Catfish Association, and was the first tournament on the 2009 Montana Catfish Cup Circuit. Points have now been awarded to the top 10 teams as well as participation points for all the other teams that participated. Three more tour events are planned for later this summer, with the next being the 10th Annual Milk River Catfish Classic in Glasgow, MT on June 6th. Montana Cats will crown a 2009 tournament circuit champion at the Inaugural Monster Cat Roundup in Sidney, MT on July 11th. We hope to see you at our upcoming events! Enjoy the complete final results, photos, and podcast interviews from this past weekend’s event.
Pictures for this event can be found here.
| Levi Walter | 12.40 lbs. | Big Fish Award |
| 1. | Art Adame, Ballantine, MT. – Larry Green, Billings, MT. | 31.7 lbs. |
| 2. | J.D. Smith, Billings, MT. – Bruce Boracker, Billings, MT. | 30.8 lbs. |
| 3. | Siler Giles, Billings, MT. – Rick Davis, Billings, MT. | 29.5 lbs. |
| 4. | Matt Theis, Billings, MT. – Richard Theis, Billings, MT. | 29.2 lbs. |
| 5. | Steve Reidy, Billings, MT. – Keith Ratcliff, Billings, MT. | 28.6 lbs. |
| 6. | Pete Sanderson, Billings, MT. – Christopher Hofmann, Billings, MT. | 26.8 lbs. |
| 7. | Levi Walter, Shepherd, MT. – Dan Walter, Billings, MT. | 24.2 lbs. |
| 8. | Jonathan Stark, Billings, MT. – Darren Donness, Billings, MT. | 19.6 lbs. |
| 9. | Nick Christman, Worden, MT. – Tom Ringo, Ballantine, MT. | 18.5 lbs. |
| 10. | Jason Flaten, Gillette, WY. – Matt Smith, Billings, MT. | 16.6 lbs. |
| 11. | Russell Dietz, Shepherd, MT. – Calvin Kading, Billings, MT. | 16.3 lbs. |
| 12. | Jason Partridge, Billings, MT. – Toby Kline, Billings, MT. | 16.1 lbs. |
| 13. | Brad Stewart, Billings, MT. – Tom Madden, Billings, MT. | 12.3 lbs. |
| Ray Schmierer, Billings, MT. – Gary Miller, Billings, MT | 12.3 lbs. | |
| 15. | Rod Seder, Billings, MT. – Ron Mackney, Billings, MT. | 12.2 lbs. |
| 16. | Charles Hauptman, Billings, MT. – Jim Hauptman, Billings, MT. | 12.1 lbs. |
| 17. | Dustin Lachenmaier, Billings, MT. – Kirk Thomas, Billings, MT. | 11.8 lbs. |
| 18. | Perry Jones, Billings, MT. – Paul Waller, Billings, MT. | 11.4 lbs. |
| 19. | Brenner Flaten, Wright, WY. – Brady Flaten, Glasgow, MT. | 11.3 lbs. |
| 20. | Corey Wicks, Park City, MT. – Delvin Mace, Billings, MT. | 11.2 lbs. |
| 21. | Dave Wise, Billings, MT. – Tim Haffey, Billings, MT. | 9.7 lbs. |
| 22. | Ken Bixby, Shepherd, MT. – Tory Bixby, Billings, MT. | 8.8 lbs. |
| 23. | Mark Striegel, Pompeys Pillar, MT. – Tyler Striegel, Ballantine, MT. | 6.5 lbs. |
| 24. | Jared Kidwell, Bridger, MT. – Shannon McClure, Custer, MT. | 6.2 lbs. |
| 25. | Ryan Smith, Billings, MT. – Kevin Van Donsel, Billings, MT. | 4.7 lbs. |
| 26. | Zach Smith, Billings, MT. – Wesely Wagner, Billings, MT. | 3.9 lbs. |
| 27. | Kevin Bentz, Billings, MT. – Davin Mckinney, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. |
| Bill Jones, Billings, MT. – Phil Hageman, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Darren Decker, Billings, MT. – Chad Binstock, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Christopher Lehonan, Billings, MT. – Harry He-does-it, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Timber Koledejchuk, Forsyth, MT. – Wayne Kegley, Forsyth, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Joseph Meeks, Billings, MT. – Corey White, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Jeff Niles, Thermopolis, WY. – Kevin Niles, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Ron Anderson, Laurel, MT. – Kevin Miller, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Dan Mchatton, Billings, MT. – Marie Mchatton, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Steve Frey, Worden, MT. – Matt Sand, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Wes Chapel, Custer, MT. – Melanie Mollman, Custer, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Bruce Bates, Billings, MT. – Jonathan Bates, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Mark Prelle, Billings, MT. – James Thomas, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Robbie Guptill, Laurel, MT. – Greg Wood, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Rush Voorhis, Billings, MT. – Joss Voorhis, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Jim Perry, Billings, MT. – Kyle Leikam, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Greg Elison, Shepherd, MT. – Bray Herrlan, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Dan Dupea, Billings, MT. – Eli Daniel, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| J.D. Turner, Billings, MT. – Kristi Fillner, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Duncan McBane, Billings, MT. – Joe Carlisle, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Robert Wise, Billings, MT. – Bobby Wise, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Allen Camarillo, Billings, MT. – Mike Johnson, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Rusty Hoffman, Billings, MT. – Andy Godtel, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Charles Ferguson, Big Timber, MT. – Will Grundhauser, Park City, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Dustin Smith, Billings, MT. – Brandon Walter, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Pete Borowick, Billings, MT. – Brad Sisson, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Bill Henshaw, Sheridan, WY. – Steve Stark, Huntley, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| J.R. Boespflug, Worden, MT. – Chris Joseph, Pompeys Pillar, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Cory Rigby, Billings, MT. – Gary Cantrell, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Cliff Amundsen, Billings, MT. – Travis Amundsen, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Ron Herman, Laurel, MT. – Robert Belles, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Wade Bomar, Billings, MT. – Edward Seiders, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| Scott Swanson, Billings, MT. – Cory Bushman, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. | |
| 60. | David Dupea, Billings, MT. – Josh Dupea, Billings, MT. | 0 lb. |
Posted in: Yellowstone Challenge
