May 04, 2008 by MT Cats Staff
Lewellen, NE 5/3/08 – Montana Cats field staff members, Brenner and Jason Flaten, recently competed in the 11th Annual Lake McConaughy Catfish Classic held in Western Nebraska. The tournament is quickly turning into a huge event and it is growing on a yearly basis. The event includes a Calcutta and social on Friday night, as well as the tournament on Saturday.
This years tournament, however, provided a challenge to the anglers unlike any other year, with temperatures dipping into the 30’s in the two days leading up to the tourney. A massive snow storm fell in the Lewellen area on Friday, leaving nearly 6-8 inches on the ground, and dropping water temperatures in the river to the mid 30’s. This didn’t seem to scare away the avid catfish anglers though, as a record 55 teams entered in the 10-hour one-day cattin’ tourney. As you would expect, the catfish were a bit tight-lipped throughout the entire tournament, as only 12 of the 55 teams were able to land fish. No team was able to catch their limit of ten catfish, and the 1st place squad was only able to boat seven cats. The Championship team, Tater and Buck Johnson, were able to find the right combination and topped the leader board with 20.46 lbs. Tater and Buck fished Lake McConaughy, as did the other eleven teams that were able to land fish. No team fishing the North Platte River even caught a catfish.
Brenner had this to say on the tournament, “We knew we were in trouble when we showed up to our main spot in the morning and we couldn’t fish effectively because there was too much ICE floating down the river, that’s not a situation we typically prepare for.” “We were spending a lot of time just trying to keep our baits positioned, because the ice was just catching our lines. The water temp was 34 degrees, which doesn’t exactly trigger feeding. We threw everything at them and we just couldn’t get them to bite.”
The guys at the Oregon Trail Trading Post in Lewellen, NE do a tremendous job with this event and you can expect even more growth into the future. Montana Cats has already penciled in the tournament for 2009. Congratulations to all of the top ten and good luck for the rest of your catfishing season!
TOP 10 (55 teams)
1. Tater Johnson / Buck Johnson 20.46 lbs.
2. Johnny Ramsey / Scott Ramsey 19.50 lbs.
3. Justin Johnson / Matt MacIntosh 17.12 lbs.
4. Mallard / Kessler 16.30 lbs.
5. Loyd Volgamore / Doug Volgamore 16.20 lbs.
6. Roy Parmely / Wayne Hanson 13.04 lbs.
7. Mark Hemmes / Darrell Fisher II 11.48 lbs.
8. Greg Shaver / Hobert Shaver 8.64 lbs.
9. Bob Hattendorf / Doug Leopold 6.90 lbs.
10. Marnie Ryan / Daryl Bertolini 6.70 lbs.
Posted in: Other Tournaments
