By: John Hardin
Bass are king when it comes to freshwater tournament fishing. The boats are fast and expensive, with hundreds of them showing up on tournament day to compete for big money. The only thing that isn’t big in tournament bass fishing is the fish, especially when compared to what we’re weighing in on catfish tournament scales. A single fish on the small side at one of our events weighs more than the entire sack of a bass angler’s dreams.
I’m not knocking bass fishing; it’s a great sport. But trophy catfishing tournaments don’t get the respect they deserve. They are, however, gaining popularity by the day, with growing crowds of spectators gathering to see a monster weighed in. I just got back from one of the year’s biggest catfish events, Monsters on the Ohio, held in Owensboro, Ky. in October. More than 130 boats competed for more than $37,000 in cash and prizes. The weights were not huge, it took a 115-pound five-fish limit for the first-place team to go home with about $11,000. The big fish weighed 53.6 pounds. To the uninitiated that may seem like some big fish, but it’s not uncommon for anglers to weigh in five-fish limits of 200-plus pounds, with a single fish weighing in at as much as 80 pounds at times.
The fight of a monster cat in river current is second to none. We take heavy-action rods and large baitcasters loaded with braided line, heavy weights and 10/0 hooks baited with huge chunks of skipjack herring or whole threadfin shad. We cast into the depths of the rivers, just waiting for that hard takedown. During the times of year when rivers are low and current is slack, we turn to controlled drifting, with our baits suspended just off bottom in hopes of luring the monster from his hideout.
The big blues and flatheads hit so hard that they can bury the rod tips into the water. They put so much pressure on the rod that it takes brute strength to get the rod out of the holder. The adrenaline rush from the aggressive bite of a monster catfish is enough to hook any angler for life.
The catfish tournament scene is also pretty family friendly. Many catfish anglers have introduced their children and wives to the sport, and the number of lady anglers competing has really grown. The ladies have proven to love the sport just as much as most guys, and they are getting the job done, too.
Tournaments are starting to pop up in more states throughout the country, and anglers travel hundreds, if not thousands, of miles to participate. If you have never been to a catfish tournament, you should find one and check it out. You will see we are just as passionate about our fish as the other anglers in competitive fishing. It just takes a little more strength for us to get our fish to the scales.
John Hardin, of Calhoun, Ky., is a catfish tournament angler who fishes mostly on the Ohio River and the Green River.
[easy-social-share]