Twisted Cat Championship Win Goes to the Yuvan Brothers, Mike and Brennen
by Ron Presley,
Photos courtesy of Twisted Cat Outdoors by Tom Stolze
J.T. Ray was named the TCO Angler of the Year award following the competition in Helena, Arkansas.
Twisted Cat Outdoors celebrated 10 years of tournament fishing at their invitation-only championship event out of Helena, Arkansas on Saturday, November 2, 2024. Twenty-seven qualified teams fished for $25,500 with a first-place payout of $10,000. Championship week at Helena and the Mississippi River was presented by SeaArk Boats and Powered by Suzuki Marine.
The weather leading up to the tournament did not favor the anglers. Thursday was about the only decent day to prefish and anglers were not allowed to fish on Friday preceding the tournament. They could be on the water scanning and scouting but could not fish. Tournament day was good weather with low temps in the 60s climbing to the mid-70s during the day.
The fun began on Friday night at Harvey’s Que for the mandatory captains meeting from 5 pm to 8 pm, for food, fun, and camaraderie. Fishing hours were 7:00 am to 3:00 pm on Saturday and anglers had to be back to the weigh-in line by 4:30. Anglers could weigh three fish with no size restrictions. At the end of the day, it took a little more than 110 pounds in 3 fish to win.
First Place and Big Fish 
Brennen and Mike Yuvan claimed the top spot at Helena. They were holding down the 26th spot in the points race going into the tournament on Saturday. They claimed the win with a total a total weight of 110.89 pounds. Their bag included Big Fish of the tournament at 53.12 pounds to earn the Castaway Customs MWSC Big Fish Award and add $500 to their payday for a total of $10,500. Brennen and Mike will also receive two pairs of Purpose Built Optics for taking on 1st place.
Brennen and Mike were challenged a little by the size and current of the Mississippi River in that part of its range. They fish from a 7 foot 6 inch modified V Duracraft Jon boat. It is powered by a 60 HP Mercury. That Merc was their only power because their trolling motor broke the previous week and they did not have time to repair it before Helena. They were also challenged by the weather.
“We had an issue with the weather leading up to the tournament,” recalled Brennen. “We had bad thunderstorms and the only day we could prefish was Thursday.”
The brothers were not encouraged much by their prefishing experience. They only got on the water for about 4 hours of what they described as “lackluster” pre-fishing. Since they could not fish Friday they used it to catch bait and that was also a challenge. Luckily they were able to get some skipjack from a fellow angler at the boat ramp who had some to spare.
“We started tournament day in 50 feet of water,” reported Mike. “We had some large wood on the bottom but only got a few finicky bites. So we decided to do a complete 180 and go as shallow as we could within the same area.”
“We don’t have much experience fishing the big Mississippi,” added Brennen. “We figured we had to fish differently than everyone else so we fished like we do back home in Illinois. We had the smallest boat in the whole competition, so we fished the mouth of a tributary. After the first spot, we moved to water in the 6 to 12 feet deep range.”
The brothers set up on 2 anchors and cast out 6 rods. They fan cast the Carolina rigged rods on structure in the shallow water. Some rigs included 8/0 Gamakatsu circle hooks and others were rigged with 13/0 Nocturnal Nation hooks depending on what size bait they were using. They used weights ranging from 4 to 10 ounces. Their bait options were shad, mooneye, and skipjack, but the big fish seemed to prefer the skipjack. By 8 am they had two big blues in the livewell, a 53-pounder, and a 40-pounder.
“Both of those fish came from the outside rod that was cast in the shallow 6-foot water,” reported Brennen. “We had a good feeling about the spot for moving catfish but we never expected to have two nice blues in the boat by 8 am from shallow water.”
The brothers continued to fish their pattern. A lot of the fish they caught were gar. They thought they had another big blue that ended up being a gar that was about 5 feet long to add a little excitement. That same stretch of shallow water produced 17- and 13-pound blues.
“We both kinda take credit for the Big Fish,” joked Brennen. “I reeled and caught the big fish on Michael’s rod. He was putting the 40-pounder in the livewell when his outside rod got hammered and I had to grab the rod, set the hook, and reel it in. Since we had so much weight in the boat from the livewell we had to take It easy and travel with extreme caution back to the scales.”
“We want to thank Coia Sneed for the skipjack,” concluded Brennen. “And we especially want to thank our dad Joe. He let us take his truck since my truck isn’t in the greatest of shape to go on a 10-hour one-way drive. Thanks also to my mother Julia and sister Carlee for supporting us the whole year.”
Second Place 
The runner-up spot went to Kevin Hoffman and Jackson Mitchell They weighed a total weight of 98.30 pounds to claim second place and earn a check for $5,000.
Third Place and 2024 Points Champion 
Third place went to JT Ray and Robert Robinson. The team weighed 97.51 pounds to earn 3rd place and a check for $3,500.
Going into the Championship J.T. was holding down second place in the points standings. His 2nd place performance moved him to the top as the winner of the Championship belt. (See photo below)
Fourth Place 
Randy Welcher, Josh Wilson, and Marc Ford claimed the 4th spot with a total weight of 95.55 pounds. They earned a check for $1,800.
Fifth Place 
The fifth spot at Helena went to Coia Sneed and Bryan St Ama with a total weight of 93.77 pounds. They earned the 5th Place check for $1,500. The Yuvan brothers recognized them and thanked them for the skipjack that Coia gave them before the tournament.
Note: To view the remaining top teams and more photos from the event visit the Twisted Cat Outdoors Facebook page.
Final Thoughts 
Winning a tournament is a satisfying result for tournament anglers but the Angler of the Year Award is more rewarding for most. Chasing points is a grind. The Points Championship is not about a single tournament win, but the journey throughout the year. It requires consistent performance under all kinds of conditions and a dedication to the sport. It is the anglers who perform consistently that end up at the top of the list for Angler of the Year. Special congratulations to J.T. Ray for earning the Twisted Cat Outdoors “Angler of the Year” award! 
TCO will begin the New Year in Alabama when they present Bama Blues. The January 4th event will he held out of Decatur, AL.
For more information on Twisted Cat Outdoors visit their website or follow them on Facebook.
