More than 170 boats have made their way to Memphis, TN to compete in the Mississippi River Monsters tournament. With a launch scheduled from Mud Island on Saturday Sept. 10, anglers are busy preparing, checking weather reports and talking strategy.
Many anglers have been on site since early in the week to test the Mississippi River waters and set their plans for the big day. Catfish anglers from all over the country are fishing for a 1st place prize of $14,000 in cash. That pot can be sweetened by $2,500 if the winning team is using Warrior Cat Rods.
The first place team will also receive 10 Driftmaster Pro Series Duo Rod Holders, 2 Driftmaster T-500 Big Fish Trolling Systems, and 1 Driftmaster T-6200 Troll King with six Locking Holders. If the winners are using Driftmaster Rod Holders exclusively and are displaying the Driftmaster logo at weigh-in they will have their choice of $400 cash or $600 in product.
If the winning boat has 6 Monster Rod Holders installed, they will receive an additional $1,000.
In the Big Fish competition, the winner will have the option of giving the big cat a new home in the Bass Pro Shops aquarium, if the fish is over 60 pounds. If they choose the aquarium option, they will receive a replica of their Mississippi River Monster to hang on their wall.
The Big Fish winner will receive $1,000 from the official big fish sponsor, Whisker Seeker Tackle. An additional $1,500 is added if the fish is caught on a Warrior Cat Rod. Whisker Seeker Tackle will also provide the Big Cat winner with one stone and iron catfish trophy, one custom rod rack for 20 rods, and six Chad Ferguson heavy rods.
The top 20 places will pay cash and prizes, and the 100 placing boat will receive $1,000 from Warrior Cat Rods.
Some lucky angler will win a 2016 Tracker 2072 CC. All the registered anglers have their name in the hat for a random drawing to determine the winner. The drawing will be made on tournament day, Sept. 9, 2016.
Happy, smiling faces are turning serious with the big day less than 24 hours away. “We will go right there where we caught them before and work it,” disclosed one team.
Another team mentioned finding several new spots to consider on tournament day. “We got 2 major spots identified. One up the river and one down. Then we got several other promising places marked in between.”
Whatever those individual strategies turn out to be, in the end it will depend on the river, the weather (a 60% chance of rain is forecast), and maybe even a little luck.
On a ride around with tournament director, George Young Jr. it was surprising to find so many different fishing opportunities. “Some people are intimidated by the river,” said Young. “The truth is, you can find any speed of current you want.” And we did.
“The Mississippi is a good place to learn,” chimed in Bill Dance. “It you can catch fish on this river you can catch fish anywhere.”
Most people expect the tournament to be won with a technique called bumping, and that requires current. On that ride around we found current speeds from zero to about 4.5 MPH. “Ideally I am looking for 3.0 MPH or less,” said Young. “Then I use the trolling motor to slow my backward drift down to as slow as .5 MPH and get to bumping.”
Young is normally using a 4- to 6-ounce weight, but I have heard other anglers using as little as 2 ounces. It all depends on the current speed.
Bumping won’t be the only method used in Saturday’s contest. All you gotta’ do is take a walk through the parking lot where the boats are staged. Every type of fishing equipment available is displayed in one boat or another.
In addition to the popular bumping rods there are rods made for anchor fishing, rods made for suspending and some that aren’t made for anything in particular, just fishing. Big sinkers, little sinkers heavy line and light. It’s all there loaded and ready for war on the Mighty Mississippi.
Larry Muse’s boat is sporting his new signature model Warrior Cat Roller Guide Rods as well as the Warrior Cat Bumping Rods. “I will be bumping mostly,” said Muse. “Probably using a big ole piece of skipjack. But if weather or something changes it, we are ready to do what we need to do and that could include suspending those roller poles.” Muse will be teamed up with his step-dad, Frank Meador and step-brother, Dino Meador.
The B’n’M Poles team of Joey Pounders and Jay Gallop are banking on what they learned on an earlier trip to the Mississippi. “We did pretty good last year,” said a slightly secretive Pounders. “We are not getting in a bunch of prefishing, but we have a little knowledge we can put to use.”
There is no lack of fish stories in Memphis this week. Some of them may even be true. One thing for certain is the excitement among catfish anglers that has been generated by the Mississippi River Monsters tournament. The ground work is laid and more than 170 boats will launch from Mud Island to see who can come back to claim the prize money and the catfish braggin’ rights that go along with a win.
