The World Championship of Catfishing (WCC) was held on Pickwick Lake, AL on Oct. 29, 2016. The long running event turned out to be a dream maker for two GA catfish anglers. A tough bite on the river lead to a 59.85-pound weight claiming the WCC belts.
The proud and happy anglers were Lonnie Fountain and David Bruce. Both anglers had been chasing the WCC World Championship belts for years.
The team had spent two days looking for bait so they didn’t get to prefish. They picked a spot to fish where they won third place last year.
“We only had four fish at 2:52 pm,” Said Bruce. “We hadn’t even had a bite in 2 1/2 hours and were fixing to reel up to go. Then our biggest fish absolutely nailed a skippy head with about eight minutes left to fish. We got her in the boat at 2:57 with 3 minutes of fishing left.”
“We were right above the dam on the far-right side,” continued Bruce. “There are a few little holes up there that cats get in this time of the year. We lost two big ones early in the morning. They just grabbed the back of the baits and never touched the hooks, so when we picked up the rods to start the fight they just turned around, opened their mouth and said bye.”
“We spent all day just praying that we had a blessing on the way,” revealed Bruce. “Sure enough the Good Lord pulled through for us right in the nick of time. I have chased those belts with Lonnie, my dad, since I was 8-years old and never could get above second place until now.”
“Words really cannot explain the amount of joy we have or how thankful we are to finally be able to say we have won pretty much every tournament you can win on the Big Cat Quest Trail,” concluded Bruce. “We have also won tournaments in the Cabela’s King Kat trail, but this is the one that makes all those years of working for it worth it.”
Fountain explained that they started out anchored next to the bank waiting on daylight without results. They picked up and started drifting deep water where they caught four small ones and had two other good pull downs.
“Those pull downs told us there were bigger fish there,” said Fountain. “We hung around there and drifted. Then, with 8 minutes left on the clock, we hung the 32 pounder.”
“He’s been after that belt for 14 years,” commented Lonnie’s wife Dawn. “It’s the one win he’s had his heart set on for years. He wanted that belt! We said a prayer about 30 minutes before the tourney was over and gave Jesus praise for the fish we knew he would catch, and he did. We give Jesus all the praise and glory!”
Epilogue: The first tournament Lonnie ever fished was with his twin brother Donnie, and it was the WCC. They saw all those big cats being weighed in and were both amazed and shocked. “How do they do that,” they wondered. In their second WCC they landed a 50 pounder that got them big fish for day one. Then the second day rolled around and other anglers came in with 60 and 70 ponders.
Lonnie and Donnie couldn’t believe the weights being caught. They went home with their tails tucked between their legs, but that experience started their drive and craze for fishing tournaments. They were bound and determined to figure it out. Now, 14 years later, Lonnie has two walls full of trophies and tons of fish stories to boot. He has won the points championship five times in a row, but never could get that belt until now. He is beyond proud of this win!
