George Young Jr and Austin Pierce Claim Cabela’s King Kat Victory with 344.22 pounds of Mississippi River Catfish.
Catfish anglers from 11 states traveled to the Mississippi River for a Cabela’s King Kat Tournament Trail Super Event. Twenty-one teams gathered at Helena, AR to test their catfishing skills against other anglers and Mother Nature.
Helena proved to be a big catfish destination. Competitors were vying for $6,000 in cash and prizes, and an opportunity to qualify for the $110,000 Classic Championship to be held September 14 and 15, 2018, on the Ohio River at Jeffersonville, Indiana.
The weather was cooler than expected with scattered showers moving through the area both days of the tournament. Some anglers reported that the lightning was so bad they had to stop fishing and wait out the storms. The daytime temperatures were in the mid 80’s with varied humidity. The Mississippi River current was in the 2-5 mph range, depending on location. The catfish anglers overcame the threatening weather conditions to bring huge weights to the scales.
Results for the Top Catfish Teams
B’n’M pro staffer George Young Jr. from Jonesboro, AR teamed up with 17-year-old Austin Pierce from Mena, AR to claim top honors at Helena. They weighed a massive bag of 334.22 pounds in the two-day event on the Mississippi River. They led the first day’s competition with a weight of 189.66 that included the Big Kat at 53.70 pounds.
The Arkansas team held their Big Kat lead until the last team to weigh brought a 57.02-pound blue to the scales that beat their 53.70 pounder. Their performance earned them $2,800 and the Driftmaster Rod Holder Bonus.
Young and Pierce made a long run to find their winning fish. They ran south out of Helena for more than an hour where they targeted fish in 70 feet of water. They were using B’n’M Bumping Rods on ledges to put huge weights in the boat each day. They were using the old reliable skipjack for bait. Austin was credited with catching the teams four big fish.
Austin did a little prefishing with his dad, Carson Pierce, and Hugh Thompson. They made a 17 mile run upriver. They no more than got baited up before having trolling motor issues. They spent a few hours trying to find another remote without success. They finally took the remote apart and found it full of water. They dried it out and it began to work again. Once they started fishing again they caught 3 fish that weighed about 70 pounds so they decided that is where they would fish on Friday.
“Come Friday morning, I told George on the way to the ramp that I was gonna’ catch a 70 pounder on the first drift,” said Austin. “We drifted about a mile and George had caught five fish. He hooked up on a 6th fish and I could tell it was a better fish than the others. Then my first fish hit. Those two weighed 34 and 54 pounds. We culled a few more fish throughout the day on Friday. We went back to where we were that morning and I hooked my second fish over 50 pounds. That put us at 190 pounds so we headed for the weigh-in.”
Saturday started off well for George and Austin who continued to put nice fish in the boat. The bite was on and the team caught more than 60 fish for the weekend.
“I started out with a 24 and a 36 within the first 10 minutes,” reported Austin. “We caught a lot of fish in the 25-pound range and wound up with 144 pounds on the second day. Our big fish from the day before held up until the last fish pulled out at the tournament.”
The team credited the new Excel 230 Storm Cat for the fish care it provided with its livewell. They also praised the Storm Cat for its stability and ride.
“The new Storm Cat 230 by Excel Boats performed great this weekend from the livewell to the ride. There is no better catfish boat on the market today!”
Second place in the weekend event went to Carl Morris Jr. and Robert A. Parsons. The Ohio team made a move from 5th place on day one to claim the runner-up spot with 165 pounds on Saturday that drove their two-day weight to 278.64 pounds and earn them $1,450.00.
Morris and Parsons fished about 25 miles south of Helena. They used skipjack from Big Kat Bait Company to land more than 25 fish for the tournament. Their biggest fish was about 50 pounds.
“The weather was a little rough with thunderstorms hitting us hard both mornings,” reported Morris. “But the fish didn’t mind. We fished from 60 to 80 feet deep both days. We found the fish on the rocks Friday but they moved downriver on Saturday and were laying in the mud.”
The second-place finish had life-changing consequences for Parsons. He had shaved his beard to see if it would change up his luck. Maybe it did, but more importantly, his wife told him that if he got 3rd place or better–the beard stays off! Looks like he will be clean shaving for a while.
Third place went to Daryl and Jason Masingale. They moved up from 4th place on day one to earn the third spot. They added to their day one weight of 114.26 pounds to claim a two-day total of 270.28 pounds and earn $1,000. The team bumped using skipjack for bait to land nine fish on day one and 15 fish on day two. They found their fish around 20 miles north of Helena.
“We were able to go down the weekend prior and do some looking,” stated Jason. “We weren’t able to do much fishing but we did find several spots that we liked. On day one the storms and lightning made things interesting for most of the day. The fish bit early for us on day one. We targeting rock and some wood in approximately 45 to 50 feet depths.”
“On day two the weather was much better but the fish did not want to cooperate,” added Daryl. “The bite for us and several of the other fisherman was off. Everyone reported fish not taking the bait and spitting it quickly. By 1:00 pm we had five fish that went about 30 pounds. They finally turned on and we were able to put some quality fish in the boat during the last two hours.”
The team concluded by congratulating George Young Jr. and Austin Pierce, saying they showed what that area of the Mississippi River is capable of. They also gave credit to their sponsors. They said the new SeaArk ProCat 240 was a dream to fish out of. They thanked SeaArk Boats, Team Catfish, Tangling with Catfish Rods, and Monster Rod Holders for their support.
Fourth place at Helena went to the B’n’M Poles Team of Roy Harkness and Don Sweat. The Tennessee team had a two-day total weight of 264.76 pounds. They drifted both days in two mph current using skipjack as bait.
“We prefished the last two Saturdays,” reported Harkness. “We were mainly just looking for fishable water and trying to learn the area. We marked some fish on sonar and side imaging and found enough area to produce for two days of fishing. The first morning we were traveling to our first location and ran into a storm. We had to pull over and wait out the lightning.”
“On our first drift we put five catfish in the boat with the first fish weighing around 40 pounds,” continued Harkness. “We caught several more in that area but just couldn’t get another big bite so we moved to our other areas and caught several more. We decided to move to where we might get a big one and caught one close to 50. We marked several more and decided to leave them for day-two.”
“We started day-two by fishing through a very heavy storm, reported Harkness. “But we did put several fish in the boat with the first one being another 40. We were catching fish pretty consistently.”
When Harkness and Sweat began their next drift they started having electrical issues. The bilge pump was not working and the fuel gauge was indicating that they were running out of gas. At 11:00 am they had about 120 pounds in the livewell and were headed back towards Helena running slow and easy because they had no idea what was going on.
“We stopped to check on the boat halfway back,” offered Harkness. “A workboat on the river stopped to check on us. They gave us some gas and the fuel gauge went backward. A little while later it started working and we were fine. We started fishing again but never got a big bite and it was too late to run back to where we had found our fish.”
“We had a great day against some of the best catfishermen around,” concluded Harkness. “We are very thankful that we get to do what we love. Congratulations to everyone that fished the tournament. There are a lot of great people involved in this sport.”
Rounding out the top five was the team of Hugh Thompson and Carson Pierce. They were less than a pound behind Harkness and Sweat with 264.08 pounds.
“We barely had time to prefish,” offered Thompson. “But Carson had already done plenty prior to the tournament. “We just went out and enjoyed our fishing time. Saturday it stormed most of the day with enough lightning to run most off but we kept fishing. Rising water means trees, trash, and debris coming down the river. Still, we caught a lot of catfish bumping with our new B’n’M Bumping Rods.”
“When Austin Pierce got the opportunity to fish with George Young, Carson asked me to fish with him,” said Thompson. “I am so thankful he did. I really got an up-close look at how far this father/son team had come since fishing their first catfish tournament on the Mississippi Catfish trail just a year ago.”
“It was no doubt a good weekend,” said Carson Pierce whose son, Austin, was in the winner’s circle with George Young Jr. “We had plenty of troubles and occasionally had trouble getting back on the fish but it was all in all a great tournament with my good friend Hugh! It is a father’s biggest dream to watch his son hit a home run in a national event with a sportsman like George Young Jr.”
Helena was a special tournament for Thompson because he had been working with others to get a tournament in the area.
“This particular event has been years in the works,” said Thompson. “I want to thank Jeremy Coe for his vision and leadership with the King Kat organization for all they do.”
“A few years ago, we only dreamed of a day where Helena could be the location of a Cabela’s King Kat Super Event. There are many people that need to be thanked for their efforts that led to this event. Joey Pounders, David Magness, Larry Muse, and many others helped make this dream become reality.
“The Mississippi Catfish Trail, B’n’M Poles, and Rig Rap stepped up early on and really made the difference,” continued Thompson. “This weekend we watched as anglers who began their journey to becoming Pro Anglers with the Mississippi Catfish Trail (MCT) performed well. Carson Pierce, Austin Pierce, Brian Mayo and Cam Pitts all fished their first tournament with MCT only a year ago and to see them all do so well really does the heart good.”
“My beautiful wife Rose and I love to fish and our passion is trophy catfishing,” concluded Thompson. “We’ve been blessed to learn from many great anglers and friendships made while fishing catfish tournaments.”
Big Kat for the weekend went to the last boat to weigh in at Helena. It was the team of Brian BoneCollector Mayo and Candice Pitts that pulled up to the scales as the last boat to weigh and pulled a 57.02-pound blue cat out of the livewell to take Big Kat honors.
The team from Clarksville, MS caught the big blue in 35 feet of water while drifting skipjack for bait. The Big Kat earned them $420.
The Remaining Top Ten Catfish Teams
6th Place – Jerry and Noah Ishcomer and Wallace Sams – 221.08
7th Place – Zed Moore and Josh Moore – 212.20
8th Place – Brian Mayo and Candice Pitts – 190.16
9th Place – David Shipman and Lisa Ligon – 186.18
10 Place – Lonnie Fountain and Donnie Fountain – 183.04
Epilogue
Tournament director, Jeremy Coe sent a special thank you to all of the local sponsors who made this event happen. They include the City of Helena, AR, Helena Halbert & Mayor Jay Hollowell, Helena Main Street, Helena Chamber of Commerce, Arkansas Parks & Tourism, Helena Advertising and Promotions, Isle of Capri Casino & Hotel, The Edwardian, South Bound Tavern, and Messina Wine & Spirits.
“We are really looking forward to a return in 2019,” said Coe. “Especially with the weights that we saw this weekend! The Helena, AR stretch of the Mississippi River is truly a big fish destination!”
National Sponsors
Cabela’s King Kat Tournament Trail sponsors include: Cabela’s, Adventure Products EGO Nets, RigRap, B ‘n’ M Poles, Minn Kota, Mercury Marine, Mustad Hooks, Driftmaster Rodholders, Gamma Line, Humminbird Electronics, World Fishing Network (WFN), Rippin’ Lips, Cat River Anchors, Sunsect Sunscreen & Insect Repellent, Humminbird Lakemaster Maps, Digital EFX Wraps, Tentology, Gill Rainwear, CatfishNow Digital Magazine, Whisker Wear Apparel, The Original Clearboard, Extreme Bait Systems, Katfish Clothing, and Excel Boats.
For more information on the championship and other King Kat activities visit their website at www.kingkatusa.com. Anglers can also follow the trail on the Cabela’s King Kat Facebook Page.
