King Kat Win Goes to Donnie Fountain, Lonnie Fountain, and Doug McAnally
by Ron Presley
The eventual winners reported catching more than 8,000 pounds of catfish in five days of fishing.
The King Kat event at New Orleans demonstrated what the Louisiana River Parishes has to offer the catfish world. In short, it is some of the best catfish waters in the nation. Anglers found themselves catching and culling 100s of pounds of fish each day as they accumulated their 3-fish limit for each day’s weigh-in.
The September 22-23 event registered 7 boats to fish the southernmost reaches of the Mississippi River. The productivity of the area was so boundless that King Kat records were broken and every team brought in a greater weight on day 2 than they did on day 1. When the 2-day event was complete it required more than 300 pounds to win.
First Place and Second Big Fish
The top spot went to Lonnie and Donnie Fountain and Doug McAnally. Usually, McAnally would be competing against the fountains but he teamed up with them for this event. The team’s Day 1 weight was 168.89 pounds and it included Big Fish of the day at 61.96 pounds. They added 145.17 pounds on day 2 to bring their winning total to 314.06 pounds. The 61.96-pound blue was the 2nd Big Fish of the tourney.
The team found a school of fish that they said stretched for 30 miles and was a half-mile wide. They said bigger fish were hard to get because of the number of thirty- and forty-pound fish they had to go through.
“I never saw anything like it,” noted Donnie Fountain. “It didn’t matter where you fished you caught fish. We had seven fish on at one time two different times and all of them were 35 to 45 pounds. We had to reel in some of the rods just to get a bite and catch an under.”
“We landed 60 to 75 fish each day,” continued Donnie. “Only 4 or 5 of them would be under 30 pounds.
They said it didn’t matter how they fished. They did some spot-locking, drifting, and suspending, and every technique caught fish.
“It didn’t matter how you fished,” confirmed Donnie. “Every way would catch fish. We threw the cast net to catch the local mullet and used our normal skipjack for bait.”
This fishery is the best we have ever been to,” added McAnally. “We have fished waters in more than 10 states and nothing compares to what we experienced this week. It was an all-day bite.”
On the two tournament days, the team caught more than 60 fish a day and accumulated over 2000 pounds of cats each day. On day two alone they caught more than 30 fish that weighed 40 pounds or more.
“King Kat puts on a great tournament,” McAnally said. “Even with only 7 boats at the tournament they paid $4,000 for first place and I think $2,300 for second and third place. They also paid $1,000 for Big Fish and $500 for Second Big Fish. King Kat does this regularly when boat counts are low and I appreciate this trail. They are the best trail out there in my opinion.”
“The city there was amazing,” concluded McAnally. “They were so friendly and nice. At the captain’s meeting, they said they had the title of ‘Catfish Capital of the World’ and after fishing it I might have to agree!”
The team thanked their combined sponsors ANVIL RODS, Dry Creek Marine LLC, Dales Tackle, Driftmaster Rod Holders, Bob Mann’s The Original Two Leader Hooks, River Rat Reel Repair, B-Kat Boards, SmackDown Catfishing, Spread Em Planer Boards, MulTbar Rod Racks, and SIC Outdoors.
Second Place
The runner-up spot went to Ron and Wanda Barner. The husband/wife team from Missouri held down 2nd place after day 1 with 144.80 pounds. On day 2 they brought 147.96 pounds to the scales for a 2-day total of 292.76 pounds in 6 fish.
Admittedly intimidated and knowing very little about fishing the Mississippi River Ron and Wanda began planning for the King Kat event by calling a friend, Brent Riddle. They got some good advice. They asked him about conditions near New Orleans. He explained to them about how the saltwater gets shoved up the Mississippi. He suggested that when an angler starts catching sail cats and sharks they should move north. He also warned them that from a safety standpoint to always be mindful of the many ships, barges, service boats, and tugs.
Armed with Riddle’s advice they made the trip to Louisiana with another goal in mind. They wanted to qualify for the King Kat Sweet Sixteen event for at least one more year.
“We got down there and found the ramp at Norco and launched to pre-fish,” recalled Wanda. “We went upriver and found a river bend that looked like we would be safe and could move quickly if necessary. The best bait as always was skipjack and mullet but we caught fish on everything we put in the water. We tried shad, chicken, prepared carp, and shrimp with success. All I can say is WOW!”
Ron and Wanda took Riddle’s advice not to anchor. They just spot-locked using the trolling motor allowing them to remain mobile.
“We fished everywhere from 40 to 114 feet,” explained Wanda. “We caught fish at every depth. We even went one day without even scanning. We pulled up to a spot and went to fishing just to see if it was a fluke or if you could catch fish anywhere. It wasn’t a fluke. As soon as the sinker hit bottom and Ron put the pole in the holder it went down. It was absolutely crazy!”
The husband/wife team caught so many fish they were worn out. They have a routine where Ron does the baiting and casting and Wanda helps keep the boat in order. She keeps the scales, pliers, net, and other equipment available and reels in the fish. Ron nets them and they both bring them over the side. It was simply tiring to repeat those tasks so many times.
“I can tell you for a fact, this ole gal was whipped,” Wanda said. “We never thought you could get tired of catching 30-, 40- and 50-pound fish, but I’m here to tell you, you can.”
They weighed the first day with 144.8 pounds in 3 fish with a big fish of 51 pounds. They were holding down second place and positioned well for day 2. On the second day, they added 147.96 pounds to finish with 292.76 pounds and second place. Their big fish on day 2 weighed 55 pounds.
“I will tell anybody that if they want to catch fish and lots of fish go to the Louisiana River Parishes and fish the Mississippi River,” concluded Wanda. “King Kat will be returning next year and hopefully the Lord will give us the strength to be there too!”
Third Place
The final boat to finish in the money was the father/son team of Mike Mitchell and Jackson Mitchell with Rick Sexton. They teamed up to bring 142.83 pounds to the scales on day one and added 144.30 on day 2 for a total of 287.13 pounds.
The team showed up in the Parishes on Monday to start prefishing. What was to be an unbelievable week of fishing started off fast. The first place they fished produced a 57-, 47-, 22-, and 15-pound blue in less than 10 minutes.
“We left that area to find more of the same,” reported Mike. “We soon found out that every area we stopped at and every method we tried did the same thing. We anchored, drifted, and bumped. All methods were producing fish in the 40s within just a few minutes of getting bait in the water.”
With only about 30 skipjack they realized they weren’t prepared with bait for a bite like that. They wisely decided to just look around the remainder of the day and mark some new areas.
“The following day we decided to try out luck further North,” Mike explained. “It took us a half day to find a usable ramp due to low water. When we found a ramp we went all the way up to Baton Rouge but didn’t have nearly as good fishing.”
The next day they came back downriver and started focusing more on bait. They were able to find schools of feeding mullets but encountered some adversity when they spun a hub. They were stranded in the middle of the commercial fleet near a grainery.
“We called the Fountains who were fishing with our friend Brian Allen,” Mike said. “They found us a spare prop that Ron and Wanda Barner let us use. We used the trolling motor to get to shore and later installed the prop.”
Fortunately, there was a repair shop about 25 miles downriver. The team was able to drive down and get the hub replaced. They also found a better place to get bait and they netted approximately 25 mullet. They came back upriver and caught probably 1000 pounds of fish in just a few hours that evening.
The next day the team caught another 500 to 800 pounds of fish in new areas. They also netted 32 mullet for the first day of the tournament to add to the 22 skipjacks they still had.
“The first tournament day was super crazy,” confirmed Mike. “We were on so many fish over 40 pounds that we used all the bait but 10 skipjack and weighed in 3 fish at 142.83 pounds. We had to quit fishing 2 hours early due to being low on bait”
That evening they drove the 25 miles downriver to get mullet for day 2. They managed to net 40 mullet and 2 shad that evening.
“The Saturday bite was not quite as fast,” concluded Mike. “We fished the same 100-yard stretch both days hoping to catch enough fish to finally get baits in front of some bigger 50- to 60-pound fish. We went through all of our baits on day 2 and finished with 144.30 pounds in 3 fish.”
They thanked their sponsors, Monster Rod Holders, Big Cat Fever Rod Series, Dry Creek Marine LLC, Slime Line Fishing Line, River Rats Reel Repair, Cumberland Gap Mountain Spring Water, Draggin Master, Southern Cats Guide Service, Boss Kat, and Daniel Foley Spoons.
Big Fish
The Big Fish of the tournament came on day 2 when Kenny Breakfield, Christian Mathis, and Eric Broome brought a 63.16-pound blue to the scales. The big cat beat out the day one Big Fish of 61.46 pounds by 1.7 pounds.
Final Thoughts
The King Kat event hosted by the Louisiana River Parishes was a phenomenal success. The top three teams plus the Big Fish of the tournament recorded a total weight of 957.11 pounds. That is the total weight of 19 fish for an average weight of more than 50 pounds per fish.
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