Bradley Lail and Brandon Masters Claim Win on Watts Bar
by Ron Presley
Photo Credit: King Kat
An unexpected tourney entry resulted in a great day of fishing, a return to the water for one angler, and a tournament win for team Jacked Cats.
The King Cat Tournament crew traveled to Kingston, TN where anglers competed on Watts Bar Lake in what turned out to be unfavorable weather and a tough bite for most.
A cold front rolled through the area bringing high winds and cold temperatures. Anglers were greeted with temperatures in the low 50s and NNW winds that reached gusts as high as 17 mph.
The March 23, 2024 event, presented by Bass Pro Shops and Cabella’s was hosted by the Roane County Visitor’s Bureau. The catfish tournament attracted 49 teams representing more than 100 anglers from 10 different states to test their catfishing skills.
When the weigh-in was complete at Ladd Delaney Park & Greenway in Kingston, TN a pair of unlikely participants emerged on top.
First Place and Second Big Fish 
The top spot at Watts Bar Lake went to Brandon Masters and Bradley Lail. They teamed up to bring 84.47 pounds to the scales to claim first place. Their big fish weighed 36.71 pounds and was recorded as the 2nd place Big Fish of the tournament. First Place and Second Big Fish earned Team Jacked Cats a check for $7,500.
Had it not been for a decision to change their weekend fishing plans they would never have been fishing the event in Kingston. Masters, owner of Watts Bar Bait Company had been out of action after undergoing surgery several weeks earlier.
“Given the weather forecast, Brandon and I had planned on fishing together Sunday,” revealed Lail, owner of Guntersville Bait Company. “Brandon just had back surgery six weeks earlier and he wanted to get back into the groove.”
Plans were made for the long-time friends to fish on Nickajack Lake on Sunday, just to get on the water and have some fun. Their plans to fish Sunday were soon to change when Masters noticed the King Kat tourney was on Watts Bar on Saturday.
“Brandon called and said King Kat was at Watts and he wanted to enter,” explained Lail. “I love the King Kat crew so I said let’s do it bud, I’m on my way. I came off the water from bait fishing and drove up. It was perfect timing even though we were originally just looking to get Brandon out of the house.”
Masters was Lail’s first partner when Lail started catfishing four years ago. Their schedules didn’t match up in 2023 so they weren’t able to fish together. So the King Kat event on Watts Bar was their return to tournament fishing under their old team name, “Jacked Cats”.
“We are just two big guys fishing for catfish,” joked Lail. “We both used to be in really good shape. Hence the name Jacked Cats.”
The last-minute decision to fish the tournament didn’t allow the team to prefish. They relied on their electronics to find some fish on tournament day.
“We fished for about three hours and didn’t boat a fish,” reported Lail. “We found fish in a couple of spots but no hookups. So we changed it up and went scanning for fish. We found a ton of fish on a wind-blown flat and began dragging baits.”
Not only did they find the fish, the fish were willing to bite. From about 9:00 am to 2:30 pm, Team Jacked Cats boated around 20 fish.
“The bite was amazing,” Lail said. “We drug skipjack using Dirty South Dragging Weights behind Spread Em Planer Boards. I was a little surprised at weigh-in by the absence of 40-plus pound fish. I thought that Lake would at least produce one or two of them in the weigh-in line. I thought 95 pounds would win but I didn’t think the big fish would be 37 pounds.”
“I would like to thank God and my family for the opportunity,” concluded Lail. “More than anything, I’m just loving the story I came up to spend time with Brandon and get him out of a funk, and we ended up winning. We had no intention of competing and boom there we are. Really cool!”
Team Jacked Cats also thanked Monster Rod Holders, Dirty South Dragging Weights, Trophy Cat Tackle, Spread Em Planer Boards, River Rats Reel Repair, and Dry Creek Marine.
Second Place and Big Fish 
The runner-up spot went to Ray Ferguson and Melissa Goldston. They teamed up to bring a total weight of 79.29 pounds to the scales to earn the 2nd place check of $3,000. 
They add Big Fish of the tournament at 37.75 pounds to boost their earnings to $4,000.
Third Place 
Vince Nadosky and Sean Ison claimed 3rd place honors with a total weight of 71.16 pounds.
Fourth Place 
Damian Clark and Jeremiah Keen teamed up to bring 67.06 pounds to the scales and earn the 4th place check.
Fifth Place 
The 5th place check was earned by David Weil, Jared Ray, and Kyle Houghtelin. The three-man team brought in a total weight of 66.42 pounds to claim their spot on the leaderboard.
For more information and photos visit the King Kat website or follow them on Facebook.
