Vicksburg MRM Mega Buc$ Payout is Largest in Tournament Catfishing History
by Ron Presley
Photos courtesy of MRM
All weights from day one were zeroed as 25 qualifying anglers began the day two competition on an even playing field.
The 2024 Bill Dance Mississippi River Monsters (MRM) Mega Buc$ Pro Series Vicksburg catfish tournament was held recently on the Mississippi River. The July 27, and 28, 2024 event attracted a field of 241 anglers representing 92 teams. They were fishing for a total payout of $200,000 and a top prize of $100,000.
Day one anglers were competing for a BIG FISH prize of $2,500 and the right to advance to the second day of competition where a field of 25 anglers would compete for the $100,000 first-place check.
The elimination-style tournament was capped at 100 boats. Teams could consist of up to 3 persons. The winners were determined by the team weighing the heaviest bag of 3 fish (with no over or under limits) on day two. They would earn a check for $100,000 and places 2 through 10 split another $100,000.
The boat check began at 3:00 AM on the Vicksburg Levee with legal fishing time set at 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Weigh-in was held inside the Vicksburg Convention Center. A large crowd of spectators gathered and plenty of big catfish came to the scales.
The heaviest weight on the first day of competition went to Carl Morris Jr and Rob Parson. The well-known team from Ohio brought 3 huge fish to scales weighing 146 pounds to earn top-weight honors and advance to the final day of competition against 24 more of the best catfish anglers in the country including Rob Benningfield and Ricky Eiselt who brought a massive 78-pound blue cat to the scales to take the $2,500 prize for Big Fish.
Of the two days of fishing, Saturday produced the bigger bags. Sunday proved to be much tougher fishing, leaving some anglers with empty livewells. After both days of fishing were complete, 4,036.67 pounds of catfish crossed the scales on Saturday and 1,456 pounds were added on Sunday by the 25 finalist teams.
First Place The top spot at Vicksburg went to Jason and Daryl Masingale and David Coughlin. They qualified for the final day of competition with a weight of 83.19 pounds and 15th place on opening day. They earned the historic $1000,000 first-place check with a weight of 115.85 pounds.
With Daryl working the week of the tournament, Jason made the trip to Vicksburg on Thursday for the captain’s meeting. On Friday he did some more scouting and catching bait.
“I spent Friday trying to catch bait,” revealed Jason. “It was a struggle to catch only 30 skipjack for the two-day tournament. Our third partner, David Coughlin, was able to catch another 35 skipjack which gave us enough bait for the weekend, but we had to be a little conservative with what we had.”
Team Masingale began day one by fishing in 60 to 80 feet of water over sand where they had located some 20- to 30-pound fish while prefishing. After drifting for about an hour without any bites they moved on to plan B.
“Saturday was tough,” recalled Daryl. “After the first few hours without a bite, we went from thoughts of making the cut to hoping to just catch a 3-fish limit.”
“We moved to shallower water,” continued Daryl. “It was about 25 feet deep with a current of about 1 mph. By noon we had put three fish in the boat, but nothing bigger than 15 pounds. We knew we needed to find bigger fish to make the cut. We moved to find some 35- to 40-foot water with a few pieces of wood structure where we caught a 43-pound blue and a 25-pound blue to give us the 83 pounds that we weighed to qualify.”
There were stories on the grapevine of several teams that had quit fishing at 9 AM on the first day because they had the fish they wanted to qualify and didn’t want to burn their spots out. Team Masingale knew they were up against some stiff competition on day two.
“Several of the top teams had really good weights and were smart in saving their spots by not fishing them the whole day Saturday,” suggested Jason. “Several said they fished their primary location just a short hour or two. That was impressive given the first day weights. With all this information we felt it was safe to say 150 pounds is what it would take to even be in the conversation of a top-three finish on the final day.”
Jason, Daryl, and David began Sunday in about 30 feet of water where they ended the day before. They spent about half the day on the wood but only boated one fish. During that time they discussed the falling river conditions and the effect it might have on the fish.
The weather on day two was similar to day one. It started with overcast skies, but the wind had switched to the southwest, a more preferred wind direction in the Masingale’s mind. They continued their strategy of fishing slower current in the 30- to 50-foot deep range.
“We started our day 2 at the spot where we caught our big fish the day before,” clarified Daryl. “It was the same song second verse. The fish had moved and we didn’t catch a fish. We were quickly back on the move. In short, we just went fishing with no exact plan as we discussed the falling river levels and where the fish might be.”
“Our next spot was back on the anchor in 20 feet of water that dropped to about 50 feet,” explained Jason. “It was a slow grind for the second half of the day. We had two solid fish and a 14-pounder. With 100% certainty, we thought that was nowhere near a winning weight but at least a respectable weight.”
“Our 4th fish weighed 52 pounds,” noted Daryl. “At that point, we had a little hope that we had a chance to win. We just needed another 40-plus pound fish to feel confident. Unfortunately, that was the last fish we caught. We headed to the weigh-in line with 115 pounds not feeling we had a chance to win. But we had hopes of possibly pulling out a top 10 finish.”
The top 25 was absolutely stacked with heavy hitters from all across the country. The chances of 115 pounds making the top 10 was a far stretch in the minds of Team Masingale as they walked back to the Vicksburg Convention Center after weighing and parking the boat. But it was quickly apparent that the fish had moved on everyone and the weights were considerably less than the day before.
“With help from the Lord above, we were able to pick up a three-fish limit for 115 pounds,” offered Jason. “In no way did we think that weight would hold up against the absolute best fisherman in the country!”
“We are still in a little shock,” concluded Daryl. “Even though we felt we had a chance to win, we never really thought it would actually happen! We are humbled to sneak out this win against a stacked field of great anglers. Thank you to everyone for all the congratulations and kind comments.”
“Thank you to the city of Vicksburg for hosting an unbelievable tournament,” concluded Jason. “Thank you to George Young Jr and crew for all their hard work. Finally, we could not have done it without the best equipment available. Thanks SeaArk Boats, Monster Rod Holders, Tangling with Catfish fishing rods, Team Catfish hooks, and Chiller Bait Tanks.”
Big Fish
The Big Fish contest was a one-day competition only. It was part of the qualifying on the first day of the tournament. It had no bearing on the 100,000 prize as all 25 qualifying anglers would begin the second day with a weight of zero. The $2,500 cash award for Big Fish went to Rob Benningfield and Ricky Eiselt from Kentucky. They advanced to the finals based on their 5th-place weight of 117.52 pounds on Saturday to add $6,000 to their payday.
Benningfield and Eiselt are certainly no strangers to tournament catfishing. Even though they had never fished this particular stretch of river out of Vicksburg they used their skills to win Big Fish and place 7th in the overall competition.
“What an awesome week of catfishing,” reported Eiselt following the tournament. “This year we fished down river and last year we went up. So we were not familiar with the water since we had never fished it before.”
They caught bait on Tuesday after work before making the long 9-hour drive to Vicksburg. The team found 2 areas where they wanted to begin the tournament. They started with confidence knowing that they had caught 70-plus fish in the area on two previous days.
“I have complete confidence in our team,” offered Eiselt as he emphasized the importance of pre-planning. “Rob is amazing in his ability to study maps and find great areas to fish. We were very optimistic, but at the same time, we knew those fish we found could be gone come tournament day. We had lines down for about 30 minutes on day one and marked several fish but only got 2 bites.”
After a few more unsuccessful passes they decided to move on to plan B. They caught 4 fish quickly including the 78.52 pound blue that would win Big Fish. With a weight that they expected would get them into the finals they left their preferred areas and spent the next 4 hours scouting.
The big fish was caught in an area with a water depth of 90 feet rising to 60 feet. The current was running at about 1.5 mph. Eiselt and Benningfield were walking baits using cut skipjack for bait. The big fish bit on a huge skipjack head.
“I knew the fish was solid when I set the hook,” explained Eiselt. “The real fight took place once he was directly under the boat. I would pull him up off the bottom and he would dive back down and take 30 feet of line. He did this 3 times before I got him landed. I was a nervous wreck knowing how important it was to land him.”
“The 100-boat field was stacked with the best catfishermen from around the country,” noted Eiselt. “We are very thankful and fortunate to have salvaged day two, cashed a top 10 check, and won Big Fish.”
Second Place
Team Extreme consisted of Chris DeBow and Vic Shepherd from Ohio, and Marc Cooper from Tennessee. Fishing from DeBow’s boat they teamed up to weigh 98.61 pounds on day one to qualify and then responded with 106.64 pounds on day two to earn the 2nd place check of $25,000.
In an interesting backstory, Marc Cooper (TopKnoxFishing) was sitting in an ER hooked up to oxygen and an EKG machine just 2 weeks earlier. He was suffering from CO2 poisoning from dry ice exposure. Then on Sunday, July 28, 2024, he joined DeBow and Shepard on the MRM stage to receive 2nd place honors in the biggest catfish tournament payout ever.
“God is good,” stated Cooper. “Chris DeBow and Vic Shepherd prefished hard while I got us the best bait possible for game day. Prefishing was insanely tough, but the plan came together when it mattered.”
“I am relatively new to the big tournament scene,” continued Cooper. “But George Young Jr ran a seamless show. It was professional, well well-organized, and there was a massive crowd at the weigh-in. George and his team are doing big things for the world of catfish fishing and are showing that it truly does have the propensity to be as large as bass fishing.”
Cooper added thank yous to Catch The Fever, Okuma Fishing USA, Hooker’s Terminal Tackle, and Alpha Boardz for their support.
Third Place
Dusty Tholl, Jenny Tholl, and Colton Brunger put the right strategy together to claim 3rd place honors at MRM Vicksburg. They weighed 81.42 pounds on Saturday to qualify and then brought the 3rd place weight of 104.12 pounds to the scales on Sunday to earn a check for $15,000.
Their plan included prefishing to develop patterns and catch bait. You might say their final strategy was unexpected. They reported the fishing to be tough, but they were able to stock up on bait as they usually do. Then they put together a game plan that they were comfortable with.
“Colton jumped in the boat on Wednesday,” recalled Jenny. “We were just trying to get him on a good fish without messing with our tournament spot. While pulling boards we put a 90-pound stringer in the boat pretty quick and realized we might be on to something.”
They weren’t wrong and pulling baits turned out to be a winning strategy. Even though bumping their first spot on Saturday didn’t produce, they moved south and pulled boards to find the fish that moved them to day two including a personal best for Brunger.
“The first fish in the boat was 62 pounds,” reported Brunger. “We had multiple huge takedowns and Dusty lost a good one. We were skeptical that we would make it to day two, but we ended up coming in 17th.”
The team went straight to pulling boards on Sunday and it paid off.
“We drug baits all day and caught tons of fish on day two,” Brunger said. “The first fish in the boat was around the 50-pound mark. We kept after it and had a pretty good stringer by 11. We caught about 10 fish on the way to our 3rd place finish.”
“I was so glad that our Parks Planer boards are always in the boat,” added Jenny. “Now we need to stock up on Draggin Master weights because we were a little short on weights. We gave those SlimeCat Rods a workout this week!”
The team concluded by thanking Parks Enterprise, SmackDown Catfishing, Tackle Bandit, Dirty South Dragging Weights, Battle Katz Rigz, and Iceland Coolers for their support.
Final Thoughts
The Mega Buc$ Pro Series event at Vicksburg was well accepted and praised by the anglers, spectators, and sponsors. Everything from the huge payout to music, strobe lights, and product giveaways created a festive atmosphere in the Vicksburg Convention Center.
Ricky Eiselt, who won the Big Fish honors with Rob Benningfield, said in a Facebook post, “Big thanks to the city of Vicksburg, George Young Jr, and his team for making this event possible. I loved the improvements made to the weight-in. Keeping the boats on the water and releasing teams in flights to the convention center to weigh was crucial to the fish’s health. Looking forward to next year!”
“What a monumental day for the sport of catfishing,” said weighmaster Chris Ramsey following the tournament. “The City of Vicksburg and its citizens showed up and packed the Convention Center for both days of fishing. Being able to share a moment in history with the best anglers in the country was very special.”
“Of all the events I’ve been a part of, this event has taken the top spot,” concluded Ramsey. “I want to say thanks to Alex Nagy for taking time out of his busy schedule to help put on a fantastic show. Lastly, congratulations to the winners and all the anglers for showing the country what the sport of catfishing is all about.”
Overall the Vicksburg Mega Buc$ event was a huge success. The Mighty Mississippi is always a challenge to anglers and there was a lot of enthusiasm about the big money and the level of competition. The drive-thru weigh-in with all the bells and whistles added a final professional touch to the event.
For more photos from Vicksburg and information on all the Mississippi River Monster events follow them on Facebook or check out their website.