by Ron Presley
Solo lady catfisher wins club tournament.
Michelle Phillips is a 45-year-old self-proclaimed country girl. She lives in Southside, WV, loves the outdoors and catfishing. She fishes locally in the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers.
“I’ve fished my entire life with family and friends,” revealed Michelle. “I got serious about catfishing and fished my first tournament in 2014. It was with the Kanawha River Catfish Club. In that first tournament I tied for 4th place out of 24 boats at the Buffalo Tournament.”
“Then in the next couple of years, I fished in a few benefit tournaments. I have started back fishing the Kanawha River Catfish Club this year and planning to fish every one of the10 tournaments scheduled. I am also hoping to fish a few other local catfish tournaments.”
It was Friday, April 12, 2019, when Michelle decided to fish a tournament that was taking place the very next day at Point Pleasant, WV. It was another Kanawha River Catfish Club event. Her husband and regular fishing partner, Robert, had already made plans to fish this same tournament with a friend.
“I could not find a partner that quickly,” recalled Michelle. “I was left to fish by myself. Fishing solo put me at an immediate disadvantage because of WV state fishing regulations.”
State regulations allow only 1 flathead over 35 inches and 2 blue cats over 24 inches per person. That meant that teams with two members could catch and weigh 2 flatheads and 4 blue cats as overs. She knew that she would have quite a burden to overcome but that didn’t discourage her from fishing.
“I did not get to prefish for this tournament,” stated Michelle. “And what live bait I had died after my bait tank pump quit working.”
Nevertheless, Michelle took to the water in her G3 Guide 170 with a 50 HP Yamaha engine to compete against 69 other anglers in 33 boats. She drew boat number 17 for blast off which turned out to be the beginning of an unforgettable adventure.
“It took me one hour to get to the first spot I wanted to fish,” noted Michelle. “All the other boats had passed me by and were fishing in my other spots. Then the work began. Since I was by myself it took a lot of work throwing the anchor and getting the boat set up perfectly on my waypoints. I had to go through this same procedure at every spot I decided to fish.”
Her strategy included not using the trolling motor because she wanted to save the battery to run the livewell pump if she caught a fish. She went through the same setup procedure at several spots which held the same structure but had different depths of water. All she got were channel cat bites.
“I knew I had to try something different,” said Michelle. “On the way to find my next spot my Humminbird Helix 10 Mega SI had issues. I threw out the anchor and tried to fix it. Forty-five minutes later it was working again.”
She made her way to the next spot she wanted to fish. Same procedure again. Anchored the boat, deployed the drift sock, and baited up with fresh cut skipjack. Her outfit included Big Cat Fever rods and Okuma CV20L reel spooled with 40-pound green Trilene Big Game line. Her terminal tackle began with a barrel swivel, sinker slide, a bead, 5-ounce bank sinker, and Team Catfish double action 9/0 hooks.
“By this time, it was little after 1 o’clock,” noted Michelle. “I had to be back for weigh-in by 3 o’clock. I sat there peacefully, just hoping I would catch a fish and beat my husband. Then I had a rod get a bite. I reeled down to set the hook but it didn’t load up so I put it back in the rod holder. I left it alone hoping the fish would bite again.”
She was disappointed that she had missed that fish, but the disappointment did not last long as a different rod got bit.
“I reeled down and was hooked up,” said Michelle. “The fish was peeling line off my reel. I finally got the fish turned around and headed back towards the G3. The fish dove to the bottom and I could not budge it. I thought great, now I’ve lost 2 fish and running out of time.”
“I gave the fish slack and set the rod back in the rod holder. Then the fish took off swimming. I grabbed the rod and fought the fish for around 10 minutes. It got so tangled in my other lines that I had to reach over and free spool one of my reels. Finally, after 2 attempts I got the fish in the boat.”
Michelle just had time to remove the hook and get the cat out of the net when she saw the first rod moving where she thought she lost a fish earlier.
“I looked up and the rod that had the bite earlier had a fish swimming off with it. I landed it and now had 2 big legal fish in the boat. All I was hoping for now was to beat my husband and our friend that he was fishing with. I got the fish in livewell and cleaned up all the tangled lines and headed back to the launch for weigh-in.”
“I got to the scales and everyone was excited when they saw my fish,” continued Michelle. “I was the last boat to weigh-in and everyone was saying that I had won. But no one knew for sure.”
The awards were given to the 5th, 4th, 3rd, and 2nd place teams. Michelle waited to hear who was number one. Then the announcement came. The first-place winner was Michelle Phillips. It was the first time ever that a solo team had won a club tournament. And, she was the first female to win any club tournament and have big fish.
“I was in shock, surprised, and excited,” recalled Michelle. “I couldn’t believe I had just got first place, had big fish, and beat my husband. And I did it all by myself. I cried with about every emotion there is running through me at the same time as everyone was hugging me and congratulating me.”
“I’m still getting messages and thousands of comments,” joked Michelle. “I couldn’t get anyone to fish the tournament with me and now I have everyone wanting to fish with me.”
It is a true passion that Michelle has for catfishing. One of her catfishing friends, Chris Souders, describes her as “a very determined lady with a great work ethic and a never give up attitude.”
“She asks questions and is like a sponge that soaks up every bit of information your willing to give,” says Souders. “But most importantly she is a kind woman with a good heart and great attitude. She is enthusiastic about catfishing—not only learning more herself, but also teaching and helping others where she can.”
“I encourage everyone out there not to get discouraged,” concluded Michelle. “Never give up, don’t be afraid to try new things, have fun, try to learn as much as you can and always try to keep the fish in best shape as possible.”
