Rock Bottom River Series Win Goes to Mike and Kassi Kuehl, and Dan Dipple
by Ron Presley,
Photos courtesy of Rock Bottom River Series
This startup catfish tournament trail began with the idea of offering a channel cat only tournament that was run honestly and fairly.
The Rock Bottom River Series is a channel cat only, Mississippi River tournament trail. A husband/wife team started the series with the simple notion of offering a catfish tournament that would be run honestly and fairly.
The idea arose when Nathan Jones and a buddy, Scott Pauly, fished a couple of tournaments and were not completely happy with how the tournaments operated. They took notes on issues that would come up and brainstormed ideas to use in a startup tournament. They noted that transparency of funds was a big issue and how the scales were run during the weigh-ins was another issue that they wanted to improve upon.
“My experience with some other tournaments left me unhappy,” confirmed Nathan. “That led me and my wife, Chelsea, to start the Rock Bottom River Series. We wanted to offer channel cat only tournaments that were fairly and honestly run. We decided to have no lakes in the schedule, just run tournaments up and down the Mississippi River with each tournament in a different pool.”
Nathan and Scott Pauly fish as a team in the tournaments but stay clear of official onsite duties. Tournament day finds their wives, Chelsea Jones and Vikki Pauly managing registration, handling the money, updating the scoreboard, and conducting the weigh-ins.
With the help of some friends, Nathan and Chelsea successfully launched the new catfish series in 2024 with a schedule that included several pools of the Mississippi River.
The channel cat only tournaments began on Pool 13 at Bellevue, Iowa. They followed that with a scheduled tournament in Pool 14 at Rock Creek that was canceled due to extremely high water. Next was a July tournament in Pool 12 at Schmidt Harbor. They held the most recent event on Pool 11 ramping out of Mudlake at Dubuque, Iowa.
When the weigh-in was complete on Pool 11, 13 of the 18 boats weighed a 5-fish limit and only one boat was skunked. A weight of more than 50 pounds was needed to claim the win.
First Place and Big Fish 
The top spot at Mudlake went to Mike and Kassi Kuehl, and Dan Dipple. They teamed up to bring a total weight of 52.13 pounds to the scales to claim 1st place. Their 5-fish limit included a 13.01-pound channel to add Big Fish honors to their day’s accomplishments.
The team had some familiarity with the area but no fixed strategy going into tournament day. They had the rods tied with Carolina rigs and planned to fish from the rope. It required several moves during the day to finally find the winning fish in about 12 feet of water.
“We have only fished the Mudlake area twice in the past 2 years,” reported Mike. “We approached the tournament just like any other — just go fish and see what happens.”
The day started slow for the team from Lyndon Illinois. The first 2 spots resulted in no fish. They moved to their 3rd spot and Kassi put them on the board with a 13-pound plus channel cat. It was the only fish they caught from that spot.
“We made another move,” explained Mike. “We ran upriver where we anchored up in the new spot. We missed a couple of good bites and then landed back-to-back 12-pound channels. We continued fishing the area and caught our 5-fish limit.”
The team had one hour left to fish and a limit in the boat when they pulled into their last spot. They landed around 15 more channels and upgraded a couple of fish for their final weight.
“We ended the tournament with 52 pounds on 5 channel cats,” concluded Mike. “It was good enough for 1st place and Big Fish of 13 pounds. The directors run a great little tournament.”
Second Place 
The runner-up spot went to Terry McKenna and Ray Sanders. They weighed a 5-fish limit of 47.08 pounds with their largest pulling the scales to 11.10 pounds.
Third Place 
Third place went to Kevin and Ben Niemer with a weight of 37.12 pounds. They also had a 5-fish limit. Their biggest channel weighed in at 8.06 pounds.
Final Thoughts
The Rock Bottom Series has gotten off to a respectable start. Like many other trails across the county, a small core of anglers have responded to their offering and support their efforts. Emphasizing fairness and openness is a great start and is likely to attract more anglers in the future.
“We wanted to see how the first year would go,” said Nathan. “We were interested in how many people would show up and if the teams who had entered were enjoying the tournament. The highlights of the year would be meeting a lot of other teams and people who enjoy catfishing as much as we do!”
Although Nathan has never caught a blue catfish it is on his bucket list. That dream won’t however, influence the organization of Rock Bottom River Series. Current plans include keeping the channel cat only format. They are looking at the possibility of starting a points race next year, adding a little more fun to the competition.
“Fishing catfish tournaments create relationships with people you would normally never meet,” explained Nathan. “I have even had some of the anglers offer to help me mark that blue cat off my bucket list. The people who enter our tournaments are really great. All are extremely nice and polite and willing to help one another out. No giant secrets are exchanged, but I think it is completely amazing how nice and willing people are to help each other in the catfishing community.”
A start-up catfish tournament is a labor-intensive undertaking. The success cannot be measured until the first year has been complete. With just one event left on the schedule for 2024, a personal review of the year points generally to success and thoughts of the future.
“We’d love to host around 40 boats,” projected Chelsea. “But we never expected that our first year. We had 16 boats in the first tournament and had to cancel the second because of flooding. The third tournament was a little better with 17 teams and the most recent event had 19. That’s small growth but one extra boat each time is great in my opinion. We are hoping for an awesome turnout for the last tournament this year.”
Another feature of the trail is a sponsorship donation drawing. A donated prize of around $150 cash or a donated gift of lesser value is distributed to a lucky winner. Nathan and Scott are not included in the drawing to eliminate any look of impropriety.
“This being our first year, we didn’t go out and get many sponsors,” concluded Nathan. “Next year we plan to line up more. Finally, I want to thank Scott and Vikki Pauly for all the support they have given us this year and all the anglers who have fished with us.”
The next stop on the Rock Bottom Series tour will be held on Pool 10 and Nobles Island on September 7. Following that they have teamed up with MudbuM for a tournament in Pool 9 on September 14, 2024.
For more information on the Rock Bottom Catfish Series follow them on Facebook. Interested sponsors can contact the organizers through the Facebook page.
