George Young Jr and Tim Spencer win The Catmasters
Bag includes Big Fish at Helena-West Helena Tournament.
Anglers fishing the two-day Catmasters tournament at Helena-West Helena found plenty of fish on the mighty Mississippi River. The area is well-known as a big fish destination and it did not disappoint.
The 103 teams representing 240 anglers weighed in a total of 5227.86 pounds on opening day. Each team was allowed to weigh 3 fish.
The City of Helena, led by Mayor Kevin Smith, hosted the event that was strongly supported by industry leaders like SeaArk Boats, B’n’M Poles, and more.
At the end of day one, Roy Harkness, Don Sweat, and Bill Dance held the lead in total weight and big fish. They teamed up to bring 119.24 pounds to the scales and their bag included Big Fish on day one at 63.99 pounds.
Following close behind were Rob Benningfield and Jason Reynolds with 118.67 pounds, Ray Ferguson with Lonnie and Donnie Fountain at 115.64 pounds, and John Berglund and Eddie Henney at 114.66 pounds.
With less than 20 pounds separating the top 11 teams, day two was destined to be a shootout with many anglers within striking distance of the leaders. The CatMasters’ James Milton and Ty Lee Nall carried out stage duties while Chris and Cory Ramsey joined them in handling and weighing the fish on the final day.
First Place and Big Fish
After two days of competitive fishing, the top spot went to George Young Jr and Tim Spencer. They teamed up to bring 103.64 pounds on day one and added a whopping 119.80 pounds on Saturday for a two-day total of 223.44 pounds and the first-place prize of $15,000.
The team prefished on Thursday preceding the tournament and found fish to set their strategy. They checked them out by dropping bait with no hooks.
“We only looked for fish on Thursday,” reported Young. “We found what we were looking for. We tested the waters with zip-tied baits, no hooks! That’s the biggest tip I can give to a tournament angler.”
“Do not catch your fish before the tournament,” joked Young. “They pay better on tournament day.”
The team fished sand and mud in the 30 to 70 feet range. They were bumping in 2 mph current. The fish they found were continuously moving and they had to relocate them. They reported catching close to 100 fish in the 2 days of fishing. At least 30 of those fish weighed more than 30 pounds.
“We were wore smooth wore out,” admitted Young. “On day 1 we caught our 2 big fish by 8:30 AM. “They were 40 and a 48 pounds. We decided to leave them alone for day 2.”
So the remainder of day one was in search of good unders which turned out to be a challenge because most of what they caught was over 34 inches. They worked hard and finally managed a perfect 20-pound under that measured 33 1/2 inches to end day one.
“On day 2 we went straight to our big fish,” explained Young. “But all we could manage were 30 pounders and there were a lot of them. We kept moving until we located our bigger fish and the culling started around noon.”
By 1 o’clock the team had culled up to a 38- and 65-pound fish for the two overs. They also had a nice under weighing 18 pounds.”
“I’d like to thank my partner Tim Spencer,” offered Young. “He can flat out fish in the boat and we’re pretty much on the same page when it comes to fishing the Mississippi.”
“I’d like to thank my sponsors,” added Young. “B’n’M Rods, Garmin, Bass Pro Shops, RigRap, Driftmaster Rod Holders, Millennium Marine, Bill Dance Outdoors, and Boga Grip all support what I do.”
“And finally, a special thanks to Steve Henderson of SeaArk Boats,” concluded Young. “The Dynasty is a great boat. Also, I’d like to thank my bait man George Culvar, Kevin Smith the mayor of Helena for getting behind catfishing, and The CatMasters crew for putting on a great event.”
Second Place
The runner-up spot went to Les Thompson Jr. (Nooner Hall), Trenton Thompson, and Les Thompson fishing under the team name of Team Dewitt. They brought a two-day total of 202.58 pounds to the scales to earn 2nd place.
Team Dewitt had fished the Cabela’s King Kat Tournament last week as part of prefishing for The Catmasters. Then they prefished on Thursday and found some other spots that were holding fish.
“We started Friday bumping sand in 35-45 feet of water,” reported Nooner. We caught 17 fish on Friday and most of them were 30-33 pounds. We did have a good fish get off that we believe would have improved our weight.”
The team then moved with the hope of improving their day-one weight. They were successful, but only by improving some unders.
“Saturday we planned to start where we fished Friday morning,” recalled Nooner. “We thought we could catch the 75-80 pounds there pretty quickly and then have the rest of the day to improve our weight.”
Their day-two strategy did not work as they planned. After a couple of drifts, they never got a bite. They speculated that the rising river caused the fish to move and they changed their strategy from bumping to anchor fishing.
“We found some fish on a ledge below a dike in 45-50 feet of water,” explained Nooner. “We anchored above them and in 20 minutes had caught our 2 overs. We had a nice under as well so we decided to quit fishing at 1:00 PM and go weigh the fish.”
Team Dewitt immediately climbed to the top of the leader board and remained there most of the day until they were bumped down to second by the Mississippi Monsters team.
“Helena!! What a great place to fish,” added Nooner. “Last year was our first time fishing this stretch of the river. We caught a lot of fish but fell short of the winning weight. There were a lot of great fishermen that had more weight on Friday so Saturday was a nail-biter.”
“We would like to thank our sponsors for all they do for us,” offered Nooner. They include The DeWitt Company, T Force Worldwide, Tomlin Trucking, Smackdown Catfishing, Drury Hotels, MulTbar Rod Rack, Grizzly Jig, Big River Cats, and Reel Em Up Planner Boards. We would also like to thank Jr. Hall for catching us fresh skipjack on Thursday while we prefished.”
“Finally, We would like to thank the CatMasters for putting on a great tournament and to the city of Helena for all they do for us anglers.”
Third Place
Casey Tutorow and Nick Han fished under the Team Indy name to bring a two-day total weight of 201.51 pounds to claim the 3rd place spot.
Tutorow and Han were unable to make it to Helena to prefish so Tutorow relied on what he learned last year when he and Nick’s brother, Andy Han, won the 2020 event.
“We showed up on tournament day with the knowledge from last year,” reported Tutorow. “We fished in the Helena area. We were bumping in water that ranged anywhere from 40 to 90 feet deep.”
“It was a morning bite on day one and we put around 7 fish in the boat,” continued Tutorow. “The bite changed to the afternoon on day two and we put about the same number of fish in the boat.”
Tutorow and Han had the same problem as others in catching good unders.
“We were fighting with 33 to 35-inch fish constantly,” added Tutorow. “But both days we ended up with a 16-pound, 33.5 inch under. We threw back a few 34 1/16th inch fish that would have given us several more pounds. When it is that close, I will always error on side of caution.”
“I want to thank our sponsors, SeaArk Boats, B & R Marine, Monster Rod Holders, and Spread Em Planer Boards,” concluded Tutorow.
The Remaining Top Ten
4th Jeff Dodd and Jon Warden – 200.74
5th Roy Harkness, Don Sweat, and Bill Dance – 198.51
6th Joe, Chase, and Blake Stringer – 105.22
7th Ray Ferguson, Donnie, and Lonnie Fountain – 195.14
8th Cody Loveall and Justin Claar – 193.38
9th Cody Forshee and Billy Elrod – 190.32
10th Rob Benningfield and Jason Reynolds – 189.18
Top Finishing Youth
The Top Finishing Youth Award went to Cassidy Tholl. She was fishing with her dad and mom, Dusty and Jenny Tholl. They fished under the team name of Cattywampus and finished 20th with 158.06 pounds.
Top Finishing Female
Cam Polywog Pitts fished with Brian BoneCollector Mayo and Derwood Mauldin to finish 17th overall and claim the Top Finishing Female Award. She suggested that it was teamwork that made the difference.
“The three of us have never fished together before,” revealed Pitts in a Facebook post. “It only took a few hours on day 1 and we had a system. I can’t even describe how it feels to win that. I am so thankful to the Lord, and my teammates. This was a hard-won award. I was up against some very tough ladies.”
Pitts concluded by thanking the team sponsors that include Prototype Lures, B’n’M Poles, Pipeline Tackle, Ancient Mariner Reels, Hookers Terminal Tackle, Anglers Showcase, Dales Tackle, and VIP Activewear with Morgan Mayo Jones.
Top Finishing Veteran
The Top Finishing Veteran Award, presented by Heroes Outdoor Therapy, went to Navy Vet Joe Stringer on the Stringer Guide Service Team. His big fish weighed 58 pounds. The team finished in 6th place with a two-day total of 195.22 pounds.
Epilogue
In addition to the spectators in attendance, many more fans were able to follow the event on a multi-camera live feed that documented the event. This was also the first tournament that required all boats to have oxygen tanks. The results were obvious at weigh-in as the fish came out of those livewell in a fighting mood. Following the weigh-in, all fish were returned to the river with the help of local volunteers.
“I want to send a big thank you to the Helena Police and Fire Department,” said Bryan St Ama, Owner/President of the Catmasters Tournament Trail. “They kept the boats organized starting at 3:30 am to 4:30 pm and gave rides by ATV from the parking lot to the ramp. Without their help, it would have been an extremely difficult situation. Finally, a special thanks to Mayor Kevin Smith for his continued support of the catfish community.”
When all was said and done, the 103 teams competing in the Catmasters at Helena-West Helena on the Mississippi River weighed in more than 9,000 pounds of catfish.
The Catmasters next event will be in Kansas at Milford Reservoir on October 22-23, 2021. Follow the Catmasters on Facebook or visit them on their website.
