Team Wonder Boys, Jeff and Brian Wonders, Win
The CatMasters at Milford Lake
Milford Lake gave up more than 3,321 pounds of catfish to 207 anglers.
Hosted by Geary County Convention & Visitors Bureau, 207 anglers on 93 teams from several different states traveled to Junction City, KS to compete in the Milford Lake event. The lake has a 25- to 40-inch slot, so no more than 2 fish over 40 inches were allowed with 2 anglers in the boat.
The 5-fish tournament was part of the ACA Tournament Alliance so competing anglers earned an opportunity to win a 2021 SeaArk Protégé boat, powered by a 200hp Suzuki Engine, on a Deluxe Marine Master trailer.
Day one was characterized by mild weather with light winds, clear skies, and comfortable fishing. An overnight cold front changed all that for the second day of competition. As weigh-in time approached the air temperatures were in the 60s and the wind was blowing from the east at around 13 miles per hour under cloudy skies. It was totally different fishing conditions from day one.
Team Wonder Boys (Jeff and Brian Wonders) weighed 91.92 pounds to take the day one lead. They also had Big Fish on day one with a 47.70-pound blue cat. Team Smith (Josh Smith and Brandon Kennedy) were close behind with 89.56 pounds. Competing anglers brought 1,612.31 pounds to the CatMasters’ scales on day one.
First Place
Jeff and Brian Wonders held on to their day one lead to take the top spot on Milford. Team Wonder Boys brought 155.98 pounds to the scales in two days of tournament fishing to earn the first-place check.
The team traveled to the lake a few days early to develop their strategy. They are both avid anglers and try to fish together when their work schedules don’t interfere. By tournament day they had a plan that included pulling planer boards. They also gathered bait at the lake before the tournament. The team was able to catch both of their 40-inch fish both days pulling Parks Planer Boards.
“The tourney was a hard one for us to fish,” reported Jeff. “I usually move around a lot after not getting any bites. I think the key on Milford was staying in the spot you were marking fish and keep fighting for them.”
Team Wonder Boys chose to fish up north in their first CatMaster tournament. They were targeting water in the 15 to 35 feet range. They used bait that they had caught at the lake and they cut it into big and small pieces to add variety to their presentation.
“The first day we had a southeast wind,” Brian said. “It made for an easy day of getting quality fish. Our bag included a piebald and an all-white blue cat.”
“We were marking fish in a wide range of water depth,” confirmed Jeff. “I think what helped us win was repeating the same exact drift over and over. If we changed just slightly the fish were not hungry for us. We worked hard for them. At times I wanted to go try a new spot but we stuck to our game plan and it really paid off.”
On day two Brian and Jeff headed to the same spot but found a northeast wind blowing. So they started pulling their boards in the opposite direction from day one.
“We did move because the fish moved a bit to the south,” explained Brian. “We did finish one fish short of the limit on day two.”
“We had good fresh bait every day,” said Jeff. “I believe that played a big role in winning. If you are gonna’ win tournaments you need a good bait tank to keep them alive. I’ve been really happy with our Creek Bank tanks.”
“We want to thank Catmasters for coming to Kansas and Milford Lake,” concluded Brian. “It is a great tournament lake. We also want to thank Lund Boats for providing a comfortable, safe, and reliable boat. We stayed dry and never felt unsafe in the wind all week.”
Brian and Jeff also thanked Maci’s Fish and Finds and Parks Planer Boards for providing great tackle for their catfishing. MadKatz Rods and Shimano Tekato Reels also played a role in their win.
“I think it was just our time,” concluded Jeff. “We’ve spent a lot of time learning how the fish react to the weather and it paid off for us finally. You just have to come up with a plan and stick to it. Sooner or later it will pay off!”
Second Place
The runner-up spot went to Bill & Cody’s Excellent Adventure (Cody Forshee and Billy Elrod). They teamed up to bring 128.89 pounds to the scales and claim the second-place finish.
“We decided to skip prefishing, reported Forshee. “The lake had an unusual amount of pressure on it already. Knowing that most, if not all, teams would be focusing on ledges and other specific structures we decided to fish large open flats in 50 or more feet of water. We were hoping the additional fishing pressure on the lake would push some of the fish away from the known ledges that usually produce well.”
The team decided to pull a few very large baits on a couple of their rods in hopes of enticing larger fish and to produce a large scent trail for the small UNDERS to follow because they are so important on Milford.
“The majority of our rods had smaller baits aimed at the UNDERS,” continued Forshee. “We made long drifts, slowing the boat down as much as possible at the end of the drift to allow any fish that had been following our scent trail time to catch up with us.”
“It was inconsistent for sure,” added Elrod. “There were fish everywhere, just not the fish we wanted the whole time. There were lots of slot fish that would have made some good stringers. The first day we thought the fish were on the ledges, but they had moved after the cold front moved in the night before. The second day was random as well. We had all under fish and had lost one that was heavy on the rod before it came loose. Then with 13 minutes left in the tournament, we landed the over we needed to keep us what we thought would be the top five.”
They reported that Demon Dragons from Tackle Bandit and 10/0 Dale’s Tackle circle hooks being pulled on Parks Planer Boards were the key tools to their success.
Third Place and Top Finishing Youth Angler
Josh Smith, Brandon Kennedy, and Cowan Wittman brought home the third-place hardware. They had a two-day total weight of 111.75 pounds to finish in the money. Additionally, Cowan Wittman earned the Top Finishing Youth Angler award sponsored by ROCK CREEK, LLC.
“We fished deep for our overs,” recalled Smith. “We were mainly targeting structure. Pulling Parks Planer Boards was the key in getting our baits out to cover a large swath of ground.”
The team had a couple of baits that worked for them. They used both shad and white bass with success.
“The Milford slot put a hamper on some game plans with the 25- to 40-inch fish protected,” explained Smith. We were able to double up on overs the first day in the morning so we spent the rest of the day upgrading our unders. The second day we were not able to catch any overs, but were able to catch a nice bag of unders to get us 3rd place.”
The team sent a special thank you to Kevin Parks with Parks Planer Boards, Maci’s Fish, and Finds, and Bryan St Ama and the CatMasters crew for all they do.
Big Fish Day One
The Big Fish on Day 1 was brought to the scales by Team Wonder Boys (Jeff and Brian Wonders). Their 47.70-pound blue cat helped them finish in 1st place on day one. The team held on to that lead to take the top spot in the tournament with 155.98 pounds.
Big Fish Day 2 and Overall Big Fish
Big Fish of the tournament was brought in on day two by the team of Gus Jones and Jason Eastwood. The 50.13-pound blue came on day two and helped the team finish 20th in the tournament. The big blue came to the boat in the last hour of the tournament.
Top Finishing Female (By Total Weight)
Stefanie Stanley was fishing with Rob Stanley to earn the Top Finishing Female Angler award. They brought 74.09 pounds to the scales in two days of fishing and finished in 13th place.
Top Veteran Angler (Big Fish)
The Top Veteran Angler award is sponsored by Heroes Outdoor Therapy (HOT). Leslie VanDerau, Founder and President at Heroes Outdoor Therapy was on hand to help with the tournament and congratulate the Top Veteran Angler, Sam Kracht II. He was fishing with Mack Delrosso under the team name Get Bent Catfishing.
Sam served in the Army from 2006-2009 and did one tour in Iraq. The team made an amazing move on day two. After a tough day one, the team climbed from 63rd to finished in 9th place overall with a two-day total weight of 79.92 pounds.
Final Thoughts
The Catmasters continue to focus on producing catfish tournaments that are fun for everyone attending. Anglers are their primary focus but lots of work goes into every aspect of their tournaments including the fans and the sponsors. The CatMasters emphasis on fish care is recognized throughout the catfish community as they develop catfish tournaments for the future.
The CatMasters Executive Tournament Director, Bryan St Ama sent special thanks to Geary County Convention & Visitors Bureau for their support of the tournament and the fans that came out to the weigh-in each day.
“I also want to thank all the anglers,” concluded St Ama. “Our tournaments are nothing without the anglers that come to fish with us. Their display of sportsmanship and professionalism benefits our tournaments as well as the catfish community. It is a pleasure to work with them.”
Catfish fans can check out all the statistics from Milford Lake at American Catfishing Association (ACA) Live Results page by clicking here. For the latest from The CatMasters follow them on Facebook or visit their website.
