Twisted Cat Win Goes to Andy Needham, Billy Littleton, & Bobby Littleton
by Ron Presley,
Photos courtesy of Twisted Cat Outdoors by Tom Stolze
The winning team also claimed Big Fish honors with a 75.25-pound blue.
The latest stop for the Twisted Cat Outdoors Fishing Series was Caruthersville, MO. The Saturday, August 19, 2023 event was presented by SeaArk Boats, Grizzly Jig Company, and Big River Cats. The winners were determined by the heaviest 3-fish limit with no over or under limits.
A captains meeting was held Friday, August 18th from 5 to 7 pm at Grizzly Jigs to go over rules, answer questions, and enjoy a little camaraderie before the competition began.
Tournament day began with registration and boat check at 5:00 am. Fishing hours began at 7:00 am with lines in the water and continued until 3:00 pm. Anglers were due in the weigh-in line at Grizzly Jigs by 4:30 pm.
Anglers had their choice of the Triangle Boat Ramp or the Caruthersville downtown ramps for launching and return. It took nearly 140 pounds in three fish to win.
First Place and Big Fish
Andy Needham, Billy Littleton, & Bobby Littleton teamed up to claim the Twisted Cat Outdoors event at Caruthersville, MO. They brought 138.15 pounds to the scales to claim the top spot. Their bag included Big Fish of the tournament at 75.25 pounds.
The team earned the first place check of $5,066 and added the Castaway Customs MWSC Big Fish prize of $500 for a total of $5,566.
The team had a couple of very poor practice days. This experience helped them decide to go fish in some areas where they had caught fish in the past.
“We left Caruthersville and headed toward the New Madrid area,” reported Billy Littleton. “We bumped most of the morning. Bobby caught the first fish. It was probably about a 50-pounder.”
That first fish caused a little more excitement than they needed as Andy had just got hung up and you can almost guess what happened.
“Bobby’s fish wrapped around Andy’s line,” explained Billy. “So we had a fiasco for a few seconds. Andy finally grabbed a pair of scissors and just cut his line so we didn’t lose the fish.”
Andy lost about 300 feet of line but some quick thinking saved a nice fish and the team was on their way to a big tournament win. The team was off to a good start and about an hour later it gets even better as Needham hooks the big fish.
“It turned out to be quite a fight,” recalled Billy. “It took several minutes to land it. We were guessing the fish to be around 70 pounds so we were pretty close to the weight.”
The team managed to catch only 3 more fish during the day. None of the later fish helped with culling as none weighed more than 12 to 14 pounds.
“Even though it was a very slow day of fishing, we were fortunate to get the right size bites,” concluded Billy. “Most of the fish were caught in about 40 feet of water on cut skipjack. We felt like we needed one more 20- to 30-pound fish to have a chance of winning but the river fished very tough and 138 pounds was enough.”
“We would definitely like to think the city of Caruthersville,” added Billy. “Thanks also to Grizzly Jig, the Police Department, whoever took care of the boat ramp had everything mowed in the parking lot and in excellent shape, Denali Rods, and of course the good Lord above!”
Second Place
The runner-up spot went to Joe Hardy and Barry Wilson. They had a total weight of 103.51 pounds and earned a check for $2,534.
Third Place
Third place went to Jeff Dodd and Randy Dodd with a total weight of 99.17 pounds. Team Dodd earned a check for $1,520.
Other Winners
4th Place – Dustin Shepard & Ben Weeks – 98.16 lbs.
5th Place – J.T. Ray & Bonnie Warner – 80.16 lbs.
6th Place – Brad Hoalt & Lacie Sharp – 76.37 lbs.
7th Place – Charlie, Jake, & Julie Weatherspoon – 75.66 lbs.
8th Place – Donald Moore, Donny Moore, & Charles Blair – 59.16 lbs.
Final Thoughts
The Caruthersville, MO event was the 7th of the 2023 season for Twisted Cat Outdoors. It attracted 38 teams representing 92 anglers from several states to battle it out on the Mighty Mississippi.
With 3 tournaments left in the season, qualifying anglers are looking forward to the year-ending, no-entry-fee, invitation-only, championship at Lake Ouachita, AR. Anglers will vie for championship honors and $35,000.
For more information on Twisted Cat Outdoors visit their website or follow them on Facebook. If you have tournament questions call Alex @ 573-723-2127.
Their next tournament will be out of Pekin, IL on August 26, 2023.
