Twisted Cat Win on Keystone Goes to Lance Lutke, Tyson Lutke, & Dominic Pellegrino
by Ron Presley,
Photos courtesy of Twisted Cat Outdoors by Tom Stolze
Twisted Cat Outdoors makes its first trip to Oklahoma.
Twisted Cat Outdoors took their tournament series to Oklahoma for the first time on Saturday, September 30, 2023. The action began Saturday morning at 5:00 a.m. with a boat check at the Harbor Grill on Keystone Lake in Mannford, OK.
Fishing hours were 7:00 am to 3:00 pm and anglers had to be back to the weigh-in line at the Harbor Grill by 4:30. A legal limit of 5 fish could consist of any combination of channel cats, blue cats, or flatheads. The legal bag was limited to only 2 of the 5 fish can measure over 30 inches. Measurements are made with the Parks Planer Boards/ACA official measuring device.
Twenty-seven teams representing 65 anglers registered to fish the Oklahoma event. The Captains Meeting on Friday night and the Saturday weigh-in occurred at the Harbor Grill on the lake. Twenty-two of the registered boats weighed fish on tournament Saturday.
In a unique on-the-water event, ACA brought its ACA Live broadcast to the Twisted Cat Outdoors event. The broadcast went live at 9 am EST and ran until 1 pm. Competing anglers Bryan St Ama and Coia Snead, JT Ray and his son Justin, and Team Baldwin with Chris, Kyli, and daughter Kamber joined Glen Thomas with reports from the water. Glen also visited with Alex and Liz Nagy about the work that goes into running and setting up a tournament and weigh-in.
First Place
Lance Lutke, Tyson Lutke, and Dominic Pellegrino claimed the top spot with a total weight of 63.74 pounds. Their efforts earned them a check for $3,600.
Lance, Tyson, and Dominic didn’t get a chance to prefish much so they began tournament morning in an area they expected to have some fish this time of year. The spot didn’t pan out and they decided to make a move and found some fish in an afternoon bite.
“The weather at Keystone was fantastic,” noted Pellegrino. “There were nice temps and just enough wind to make the fish bite well. We drifted our starting area all morning without anything to show. It was almost noon and we only had one small fish in the livewell.”
“We started graphing around and found an area that was holding a lot of fish,” he continued. “We set up a drift through an area that ranged from 25 to 45 feet deep. We caught around 20 fish in the next hour.”
The team ended the afternoon catching around 40 fish between 12 and 3 p.m. They were drifting with cut shad and white bass.
“Most of our fish were right on either side of the 30-inch slot,” stated Pellegrino. “We probably released around 10 over-slot fish.”
“We’d like to give a big shoutout to Parks Planers which we used to catch all of our fish,” concluded Pellegrino. “Shoutouts also to Meat Hunter Rods, Team Catfish, Power Pole, Lowrance, SmackDown Rod Holders, and Truman Lake Marine. Each and every one of these great companies played a part in our success! Finally, a big shout out to Tyson Lutke, Lance’s 13-year-old son who came on his first tournament with us today and came away with the win!”
Second Place
The runner-up spot went to Team Draggin Master with Bryan St. Alma and Coia Sneed. They had a total weight of 59.08 pounds with their big fish weighing 25.65 pounds. They earned the second-place check of $1,800.
This was the first time to fish Keystone for Sneed and St Alma, but being from Texas they are used to fishing lakes and no current conditions. They approached Keystone as they would a lake in Texas with a strategy to cover a lot of water.
“We covered every inch of the lake during pre-fishing,” reported Sneed. “This was our first time to visit Keystone and we were trying to devise a game plan like we always do. We really only found one spot that stood out to us. It was a relatively shallow area that averaged about 7 to 8 feet deep. We stayed in the same area all day dragging Parks Planner boards.”
The team used gizzard shad that they caught by cast netting and white bass that they caught on rod and reel the day before the tournament. They caught a limit early and spent the rest of the day trying to upgrade.
“The real key to our success was being able to keep baits in the water,” explained Sneed. “Our Draggin Master Fishing products allowed us to do that! We didn’t get snagged or hung up one single time during the tournament. When you not hung up you’re not wasting any fishing time.”
Sneed was referring to the Draggin Master line of products that he and St. Alma created and produced. Among them are their Drifting/Dragging Rigs, Bite-Me Floats, 10/0 Weedless Octopus Circle Hooks, and their unique Brush Guards. They served them well on Keystone.
“Bryan and myself had a great time fishing the Twisted Cat Outdoors tournament on Keystone Lake,” concluded Sneed. “If you haven’t had the chance to fish a Twisted Cat Outdoors tournament, you’re missing out! Alex Nagy does an awesome job at running these tournaments!
Sneed and St. Alma thanked their sponsors for their support: Parks Planers, RIGRAP, SeaArk Boats, Monster Rod Holders, and Rock Creek Outdoors.
Third Place and Big Fish
Third place went to Team Flathead Catfishing with Andy Allen and Kevin McCoin. They teamed up to bring 58.30 pounds to the scales. Their bag included Big Fish of the tournament at 27.39 pounds. They earned the third-place check of $1,800 and added $500 more for the Castaway Customs MWSC Big Fish of the tournament.
Fourth Place
Brad Holt and Lacie Sharp traveled from Southern Indiana to fish the event. It was their first time on Keystone Lake. They teamed up to bring 56.72 pounds to the scales to claim their spot and earn the fourth-place check for $540.
Fifth Place
The fifth spot at Keystone went to Kevin Parks and John Jamison. The veteran angler’s bag weighed 54.40 pounds and earned them a check for $396.
Final Thoughts
The Keystone event was the 9th of the 2023 season for Twisted Cat Outdoors. With 1 tournament left in the regular season, qualifying anglers are beginning to look forward to the year-ending, no-entry-fee, invitation-only, championship at Lake Ouachita, AR. Anglers will vie for championship honors and $35,000.
Their next and final regular season tournament will be in the big-cat country on the Mississippi River at New Madrid, MO on October 7, 2023. Give Alex a call at 573-723-2127 if you have any questions.
For more information on Twisted Cat Outdoors visit their website or follow them on Facebook.
