Benningfield, Eislet Win at Twisted Cat Outdoors Tourney with 133.37 in 3 Fish
Winning bag includes Big Fish at 91.47 pounds,
a new personal best for Benningfield.
Thirty teams traveled from several states to Crystal City, MO to fish the Twisted Cat Outdoors Championship tournament. The American Catfishing Association (ACA) Tournament Alliance event is a no entry fee, invitation-only competition. The top 50 anglers, based on points earned during the year received an invitation to the 2021 Twisted Cat Outdoors Championship on October 30, 2021.
The Mississippi River normally produces some nice fish and it did not disappoint. Anglers were allowed three fish with no length restrictions. It took more than 130 pounds to win.
First Place and Big Fish
The top spot at Crystal City went to Rob Benningfield and Ricky Eiselt. They earned the Smooth Move Hot Seats with a 3-fish weight of 133.37 pounds. Their bag included the Big Fish of the tournament at 91.47 pounds.
Benningfield and Eislet ran 35 miles downriver to find their fish. They were fishing structures that they found in some slower moving water that ranged from 25 to 30 feet deep.
“We anchored on wood and rock in slower water,” recalled Eislet. “We were using fresh, whole skipjack about 12 to 14 inches long.”
“We caught the fish on skipjack as normal,” confirmed Benningfield. “We anchored all day today. Yesterday we caught them both bumping and anchoring but today we started anchoring and just stuck with it. We caught 5 fish total on tournament day.”
It was a relatively late bite for the big fish, coming about 11:30 am. It was a typical big fish bite as it took the rod slow before doubling over and drawing Benningfield to the rod.
“The fish was coming at the boat after it was hooked,” reported Eiselt. “Then it started swimming towards the bank tangling up 2 other rods.”
Benningfield fought the monster fish until it got below the boat where it just held to the bottom. They weren’t gaining much ground on the stubborn fish as they tried to pull it up.
“Rob kept saying to me, ‘This fish is big, It’s a big fish’”. said Eislet. “The big blue stayed under the boat for what seemed like forever. It was probably around 5 minutes or longer it just held its ground. When we finally got him in the boat we guessed the weight to be in the mid-’90s.”
The guess was very close, but shy a few pounds. At the weigh-in, spectators saw Benningfield holding a grass carp that the big blue had spit up.
“I weighed that carp and it weighed 2.1 pounds,” offered Benningfield following the weigh-in. “And that was after being out of the water for a while. It looked like it was just eaten. Crazy.”
Benningfield carved another notch on his rod handle in the Big Fish Bounty competition. Big Fish Bounty is sponsored by Lix Frozen Custard. It is a bounty for the big fish of the year in the Twisted Cat Outdoors events. Benningfield has held the Bounty since an event on the Ohio River early in the year when he had a 79-pounder. With the 91.47 pounder that he caught in Crystal City, he beat his own previous posting in the Bounty competition and also posted his personal best blue.
Second Place and Second Big Fish
The runner-up spot went to Mike Davis and Charles LaPlant. They had won Big Fish earlier in the year at New Madrid to earn an invitation to the championship. They brought a total tournament day weight of 111.92 pounds to the scales to earn the second-place spot. Their bag included 2nd Big Fish of the tournament at 71.54 pounds.
Davis and LaPlant tried several spots during the day as they moved around looking for fish. It wasn’t until the last spot they fished that they finally caught fish. They reported the air temps in the mid-’50s, the water temp at about 57 degrees with the wind blowing 15 to 20 from the northwest. They fished about 30 miles south of the tournament ramp.
“We didn’t catch our first fish until 1 pm,” reported LaPlant. “We caught our fish on Spot-Lock while fishing behind a wing dike. We suspended some baits and cast out some others. We used fresh skipjack for bait in a river that was on a fairly fast rise and the water was very stained.”
Davis and LaPlant offered a special thank you to Whisker Seekers Tackle for their support.
Remaining Top Five
Third Place – Jason Hamilton and Gary Taylor -101.02 pounds
Fourth Place – Greg Twillmen fishing solo – 99.49 pounds
Fifth Place – Chris Brinegar and Troy Phillips – 98.86 pounds
Points Championship
The Twisted Cat Outdoors points championship, sponsored by SeaArk Boats and Suzuki was concluded at the Championship. TCO calculates points based on the anglers’ top 5 finishes.
Angler of the Year
The 2021 Angler of the Year award went to Brad Shoemate. Brad was setting in 3rd place in points going into the championship. His advice to other anglers on how to win a points championship was simple.
“Just stay after em’,” said Shoemate at the awards ceremony.
Youth Angler of the Year
The 2021 Youth Angler of the Year went to Hayden Gunther for the second year in a row, in this his last year to compete in the youth category.
Lady Angler of the Year
The Lady Angler of the Year award went to Rachael Monnig.
Epilogue:
There were 30 boats and 67 anglers competing in the TCO Championship. They weighed 62 fish that totaled 695.82 pounds. The Big Fish of the tournament was said to be the largest blue cat ever weighed at that location.
For more information on Twisted Cat Outdoors visit their website or follow them on Facebook. Their next tournament will be out of Canton, MO on September 4, 2021.
