Phil King and Tim Hanie win 79-Year-Old World Championship of Catfishing
The 2020 World Championship of Catfishing (WCC) was held on September 26, 2020, at Savannah Tennessee. The town carries the moniker, The Catfish Capital of the World. The main reason for that designation is the annual National Catfish Derby and World Championship of Catfishing that has taken place there along the Tennessee River for 79 years.
Big Cat Quest tournament director Ken Freeman presented the event for many years. Following Freeman’s passing, Jr Sweat has taken the reigns and kept the event going.
“I grew up fishing in this event with my dad,” said Freeman a few years before his death. “It is very exciting to come to Pickwick every year and find out who will raise their hands as WCC Champions.”
It was an all-day event in Downtown Savannah. Food vendors, bluegrass music, kids’ activities, arts and crafts vendors, and an antique tractor show graced the streets from 9 am until 5 pm. The WCC weigh-in began at 3:00 pm behind the courthouse with the crowning of the 2020 WCC Champs following.
First Place
Phil King and Tim Haynie from Corinth, MS brought 156.8 pounds to the scales to claim the 2020 title of World Champions of Catfishing. Hanie caught the big fish in their bag at 55 pounds. King stated that it was the best 5 fish with 2 overs and 3 unders that they ever weighed on the Tennessee River.
King and Hanie are not new to the WCC, having won it several times over the years. In fact, King has a more than impressive list of major tournament wins. He has earned the WCC Championship Belts five times. He has won four national titles and one international second place over the years not to mention numerous other tournament trail wins.
“We went looking for fish and found some prefishing,” explained King. “But that doesn’t mean anything unless they bite on the day you need them.”
“We also caught skipjack on Wednesday afternoon,” King reported. “We had it on ice so it was fresh as it could be. I would rather have caught it the day before, but it was good and firm and it did the job. Fresh bait makes a difference.”
King and Hanie caught their fish doing what they like best, controlled drifting (bumping). They started off early and motored downriver in the dark. They were on their spot and ready to fish when the start time came.
“We had 3 fish by 7:00,” reported King. “We caught a 48, a 15, and a 7 pounder. We proceeded to drift that same section of river and Tim later caught a 52. We just continued to cull. About noon we culled the last 7-pound fish and replaced it with a 9-pound fish. We went in pretty soon after that. I think we were the first boat in.”
King and Hanie reported that it was a little hard to keep the fish healthy in the livewell. They changed the water a couple of times taking care of them. That was another good reason to go to the scales early.
“Sometimes I think they lose their will to live,” said King, “But they did good in the big tank. They started swimming right around.”
King said a key to their day was not losing any fish on what was a 200 pound plus day for the veteran anglers. They also kept moving around to places where they had caught good fish in the past.
“Sometimes in a tournament if we get 5 bites that is good,” declared King. “But in tournaments, we have won over the years we got 10-15 quality bites and we didn’t wipe em out the day before the tournament.”
In prefishing or on tournament day, King never drops a fish back where we caught it. He prefers to carry them across the river and turn them loose.
“Oh, you can go back later and maybe catch some,” offered King. “But more times than not you don’t. I have witnessed that over the years and other anglers agree with me.”
King retired from guiding in October of 2018 and a hip replacement in August of 2019 slowed him down a bit. However, he was released by the doctor in August of 2020 and has fished three tournaments since.
“We agreed to just fish and have a good time,” explained King. “Sometimes you can put too much pressure on yourself and it doesn’t work out. Now, sometimes the fish don’t follow the plan, but it’s really great when it all comes together”
“My hips held me down a little,” concluded King. “Now I want to pick and choose which tournaments I want to fish. I want to enjoy my fishing just like Tim and I did at this year’s WCC. That’s fun.”
Second Place
The runner-up spot went to Ray Ferguson, Donnie Fountain, and Melissa Goldston. They brought 104 pounds to the scales. Melissa also won Top Lady Angler.
“We fished in 75 feet of water,” reported Fountain. The bite was slow and patience was the key. We knew we were in a good spot so we stuck with our plan to spot-lock. We use skipjack to finish with 4 fish on the day.
Third Place and Senior Angler
The third spot went to Lonnie and Dawn Fountain and Dawn’s uncle John Tinsley. Uncle John caught their big fish to win the Senior Angler Award. The team had a total weight of 103.8, just barely out of second place. Tinsley’s blue weighed 37.8 pounds.
Big Fish
Larry Muse brought the Big Fish of the day to the scales. Fishing with Dino and Frank “Pops” Meador he caught the 61-pound beast in 55 feet of water while bumping skipjack heads on a nice cloudy day with an air temperature of 75 degrees.
“I went downriver and when I got there and saw that the water fell overnight,” recalled Muse. “I had trouble with the trolling motor last tournament and thought I had it fixed but we were only able to make two drifts before the motor wouldn’t deploy.”
On the first drift, they started off bumping with skipjack heads. Muse caught the Big Fish on that first drift. Then on the second drift, Dino caught a 33 pounder. But then the trolling motor quit.
“We actually anchored for the first time since 2013,” said Muse. “I was reminded why I don’t anchor anymore. It is because we didn’t catch the unders we needed to put the icing on the cake. We still managed 6th place and I had Big Fish so it was a remarkable day.”
Top Lady Angler – Melissa Goldston – 43.8 (See Second Place above for photo)
Top Youth Angler –Aleigh Jordon 33.2
The Remaining Top Five
4th John Howard and George Cuvar – 101.2
5th Fountain, Fountain, and Tinsley – 98.
Final Thoughts
Jr Sweat has been producing the event for 3 years now. He hopes to continue the WCC with a focus on making it better.
“This was my third year directing the tournament,” Sweat said. “I took it over after Ken passed. “My goal is to grow it to what it used to be. Due to COVID and funding, we had to scale back this year. We had a parade, a beauty pageant, and a guest personally on tap to appear but had to hold off. We also had the 40th Annual Blue Grass Festival but there’s always next year.”
“That being said I want to grow the WCC to a 150-boat field,” concluded Sweat. “I want to fill every motel and restaurant to capacity. This is the oldest tournament in the country. It started back in 1941 and I want to bring it back to what it was.”
To keep up with happenings follow the WCC on their Facebook page.
Photos by Joyce Muse and WCC
