CAT’S OUT OF THE BAG: Mississippi River Monsters attracts heavyweight catfish
Published 8:10 pm Saturday, August 5, 2023
The Bill Dance Mississippi River Monsters Mega Bucs Pro Series Catfish Tournament ended Saturday night with incredible catches and a crowd of more than 1,000 individuals at the Vicksburg Convention Center.
“Vicksburg has been a secret, but we’re about to let the cat out of the bag,” said “Duck Dynasty” star John Godwin. “There has been some big catfish coming through here.”
Godwin included that in addition to capturing his personal-best blue catfish in Vicksburg on Friday — a 65-pounder — he likewise delighted in dining in Vicksburg’s dining establishments throughout the city’s Catfish Crawl. While he couldn’t pin down a preferred, Godwin said his “top three” were Rusty’s Riverfront Grill, the Beechwood and Walnut Hills.
Professional fishing legend and television star Bill Dance was likewise in participation at Saturday’s competition. Dance applauded both the quality of catfish in the Mississippi River at Vicksburg and the hospitality of the City of Vicksburg and the VCC.
In a surprise statement along with Dance, Alderman Alex Monsour revealed that the competition had actually booked the VCC for a 2nd year and would return in 2024.
“You have a tremendous fishing pad here. This river is absolutely full of catfish,” Dance said. “We averaged out at 33 and one-third pounds per catfish. That alone would win most tournaments, but not in Vicksburg.”
The competition boasted an overall of $120,000 in rewards, with a part of the money being granted to the 5th- through 10th-placing groups.
The leading 4 groups had the alternative to divide $90,000 among themselves, or return out into the river and fish once again for a $50,000 grand reward for the leading group.
The groups chose to go huge or go home and will fish to the death — fishing Sunday for the grand reward.
In top place since Saturday night was Team Fountain, with a combined weight of 179.95 pounds.
Second location went to Team Indy, with a combined weight of 162.25 pounds. Third location went to Dodd & Poynor with an overall weight of 154.05 pounds. Fourth location was Team Dropoff, with an overall weight of 152.85 pounds.
The groups’ weights are set to absolutely no. They will have lines in the water at 7:30 a.m. and will run out the water by 3:30 p.m. Weigh-ins will begin at 5 p.m.
