An Ohio River catfish tournament is named after a KY state catfish record holder. The 2nd Annual Bruce Midkiff Memorial Tournament will be held on August 27, 2016. Midkiff caught the state record 104-pound blue cat and that record still holds it’s place in the record books today.
Wayne King, Connor King and Scott Webb teamed up to win in 2015. They weighed in 134 pounds to claim the first place spot in the inaugural event.
“Vanover and his wife has put together a great tournament,” said Wayne King. “The tournament is held at Hawesville KY, which is where Cannelton Dam is and that is where Midkiff caught the KY state record.”
Wayne, Conner and Scott are teamed up again this year to defend their title. “The pressure is definitely on this year,” said Wayne. “There are some very good fishermen coming from all around.”
Their strategy will rely on good bait and favorable weather. “We will be using skipjack and mooneye for bait,” revealed Wayne. “Depending on the river forecast we would like to drag baits or do controlled drifting.”
Big fish in 2015 went to a local Hawesville angler, Eric Doogs, with a 77-pound blue cat. “It felt great!” said Eric. “It was an amazingly strong fish that didn’t want to come off bottom. I caught that fish within 30 minutes after we dropped baits.”
It was the kind of catch that stays with you. “I couldn’t help but open the livewell and admire that catch all day,” joked Eric. “We will go above Cannelton Dam again this year in hopes of finding another fish like that.”
Tournament Director Josh Vanover was on Catfish Weekly where he praised the fishery and hoped for a good bite. “We currently have 102 boats,” reported Vanover. “We have some of the best catfishermen in the country coming. Anglers will be able to ramp from one of three ramps – Hawesville, Cannelton and Tell City.”
“We have capped the number of boats at 150,” continued Vanover. “We’ve been blessed this year with some good turn outs and this one is no different.”
Vanover also publicized a new tournament to be held on Wheler Lake in Alabama on Janurary 28, 2017. “We are going to call it the Paul Strouth Memorial on Wheeler,” announced Vanover. “We are working with some big names in the business and I expect it to be a big one as well.” (Paul Strouth was a well-known catfish angler who passed recently.)
The regular entry fee on Vanover’s other tournaments is $60. “There are a lot of anglers getting in the sport these days,” concluded Vanover. “I want those guys to be able to fish our tournaments.”
With an entry fee of only $25 the Midkiff tournament is very popular with anglers. It will pay out $3,000 to the winner this year.
As the sport of catfishing grows all across the county tournaments like the Midkiff are growing too. Other tournaments that have already announced more than 100 boats include George Young Jr’s Mississippi River Monsters and Aaron Wheatley’s Monsters on the Ohio.
For more information on the August 27 tournament visit the Bruce Midkiff Memorial Facebook page.