King Of the Cats

Before I announce the winners I just want to take a moment to thank everyone for participating this year.  I have a lot of fun running this contest and all of your enthusiasm and time on the water makes us all better Cat fishermen in the end!  Also please keep in mind, we are the people ultimately responsible for our resource, I encourage everyone to lead by example and spread the word about the benefits of catch and release/selective harvest so that we can be having this same discussion about the winners of KOTC 2040 someday!

With that said, here are a few stats from this year.  These stats can always be found on the KOTC website under the “Stats and Fun Facts” tab/link.  We had 11 Flatheads 45” or bigger entered this year which is a significant increase from last year’s 3.  We had 48 Channels over 32” entered this year which was down just slightly from 52 last year.  Average score to win Flatheads this year was 221.8pts and for Channels 172.8.  3 people were added to the KOTC Hall of Fame, which is the Top 5 scores of all time (Billy B, Wayne O and Steve D) and we had the biggest Channel ever entered which was also a New MN Catch and Release record (Wayne O)!  Last but not least,  5 first time winners will be added to the King of the Cats Club (Wayne O, Jeremy D, Justin S, Rob B, and Nik Z)

And that’s a wrap for 2015!  Again, I tip my cap to all of you and I hope you have a great off season.  I’m already looking forward to 2016 and I hope to see you all back next year.   Until then, congrats again to you all, tight lines and wet nets to all of you!

Here are your winners for the Flathead Division.

With 227.5pts  Steve DeMars

With 223pts  Justin Severin

With 222.5pts Rob Bethke

With 219pts Nik Zewers

With 217pts Jakob Hals

Here are your winners for the Channel Cat Division

With 176.5pts  Wayne Olson

With 176.5 pts Billy Brazier

With 171 pts Jeremy Doss

With 170pts Jakob Hals

With 170pts Tom VanKley

We had a runaway winner for the King of the Kitties division this year.  It was Damon Doss with 163.5pts.

And finally, our Overall Ultimate Premier Superior Grand Master Champion this year was Jakob Hals with 387 total points!

1 month left to go!  August was a great month with lots of movement in the leaderboard.  Not as many fish entered as July, but there were lots of big ones.  We also had another successful Whisker Run in August, that was a Blast!

It all comes down to this last month.  September is usually a good month for some big fish, especially BIG Channels.  It will be interesting to see who is able to sneak in a couple more upgrades before the end of the month. Good luck to everyone and once again thanks for your participation I can’t wait to see how 2015 ends.  Here are some pics from August:

Well even though we dealt with spawning cats in July,  the fish submissions kept rolling in all month long.  July was a great month!  Lots of movement in the leaderboard with folks moving in and out of the green.   So far this has been one of the best years ever for KOTC with some very impressive scores and we already have 2 Hall of Fame totals with Wayne O and Steve D (t0p 5 scores of all time).  I cannot wait to see what August will bring!  I also look forward to the Whisker Run post spawn event on 8/15.   Take a look at some of the great fish caught this past month!  Way to go everyone.  Keep em coming.

Well as always, June has been a CRAZY month here at KOTC!  The leaderboard has been constantly changing and the month has been dominated by big flatheads.  As we move into the spawn period here in the upper midwest, I like to think of it as the halfway point.  We had another successful Whisker Run on Pool 2 of the Mississippi on June 13th.  Here is a quick recap video that I put together with the help of some nice pics from Alex Anderson and Jakob Hals.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBxThaasNlY    Whisker Run 2 is scheduled for 8/15 and is already sold out.

Currently we are sitting at 48 channel cats 32″ or bigger (8 over 36″) and 43 Flatheads 40″ or bigger (3 over 45″).  Biggest Channel so far is 38 x 24 and the biggest Flat is 48 x 32.5 .

Be sure to check out the leaderboard for all the latest standings and follow along on our Facebook page for live updates as I get entries.

Congrats to everyone on the very nice fish in June and I hope you all have just as much success in July!   Now, enjoy some of the great pics from June!

Congrats to Wayne Olson for catching the new MN catch and release Channel Cat record!  He recently caught this fish in the Northwest part of the state.  The fish measured 38 x 24 with an estimated weight of about 27lbs.   Wayne broke a 4 way tie that was held for the past 2 or 3 years.  Great catch Wayne and a new bar has been set!!    For more information about the MN C&R cat records, click here.

May has been a great month for a lot of contestants!  Movement everywhere on the leaderboad with numerous large flatheads entered. Congrats to everyone on the great success!  We are still looking for that first 200pt total on the Flathead side, but a few are very close though. Meanwhile on the Channel side the totals are impressive!  I expect a great June!   Thanks to everyone for the entries and I wish you all good luck on the water. Keep those fish coming.

Now check out all these great pics from May!!!

Well, things are just starting to heat up now that May is starting, but we had a pretty good April with a lot of nice fish entered.  Only a few Flatheads so far, but that is about to change really soon!  It was a pretty typical April for KOTC.  Lots of nice channels with a smattering of Flats mixed in.  Congrats to everyone on all the nice fish so far, be sure to check out the leaderboard for all the current standings and also be sure to follow us on Facebook for real time entries.  I’ll try to do a drawing for a couple of prizes real soon.  Stay tuned and good luck!

Since we are being treated to a stretch of warm weather here in MN, lets start this thing early!!   The channel cat  division is now open and ready for business!   April 1st will still be the start of the Flatheads.   Be sure to read all the rules.  Some things have changed this year such as minimum entry size, measuring method, and states included in the contest.    Be sure to read the rules carefully.  Thanks everyone and I look forward to another great year!!  Let’s get it on.

First of all once again I’d like to thank all of you for participating.   I have a lot of fun with this and I hope you all do too.  Also I would like to thank those that were so generous in donating gifts and prizes.  4Season Sports, Frabill, and Big Fish International.

Before I announce the Kings, here are some interesting stats from this year.   Some good, some not so good:

The big flathead numbers continue to plummet. We only caught 3 45” or bigger this year. Previous year’s numbers are 10, 27, 21, 12, and 7

However, the Channel cat numbers continue to climb. This year a whopping 51 fish over 32” were entered. Compared to previous years 21, 21, 25, 30, and 36

Average winning score of Flats this year was a disappointing 209 which dropped the all time average of the top 5 down to 213
Average winning score of Channels this year was an amazing 176.1 which raised the all time average of the top 5 up to 172

3 scores will be added to the Channel Cat Hall of fame (top 5 scores all time)

With that said, here are your Flathead Kings.

With 216.5 pts Jake Robinson

With 212 pts LeAndra Smith

With 210.5pts Matt Carpenter

With 205pts John Kimble

and with 201pts Chris Dille

Here are your Channel Cat Kings

With 178.5 pts Jake Robinson

With 178pts LeAndra Smith

WIth 177pts Kevin Clark

With 176pts Billy Brazier

And with 171pts Tom Van Kley

New this year I ran a division for the kids.  Not as many entires as I would have liked, but we did have a handful, so here is your King of the Kiddies

With 139.5pts  Brandt Lemeiux

Congratulations to all of you!  Those are some great fish!

Thanks again to all of you I hope to do it all over again next year.  Lots of good memories for 2014.  Take care and have a nice off season.