Cabela's King Kat Tourney for Santee Catfish

Saturday March 14th's overcast conditions did nothing to slow down the monster catfish bite during the one-day Cabela's King Kat Tournament. Fished out of Black's Camp on the Santee Lakes, 88 anglers from 10 different states were locked in a competition for cash, prizes and a coveted invitation to the 2009 Cabela's King Kat Classic  to be held at the Pickwick/Wilson Lakes at Sheffield, Alabama. The weigh-in spectators saw the S.C. team of Tim Farris and Kim Henderson out of Lake Wylie take first place and win $3000. The Tim and Kim team anchored up on the lower end of the lake in shallow water and used cut shad to catch 127.15-pounds of catfish. Second place went to another S.C. team (damn those carolina boys can catfish!) with George Lindsay of Chester and Damon Gibson of Richburg weighing in 118.15-pounds of catfish for a payday of $1200. George and Damon were fishing near the hatchery, drifting in 25 to 28 feet of water using cut shad and cut perch for bait. Third place in the King Kat event went to a team from Catlettsburg, Kentucky weighing in 118.05-pounds of catfish and taking home $600 in cash. The BIG FISH of the day went to a team out of Akron, Ohio when Skip Martin and Christina Jones reeled in a 52.95-pound blue catfish about 2:30 when ole whisker-lips took a drifting bait of skip jack and gizzard shad. 

Thanks to Larry Crecelius for the photos of First place winners Kim Henderson and Tim Farris, Second place winners George Lindsay and Damon Gibson, and the BIG FISH of the day (shown here with some smaller cats) caught by Skip Martin and teammate Christina Jones.