Carolina Area News
Potential New WORLD RECORD Blue Catfish
The above photo is of a potential new world record blue catfish. It weighed in at 130 pounds, and was caught 20 July 2010 in the Missouri River. It was officially weighed by the Missouri Department of Conservation. More details to come.
Meeting Location Found
It’s official. We have a
location for our meetings!
It has everything we need; a private meeting room, food, and is centrally
located for all our members.
Sports Page Food and Spirits
8400 Bellhaven Boulevard
Charlotte, NC 28216-6117
(704) 399-4417
www.sportspagefoodandspirits.com
Record Weigh-In on Lake Wateree
Chad Catledge with is 52.70 pound Lake Wateree blue catfish
A new record was set for a three fish weigh-in on Lake Wateree February 20th in the Catawba Catfish Club tournament series. Angler Chad Catledge brought three catfish to the scale that totaled 129.95 pounds. His big fish of the tournament was 52.70 pounds.
Two other teams brought in over 100 pounds in three fish. While anglers did not report a lot of fish being caught, the top teams that found fish found big ones. Normally on Lake Wateree a three fish limit in the 90 pound range will win 95% of the tournaments, but 90 pounds would not get you in the top five in this rare event.
The next event is schedule for Lake Wylie on March 27th.
2010 Tournament Season
2010 is going to be the busiest tournament year ever in the Carolinas. Six major tournament series, with more than 25 catfish tournaments, give anglers an opportunity almost every weekend this summer to get out and compete against fellow anglers.
Lake Wylie leads the pack this year with nine scheduled tournaments.
Be sure to check out the Carolina Catfish Club tournament section for up to date information and schedules.
Club Member Publishes Third Book
Carolina
Catfish Club member Jake Bussolini has released his
third book titled "Beneath
the Surface".
For
additional information you can reach Jake at: allandco@roadrunner.com
Lake Wateree Tournament Results &
2009 Points Race Champion Crowned
Lake Wateree winners Marty and Jeff Green
We had a great turnout with 14 boats, and that may be our largest showing for a club tournament. Some folks were on fish from the start, while others struggled to find a consistent bite. We had a lot of non-members fish the tournament since we opened this event to non club members.
Jeff and Marty Green, despite a motor failure on their boat, found the winning stringer of fish. They had to leave the ramp, drive back to Rock Hill to get another boat, then drive back to Lake Wateree to fish. All the hard work and miles paid off with a winning pair of fish that weighed in at a whopping 75.6 pounds. Dieter Melhorn, who finished third, came away with "big fish" for the event with a 44 pound blue cat.
The winning stringer was a new club record for a two fish weigh-in, and a new club record for big fish was set with the 44 pound blue cat.
The big fish seemed to bite all day with some folks catching them early, some were caught around lunch, and the largest came 45 minutes before the end of the tournament. All of the bigger fish came from anchored boats. No particular area of the lake produced big fish better than another. 25+ pound fish were caught from Cedar Creek all the way down to the Colonel Creek area. Baits were mainly gizzard shad and white perch.
A
complete listing of where everyone finished, along with the points
standings, is available in the tournament
section of this website.
points champions Lindsay Bigham and Michael Holmes
The
2009 Carolina
Catfish Club points race came down to the last event,
and three teams were capable of winning. Lindsay
Bigham and Michael
Holmes had a commanding lead with two victories in a row under
their belt, but Cary
Vanden Broecke and his partner Matt
Barrett, and Jeff
Manning and Wayne
Lingerfelt could steal the title with a win at
In
the end it was Lindsay
Bigham and Michael
Holmes taking home the title for 2009. Their two back to
back wins on
Lake Wateree Tournament Open To Public
The Lake Wateree club tournament scheduled for December 12th will be open to the public. This is the first time non-members have been allowed to fish in a club tournament. This is an effort to expose new anglers to the Carolina Catfish Club. Non-members will be able to fish the tournament for a $30.00 entry, while current CCC members will continue to pay $20.00. The additional money from the non-members entry fees will go to the clubs operating fund.
Lake Wylie Tournament
Word from the
anglers is that it was an unusually tough day on
In the end Lindsay Bigham and Michael Holmes made it two in a row with the win and widened their points lead for 2009 going into the last event of the year on Lake Wateree. That event is schedule for December 12th.
A
complete listing of where everyone finished, along with the points
standings, is available in the tournament
section of this website.
Mt. Island Lake Tournament
Carolina
Catfish Club members fishing the first tournament of 2009 on
Mt. Island Lake were greeted with cloudy skies, water temps around 68, and
light winds when they launched at 7:00am Saturday morning on
All
of that quickly changed.
By 9:00am the rains moved in; heavy rains. Winds were gusting to 25mph, driving the rain sideways. Anchoring was tough, drifting difficult and staying dry was impossible. Combine this with a slow early bite and you had the makings of a bad day on the water.
Within a few hours the rains passed, the skies cleared, the winds calmed, and two teams rose above the rest of the field and managed to limit out with similar weights, and similar sized fish. Lindsay Bigham and Michael Holmes took home the first place prize, with Jeff Manning a close second less that two pounds back in second.
A complete listing of where everyone finished, along with the points standings, is available in the tournament section of this website.
The
next event is scheduled for Lake Wylie on November 21st .
October Meeting
In
case you missed the October meeting, we elected officer for the 2010 year.
Following a motion by one of the members, and a second by another,
the current officer were re-elected for 2010.
Mac Byrum will remain our treasurer, Cary Vanden Broecke will remain our vice president, and I, Dieter
Melhorn, will remain president for the 2010 year.
No
meeting is scheduled for November or December due to the holiday schedule,
conflicts with our fellow deer hunters, and the tournament schedule. I
will however keep you abreast of what is happening in the catfish world
via our e-mail newsletter.
Be sure to check us out at www.catfish1.com
under the “Catfish Tournament” section, or you can simply click on
this link: http://www.catfish1.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=400
CCC Members Win Points Race
Carolina
Catfish Club member
Dieter Melhorn, and his partner Mark Young, wrapped up the Ted’s
Hunting and Fishing catfish tournament series point’s race with a
win in the last event of 2009 on
In lieu of accepting the money for the point’s race win,
Melhorn requested that Ted’s Hunting and Fishing of Clover, SC
donate the money to the Catch a Dream foundation. Catch a
Dream provides hunting and fishing trips for children with life
threatening illnesses.
New Lake Wylie Record Caught
Just in case you were under a rock all summer and did not hear, Carolina Catfish Club member Jeff Manning caught a 67 pound Arkansas blue catfish on Lake Wylie in June . That eclipsed the lake record fish that CCC member Cary Vanden Broecke caught last September.
Manning has been on a streak all summer bringing in some nice fish. He will definitely be a threat for the upcoming Carolina Catfish Club tournament scheduled for Wylie November 21st.
September Meeting Postponed
We
need to postpone our September meeting scheduled for this coming Monday
the 14th. We had some scheduling conflicts with the meeting
room at
August 2009
We
polled the members and came up with three lakes for the Carolina
Catfish Club
fall tournaments. Here are the events:
October
24th…
November
21st…
December
12th…
There are a few changes in the rules this year. We have dropped the “two persons per boat” rule in hopes of encouraging more boaters to take along non-boaters. Also, no jug fishing is allowed. All the rules can be found in the Carolina Catfish Club tournament section of this site.
Summer 2009 News
The June and July Carolina Catfish Club meetings have been held at T-Bones on the Lake on Hwy. 49 at the NC/SC line. We have chosen this facility for our summer meetings so that we are able to enjoy some time on the water with our members following dinner. The meetings have been an informal gathering where we can all enjoy fellowship and a few fish stories.
So far the response has been good, with 16 members attending the July gathering. The group was so large that they gave us the back bar room. The restaurant is located on the water with dock access, so afterwards we have been able to head out on the water for a couple of hours of fishing.
We will deciding on our fall tournament schedule soon. Right now we are looking at events in October, November, and December. If you have any suggestions for are lakes you would like to see the tournaments on please let us know.
January 2009 News
A new day for our monthly meetings has been set. The new day will be the SECOND MONDAY OF EACH MONTH. The former day conflicted with too many folks that attended church on that night. The Gander Mountain store in Mooresville will remain our location for the meetings.
Be sure to check out the Catawba Catfish Club in the tournament section. They have their 2009 tournament schedule out. They will have events on Lake Monticello, Lake Wateree, and Lake Wylie in 2009. Their first event is scheduled for January 31st on Lake Wateree.
In other tournament news, Cabela's will have one of their King Kat Classic qualifying events at Santee Cooper March 14th.
2008 Badin Lake Tournament
Winner Jeff Manning
CCC members fished Badin Lake for the first time in club competition and were greeted with beautiful weather. Clear sky's and morning temperatures in the upper 20's made for a comfortable day of fishing. While the weather was nice the fishing was not so good for most of the field. Four of the seven boats did not have fish at the weigh-in.
On his FIRST TRIP EVER to Badin Lake, Jeff Manning not only found the access area, but also found the FISH! Jeff brought 32.6 pounds to the scales to take the win and also captured the big fish prize with a 26.4 pound blue catfish. Jeff even had to cull a nice 24 pound blue that put him over the 32" limit.
Cary Vanden Broecke and Matt Barrett were a close second with 31.2 pounds, and that was enough to tie them in the points race Rob McHenry and Lindsay Bigham who failed to weigh in a fish. The tie breaker was decided by the biggest fish for the series, and that went to Cary and Matt from the Lake Wylie event, thus making them the 2008 Carolina Catfish Club Tournament Series Points Champions.
December 2008 News
Our Carolina Catfish Club sweatshirts and t-shirts should be ready for the tournament on Badin Lake December 12th.
Items can be purchased online, but the price online is the non-member price. If you are a club member and would like to purchase a t-shirt or hooded sweatshirt at the reduced rate for club members you can do so at the Badin tournament, or at the January meeting. If you would like one in time for Christmas, please e-mail myself or vice-president Cary Vanden Broecke.
Our e-mail information is available in the "contact" section of the site, or you can click HERE.
Our next meeting is scheduled for January 14th 2009 at the Gander Mountain store in Mooresville, NC.
2008 Mt. Island Tournament
Winners Lindsay Bigham and Rob McHenry
Anglers were greeted with 18 degree temperatures as they set out on Mt. Island Lake in search of the monster blue cats that are known to be caught there. Winds remained mostly calm and temperatures climbed into the 40's under blue bird sky's. As is usually the case on Mt. Island Lake, some found the lakes treasures quickly and easily while others spent the day searching for two good fish.
In the end Rob McHenry and partner Lindsay Bigham brought back not only the best weight for two fish at 46 pounds, but they also captured the big fish points for the tournament. Their 28.2 pound big fish helped to catapult them into first place in the Carolina Catfish Club 2008 point standings.
The team of Kevin Custer and Jerry Hilderbran made their first appearance of 2008. They lived up to their reputation as a dominant force on Mt. Island Lake and came in second place with 36.2 pounds and a big fish of 24.8 pounds.
Next, Carolina Catfish Club tournament anglers will visit Badin Lake for the first time in club tournament competition on December 13th.
2008 Lake Wylie Tournament
Winners Cary Vanden Broecke and Matt Barrett
Dense fog and zero visibility forced the teams to motor slowly to their first fishing spots in the pre-dawn hours of the first Carolina Catfish Club tournament of 2008 on Lake Wylie. Temperatures were a cool 37 degrees at the start of the event, but by 10:00am the fog had burned away and the anglers were greeted with clear sky's and highs around 70 degrees.
This was the first event in the Carolinas in which jugger's were allowed to fish. All anglers chose to fish with rod and reel. Nine members turned out to fish the event.
Cary Vanden Broecke remained on his winning streak and teamed up with Matt Barrett to win the first club event of the 2008. The team brought two nice fish to the scales that weighed in at a whopping 53 pounds. They also took big fish with a 33 pound blue catfish that they caught less than 30 minutes after getting lines in the water.
Rob McHenry teamed up with Lindsay Bigham to take second place at 14.6 pounds with some nice channel catfish. No other teams brought large blue to the scales, but all competitors caught good channel cats in the 6-7 pound range both drifting and anchoring.
2008 October Meeting
Mac Byrum headed up the October meeting and held elections for president, vice president, and treasurer for 2009. Dieter Melhorn was re-elected as president for a third term and Cary Vanden Broecke was elected vice-president. Mac Byrum was re-elected as treasurer for 2009.
The club is finalizing plans to enter into a partnership with a group of anglers in the Lake Greenwood area to form a SC chapter of the Carolina Catfish Club. The hope is that an organized effort in SC will help facilitate further management efforts in that state. We look forward to working with the SC members to make this a positive force in SC.
Our next meeting is scheduled for November 12th.
Big Fish Caught!
Newly elected vice president Cary Vanden Broecke was featured in an article by Tom Higgins in the Charlotte Observer last month. Cary caught a 64 pound Arkansas blue catfish out of Lake Wylie in September 2008. This fish is the largest known blue catfish caught out of Lake Wylie, eclipsing the 55 pound blue catfish caught in 2006 by Dieter Melhorn.
Ron Howard Continues Streak
Ron Howard and his wife Michelle landed their second consecutive third place finish in the 2008 Cabela's King Kat Classic. This years event was held on the Ohio River September 26-27 out of Hendersonville, KY. Ron and Michelle weighed in a two day total of 150 pounds, just 5.7 pounds behind the winners weight, and 2.35 behind second place. Another awesome finish for Ron and Michelle!
You can read more about the entire tournament by clicking HERE, clicking the above image, or simply visit www.catfish1.com
As if that accomplishment was not enough, the week before Ron Howard and James Matherly teamed up to win the Carolina Catmen championship at Santee Cooper.
Tournament and Points Race Win
Cary Vanden Broecke and Dieter Melhorn teamed up to win the final event of the 2008 Ted's Hunting and Fishing catfish tournament series on Lake Wylie. The victory secured them the points series win for 2008.
Online Forum News
For up to date happenings and club news from the
with the Carolina Catfish Club, please visit the CCC's own forum on
Catfish1.com by clicking HERE!