Cabela’s King Kat Tournament Results for the Calamus Reservoir at Burwell, Nebraska
OutdoorHub 08.26.12
This past Saturday August 25th, the Cabela’s King Kat Tournament Trail hit the waters of the Calamus Reservoir at Burwell, Nebraska. In the event over 70 top anglers from 8 different states were competing not only for cash and prizes, but the opportunity to qualify for the 2012 Cabela’s King Kat Classic. This year’s Cabela’s King Kat Classic will be held on the Alabama River at Selma, Alabama September 27/28/29, 2012.
Calamus Reservoir is home to some of the biggest channel cats in the country with 5 fish stringers such as today’s often exceeding 100 pounds. Although today’s big fish did not beat out the Nebraska state record channel cat at 41 pound 8 ounce, Calamus produced 2 fish this past year within 5 pound of the record. Gizzard shad is the primary forage for managed sport catfish in Calamus Reservoir and is critical for growth of nearly all sport fish in this body of water.
Results for the Top 5 Teams
Taking first place was the Lincoln, Nebraska team of Josh Koll and Mat Helm with a very impressive weight of 118.75 pounds and earning $2,500.00. Josh and Koll were fishing between Nunda and Valley View on the north side of the lake anchoring up in 14-17 feet of water to catch around 35 fish by 2:00PM, an hour before quitting time using shad and creek chubs.
In second place was David Studebaker of Burlington, Kansas and Rich Witt of Junction City, Kansas with a weight of 79.75 pounds and earning $1,200.00. David and Rich started out fishing the north end of the lake then finishing out the day by the dam. The team caught 12 fish for the day using shad in 32-34 feet of water.
Third place went to Cory Muhlbach of Shelton, Nebraska and Craig Stephens of Riverdale, Nebraska with a weight of 75.4 pounds and earning $700.00 for the day. The team also had big fish of the day with a 29.55 pounds channel cat which earned the team an additional $600.00. Cory and Craig were fishing one mile east of Sunda Shoals Ramp in 25-30 feet of water using blood bait to catch 15 fish for the day.
Darrin Meseke of Lawrence, Kansas and Arlaw Miller of McFarland, Kansas took fourth place with a weight of 58.9 pounds earning $400.00. Darrin and Arlaw were fishing near Nunda Shoals in 20-30 feet of water using blood bait to catch 18 fish for the day.
Fifth place went to the Chillicothe, Missouri team of Brent Riddle and Terry Cook with a total weight of 58.25 pounds and earning $200.00. Brent and Terry fished near the dam in 30 feet of water using cut shad to catch 12 fish for the day.
