Yellowstone Challenge: Wise Guys Back on Top

Catfish enthusiasts packed into CowBoys Bar & Casino in Huntley for the annual kick-off tourney on the Montana Cats tour on May 10. Through the duration of the calcutta/social, the crowd experienced overcast and rainy conditions. This threatened to play out a familiar scene on most historical Yellowstone Challenge tourney weekends. Competition day, however, was an entirely different story. Seventy-degree temperatures, light winds and moderate river flows were a welcome change over the course of this year's affair.

The 2018 Yellowstone Challenge boasted record flows of over 40,000 CFS. The 2019 version punched the meter at just over 10,000 CFS. That is in large part why this event is such a challenging competition. Unpredictable spring weather and flows consistently throw a wrench in even the most seasoned catfish veteran's plans.

Volatile conditions didn't stop over 100 of the most seasoned cat anglers in the region from competing and laying it on the line. Nearly 80 percent of the teams weighed fish, and 17 of those teams averaged over five pounds per fish.

The Sidney team of Troy Cotter and Jimmy Bingley broke in the top 10 at just over 21 pounds. Local husband and wife team and tourney veterans Bobbie and Scott Swanson finished in ninth-place, making that their top finish as team members.

Chad Rolison and Jeremiah Johnson, out of Laurel, improved on last year's top-20 finish, landing in eighth.

Team 406 Fishin', Duane Meiers and Abraham Hawkins out of Billings, boasted another impressive finish on this stretch of river, landing in seventh-place with just over 23 pounds.

The father/son combo and past Big Fish winners Chad and Kyle Mueller, out of Sidney, once again impressed, finishing in sixth.

The top five started with tourney veterans Blake and Lindsey Gauer turning in another impressive performance with 23.88 pounds.

Milk River rats Chris Kolstad and Willy Lauckner improved on last year's 11th-place finish, ending in fourth with over 25 pounds. Chris and Willy finished in third place in last year's AOY standings and are looking to move up the leaderboard this year.

2018 Yellowstone Challenge champions Jason Flaten and his brother Brenner turned in another solid performance. That marks three years-in-a-row this duo has finished in the top three. B. Flaten described the challenges posed in this year's tourney, "Today was a little crazy because it was a lot lower than the last couple years. A lot of the stuff we worked the last couple years, we couldn't even get to this year. That created a little bit of a challenge. We still caught 23-24 cats today. It was an overall good day. We caught all four of our basket fish in four different spots."

Tourney vet Kent Hagen picked a great time to break through. Hagen has fished this event nearly every year since its inception and locked up his first top 10 finish. He and his partner Colter Pearson finished with a 28.67 basket, good enough for second place.

A 31.51-pound basket of fish brought in by father/son combo of Robert and Bobby Wise proved to be the largest of the day. This championship was the duo's second Yellowstone Challenge crown and fourth circuit title overall. The 2015 Co-Anglers of the year had to change things up this year a bit though. "We got out of our comfort zone I guess," explained B. Wise. "We've never fished that stretch during the tournament. I think it made us look for different stuff. You need to look for different stuff that other people aren't fishing." R. Wise revealed the extreme attention to detail that great teams have on breaking down water during his post tournament interview: "We only caught five little fish, in 10 miles of river pre-fishing yesterday. We caught 17 fish today and threw back five that were seven pounds or more looking for a bigger one. It was a good day." A great day it was for this legendary team.

The Montana Catfish Association is a non-profit organization that runs this tournament and others around the state to help promote Channel Catfish in Montana and local communities. All of the tournaments are over 100 percent payback. That means 100 percent cash payback from entries and thousands of dollars in additional prizes.

Two of our Montana Cats events, the Missouri River Catfish Clash in Williston, N.D., and Monster Cat Roundup in Sidney still have openings. Take this opportunity to sign up now before it's too late. See everyone in Glasgow for the second leg of the Montana Catfish Association tour at the Milk River Catfish Classic on Saturday, June 1.

13th-Annual Yellowstone Challenge, Huntley, May 11

1 Bobby and Robert Wise, Billings, 31.51

2 Kent Hagen and Colter Pearson, Billings, 28.67

3 Brenner Flaten, Glasgow / Jason Flaten, West Wendover, Nev., 26.66

4 Chris Kolstad, Glasgow / Willy Lauckner, Nashua, 25.88

5 Blake and Lindsey Gauer, Park City, 23.88

6 Chad and Kyle Mueller, Sidney, 23.73

7 Duane Meiers and Abraham Hawkins, Billings, 23.27

8 Chad Rolison and Jeremiah Johnson, Laurel, 22.43

9 Bobbie and Scott Swanson, Billings, 21.84

10 Troy Cotter and Scott Schmidt, Sidney, 21.43

11 Andrew Parent, Worden / Pat Whitmer, Billings, 21.39

12 Cole Plouffe, Glendive / Chad Dawson, Dickinson, N.D., 21.26

13 Paxton and Ray Lambrecht, Billings, 21.20

14 Jordan Hoagland and Eric Wolff, Billings, 21.01

15 Christopher Stockton and Eric Spooner, Billings, 20.87

16 Cody Veal, Story / Darin Gagliano, Banner, Wyo., 20.11

17 Paul and Brian Luepke, Columbus, 20.11

18 Matthew and Zac Bushman, Billings, 19.69

19 Todd and Kellie Lindsay, Billings, 19.09

20 Shawn and Kurt Weber, Billings, 18.52

21 Jeremy Johnson, Worden / Doug Enderson, Billings, 18.29

22 Rod Seder, Billings / Rob Seder, Hardin, 17.62

23 Jayson Riggin and Robert Petersen, Billings, 17.57

24 Bryon Armour and Ty Thomas, Lewistown, 17.52

25 Steve Lowrey, Fairview / James Decker, Sidney, 7.21

26 Dan and Amber Achten, Laurel, 16.91

27 Brady Mueller and Tom Kobza, Sidney, 16.48

28 Charles Ferguson, Big Timber / Brodie McDonald, Laurel, 15.34

29 Steve Harris Jr. and Steve Harris, Sidney 15.28

30 Chandler Faulk and Garrett Hauge, Shepherd, 15.28

31 Austin Oblander, Billings / Otis Oblander, Ballantine, 14.73

32 Kevin Zimmerman and Ken Ard, Billings, 11.78

33 Todd Dooley, and Becky Lange, Sidney, 11.20

34 Rich Theis and Mike Shelton, Billings, 11.03

35 Josh Marottek, Medicine Lake / Charles Marottek, Poplar, 10.83

36 Corey Bushman and Cody Evans, Billings, 9.92

37 Paul and Rence Parra, Laurel, 9.86

38 Derek and Clarence Weber, Billings, 9.81

39 Blayze Mikkelson and Dustin Neely, Shepherd, 8.15

40 Dan LaPierre and Josh Dannenberg, Billings, 7.01

No weight: Brett Litle and Scott Adamson, Billings; Alexander Kochman; Park City / Michael Erdmann; Billings; Greg Lapp; Laurel / Dugie Denton; Joliet; Doyle Hodgson and Lance Hodgson, Sheridan, Wyo .; Jon Stoller and Justin Hauge, Shepard; Mark Weber and Jay Swecker, Billings; Dan and Eli Dupea, Billings; James Bergeron and Shane Litten, Sidney; Gary and Spencer Cantrell, Billings; Alyssa and Perry Vandersloot, Laurel; Jesse Sanchez, Billings / Antonio Sanchez, Edgar.