A Minnesota wildlife official says channel catfish virus is only one of the possible causes of a catfish kill in the Red River at Grand Forks and not the likely cause.

Henry Drewes with Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources says the preliminary assessment seems to be pointing to columnaris, a bacterial infection.

He says final tests at the department’s pathology lab in St.

Paul might be available next week.

North Dakota Game and Fish biologist Lynn Schlueter said earlier that preliminary test results might point to channel catfish virus as the cause of the die-off. The virus normally occurs in hatcheries where a lot of fish are confined together but Schlueter said it can strike in the wild if conditions are right.

About 1,600 catfish are believed to have died in the Grand Forks area.

Click the link below to read the full story and discussion on our forum.
Red River catfish kill still being studied

This month’s winner is Joe for his Personal Best Flathead of 40 pounds. Congrats Joe. You can read Joe’s story of his “Quick Trip To Clendening” by clicking on one of the links below.

September 2007 COTM Page
Read the forum thread for this winning COTM

This month’s winner is Nightfisher for his, as he puts it, “An awesome 4 hours on the James!”. Congrats Greg. And tell the little one congrats on his catch also. You can read Greg’s story by clicking on one of the links below.

August 2007 COTM Page
Read the forum thread for this winning COTM

This Month’s COTM goes to MadKatter for his MONUMENTAL flattie, measuring 57 inches in length and estimated at 85-90 Lbs. MK tells of his exploits landing this and other nice Kats with a couple of friends in his entry titled (Monster Flathead) in the story section. Links to the story are posted below.

Be sure to tell us all bout your fishing trip and post a pic or two to be considered for next months Catch of the Month award. It doesn’t have to be a Monster like MK’s beast, just an experience shared with all of us here at Katmasters.

Now, lets all congratulate MadKatter for his July Catch of the Month!!

July 2007 COTM Page
Read the forum thread for this winning COTM

We are going to have a chat night to talk about the Katmasters 2007 Online Catfishing Competition. The chat will be held on this Thursday night at 8pm EST. There will be a room titled “Tournament” in the chat room, you can enter the room and join in on the chat by clicking on that room.

We are going to answer questions you all may have with how things are set up and also hear your opinions on this competition.

If you have questions about our competition or want to share your opinion, enter the chat and lets hear it. Hope to see a bunch of you there. I look forward to chatting with you all, answering your questions and hearing your input.

The main chat room will still be open for those of you that want to chat about off-topic stuff.

Read forum post about this.

Katmasters has added 2 Moderators on it’s forum. We would like to welcome Jonathon (SultanOfSlime) from GA and Tom (TomKat) from IA, as it’s newest moderators.

These guys have been with Katmasters for a while and will do a great job helping to keep Katmasters the best place on the Internet to talk Catfishing.

Read the forum thread for this annoucement

This months Catch of the Month Award goes to CBH for his entry titled “Long night on the Ohio River.”

His story and pic shows just what can happen when you make the best of a bad situation. Stranded on a sand bar for several hours late at night after the water level dropped, lesser men would have ended up curled up into a ball on the floor of their boat.

CBH did what many of our kind would do… he fished!

The weather is heating up, along with the bite, so be sure to get your fishing stories and pics entered for consideration in next months contest!! CONGRATULATIONS CBH!!!

June 2007 COTM Page
Read the forum thread for this winning COTM

Angler Eric Mauer was recently awarded a Line Class World Record by the International Game Fish Association. Mauer specializes in catching monster catfish and recently claimed the world title for the IGFA Freshwater 130 lb. Line Class record for blue catfish.

Mauer caught the 84-pound blue on March 18, 2007 near the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in about 38 feet of water. He was using a 2-inch “steak” cut from a river herring (skipjack).

Mauer described it this way, “It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon on Chickamauga Lake fishing the drop-offs with 130 lb. test Ande line when this 84-pound monster picked up the bait. I knew it was a monster right from the beginning and fought it for about 45 minutes.”

Mauer said another boat watched the entire show, however he netted the beast by himself.

“It’s a technique I’ve learned on other big catfish… and the net held,” he exclaimed. “I grabbed a couple of fellow fishermen and headed for a dock because I knew this fish should set the new IGFA 130 lb. line class record. It had to be weighed on land on certified scales (which I carry) and witnessed.

The fish was 55 inches long and had a girth of 34.75 inches.

Mauer said, “After weighing, measuring, and taking photos, I stood in the water with it until it revived enough to swim away.”

Mauer, who is retired, says he normally fishes 3-to-4 days per week and averages about 25 hours per week year-round.

“I don’t specifically fish for record fish, but I do use methods and fish areas that will produce big fish. I always use line that will test at or below the maximum allowed for each line class so that if I do catch a record fish it will not be disqualified because the line tested too high. I preset my drag at 25% to 30% of the stated line test, especially for the lighter lines. I also prefer circle hooks for catfish, in a size appropriate to the line strength, so that “setting” the hook is not required and there is less risk of breaking off the fish. I also carry the required paperwork and a list of state and world records so that I know if a fish qualifies, and can have the fish witnessed and weighed and photographed, and can still release it.”

Click the link below to read the full story and discussion.
Angler Claims (Another) IGFA World Record

Katmasters has released tutorials on the most common questions asked on our forums. On our tutorials page, you will find flash tutorials on how to upload images to your posts, how to resize images (on different photo programs) and others. More tutorials are on the way to help members with there questions and problems dealing with our forums.

Tutorials done in this format dealing with catfishing issues may also be posted in the future.

Katmasters Forum Tutorials

Congrats to “bluegrass kitty” on winning the Katmasters May 2007 Catch of the Month. While fishing Wyboo Lake in South Carolina, she lands her personal best flathead catfish. The catfish weighed in at 50 pounds.

As we finished with the picture taking and gently slid him back into the water, I cried. From the excitement. From the amazement. From the moment. A moment I will never, ever forget……….

May 2007 COTM Page
Read the forum thread for this winning COTM