Owensboro KY to Host One of Nation's Largest Catfish Tourneys

Apr 25, 2023

If you've got a line and you've got a pole, then get ready to skip the crawdad hole and head to the Ohio River. A massive tournament is coming, and I bet you don't want to miss out.

Not too long ago, I wrote about a wonderful discovery in western Kentucky in Eddyville. It's a great little restaurant called Willow Pond, and catfish is its specialty. There's also one in Paducah. It is tremendous. In fact, it's worth planning a trip to eat there and then figuring out what ELSE you're going to do.

I'm not alone in my love of catfish. If you did an informal poll in these parts, catfish would probably come up as the odds-on favorite. Blackened, grilled, fried...you name it. Fix it up, put it on a plate, and watch your hands.

But you have to get the fish out of the water first. And while folks will be fishing for catfish all summer long, they'll have to wait until 2024 to make their favorite hobby part of one of the largest catfish tournaments in the country. And it's coming to Owensboro.

The King Kat Tournament Trail will make our fair city part of its 2024 tour next May. The City of Owensboro and King Kat USA made the joint announcement Monday.

So, that's VERY exciting. In addition to the tournament, as part of this enormous event, the Owensboro Convention Center will host a hunting and fishing expo featuring all the sponsors that make the King Kat Tournament Trail such a huge success.

According to kingkatusa.com, here's how the tournament works:

Here's an example of what we can expect. This is from the King Kat Tournament in Clarksville TN just a few months ago:

For complete tournament rules, visit the rules page of the King Kat website.