Catfish tourney looks to be big deal for River City

I know nothing about fishing, but I found out this week that it is going to be an asset to the River City.

On Thursday, during the weekly Vicksburg Rotary Club meeting, Bill Dance, angler and host of Bill Dance Outdoors, spoke to the group about the upcoming Mississippi River Monsters Mega Bucs Pro Series tournament set to run July 27 and 28.

Last year was Vicksburg’s first year to host the event and it was so successful it is returning and with an even bigger payout than last year’s $100,000. This year the purse is double.

I don’t know if there are any locals signed on to fish the muddy waters of the Mississippi River or not, but just being a spectator and seeing the participants haul in these Heffer catfish looks like it could be good fun.

During the Rotary program, a video was shown of last year’s tournament in Vicksburg and the way it worked and why the anglers liked the set up here in town, was that they were able to drive their trucks through the Vicksburg Convention Center, out of the broiling July heat, show off their catch and then have the fish weighed.

Don’t ask me how the convention center managed this feat, but the fact they did makes Vicksburg the only catfish tournament that offers an indoor weigh-in opportunity.

Go Vicksburg.

And this, the indoor weigh-in, was just one of the many kudos, Dance was casting out while he spoke to the Rotary members.

He went on to say that our stretch of Old Man River, which is north and south of Vicksburg, makes for an ideal setting for catfishing. And having this ideal aquatic area for catfish means folks will want to travel here, hang out and fish.

In fact, Dance even said Vicksburg has the potential of becoming one of America’s hotspots for catfishing.

Talk about luring tourists in!

And if Dance and his buddies — particularly, George Young Jr., the Mississippi River Monsters tournament creator and director, weren’t doing enough by holding the fishing event in Vicksburg, they are also promoting Vicksburg on their social media platform, which Dance said reaches “well over 2.5 million” people.

Well, if you are like me and aren’t familiar with the sport of fishing, it doesn’t seem to matter. It looks like Vicksburg has reeled in the big fish. And as a city that relies on tourism dollars, we don’t need to cut and bait. So, let’s support this tournament be it with sponsorships or by showing these anglers there is even more to Vicksburg than just mudcats.