They had limited research on the two northernmost reservoirs, however, but did mention our extraordinary slow growth rates. An interesting oral presentation was made on the channel catfish populations, management, and angler use on the Missouri River Reservoirs, including Fort Peck. I spent time observing presentations on the Missouri River Catfish, madtom studies, Mississippi River, and many channel catfish studies. This particular day offered two separate choices every twenty minutes. Technical sessions and oral presentations would take place every twenty minutes for the next five hours. Listening to Steve, Zeb, Donald Jackson, and Jonathan Ambruster spend three hours talking about catfish was a great way to get things kicked off in St. Those individuals were Steve Quinn, a senior editor for In-Fisherman magazine and Zeb Hogan, the host of the popular TV show Monster Fish on the national geographic channel. I had been looking forward to the Plenary Session for weeks, as it included two individuals I had the upmost respect for. Following the breakfast, it was time for the welcoming session and the Plenary Speakers to take the platform. This was fine by me and I was ready to soak up as much knowledge as I could from everyone involved. At this time, I noticed that there were an impressive number of people at the Symposium however, I was one of the few people representing the anglers. The main festivities got underway on Sunday, June 20th with a social and continental breakfast held in the Millennium Hotel. Mike is a great guy and it was nice to see a familiar face down in St. Mike Ruggles, FWP region 5 fisheries biologist, was there to take in all of the technical sessions and oral presentations. Montana Fish and Game sent one of their own down to the meeting as well. I arrived on that Saturday night and could hardly contain the excitement. The Big Cat Quest tournament, which was to be held Saturday, June 19th, was cancelled due to high water conditions, thankfully that was the only disappointment of the entire trip. I couldn’t be more grateful and excited at the same time. The organization was gracefully willing to handle my expenses and send me down as the representative. We knew it was important for us to be there. This year’s addition would include a catfish tournament, hosted by Bass Pro Big Cat Quest, presentations from several continents covering conservation, ecology, and the management of catfish fisheries. Even the legendary Bill Dance was excited about it, inviting everyone to the event. In the months after the announcement, the anticipation began to build on what would be included at the Symposium. It was announced in the fall of 2009 that the 2nd International Catfish Symposium, Catfish 2010, would be coming to St. We at Montana Cats, like so many others, knew that a new Symposium could very well be just around the corner. A large amount of studies had been performed and new information was now available for everyone in the catfish world. As is so often the case in all areas of science, great advancements had been made over the course of twelve years. For the next decade, the findings from that Symposium had been referenced and studied by nearly everyone involved in the sport of catfishing. The knowledge that was shared at that meeting and the published proceedings has served as the basis of our current understanding of the entire species. It consisted of the finest professors, biologists, fisherman, and conservationists involved with the species. Catfish 2000 was a meeting of the minds in Davenport, Iowa. That year the First International Catfish Symposium was formed, referred to as “Catfish 2000”. Back in June 1998, a breakthrough was made in the catfishing world.
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