Community hosts two-day national catfish competition

NEW MADRID - The city of New Madrid has hooked a big one.

On Oct. 4 and 5, the community will host the 2014 Bass Pro Shops Big Cat Quest National Championship Tournament. The tournament will bring up to 100 teams from across the country, including outdoors television personality Bill Dance, to vie for the top prize and bragging rights.

According to New Madrid Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Christina McWaters, while the community was a part of the Big Cat Quest trail in the past, this is the first time for it to host the championship

"This is going to be even bigger," McWaters said. "People from all over the country are coming to New Madrid to fish for our catfish."

As a championship competition, not only will there be more competitors, those taking part will fish for two days, giving the public two opportunities to see some of the large catfish which can be found in the Mississippi River.

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