I spent a few hours this morning on the Red River with Gary and Bonnie Mounce, who are in Grand Forks this week for the Cats Incredible catfish tournament, which gets underway Saturday morning.

Bonnie Mounce of Nebraska City, Neb., holds one of the catfish she caught this morning on the Red River. Bonnie and her husband, Gary, have participated in every Cats Incredible catfish tournament except the very first one in 1988. “It’s our big event of the year,” Bonnie says. (Brad Dokken photo)

The Mounces, from Nebraska City, Neb., have participated in every Cats Incredible tournament except the inaugural competition in 1988. And the only reason they missed that one, they said, is because they didn’t know about it.

Cats Incredible, they say, is their “big event” of the year. Last year, when high water forced organizers to cancel the tournament, Bonnie and Gary made a trip north anyway, just to catch up with friends in town, many of whom have become like family.

No doubt, the Mounces are the unofficial “first couple” of the tournament.

Without giving away too many secrets, I can say that Bonnie had the edge for fish in the boat this morning. It’s always that way, Gary says, adding he’s holding out for a big catfish during the tournament rather than now, when a big one doesn’t provide anything but bragging rights.

Time will tell whether that’s fact or fish talk.

I’ll have a more detailed look at our morning on the water, along with a schedule of events for this year’s Cats Incredible, in Friday’s Grand Forks Herald.

The lottery drawing for this year’s Cats Incredible Catfish tournament is set for 6 p.m. March 7 at the Eagles Club in East Grand Forks.

According to a news release from The Chamber, registration officially opens Tuesday, and applications can be hand-delivered or mailed to The Chamber office at 202 N. Third St. in downtown Grand Forks.

Applications submitted by mail must be postmarked Feb. 14 or later.

This year’s Cats Incredible tournament is set for July 28-29 and is limited to 125 two-person teams. Organizers reduced the field from 150 teams for this year’s tournament because of a change in tournament boundaries. The river downstream from Riverside Dam no longer is open to tournament anglers. Instead, the tournament will be limited to the stretch of river from Riverside Dam upstream to the Thompson Bridge.

The change results from new invasive species laws that require live wells to be drained when a boat is off the water. The change made it impossible to legally transport catfish caught from north of Riverside Dam, where the boat ramp is on the North Dakota side of the river, to the LaFave Park landing in East Grand Forks.

“We are extremely happy that we were able to organize a great East Grand Forks tournament and facilitate the stricter regulations due to the invasive species issues,” said Tom Stennes, tournament co-chairman.

Organizers again expect demand to exceed tournament openings, and teams from as far away as Arizona, Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota are expected.

Besides the fishing tournament, a community festival is planned for Cats Incredible weekend. The popular “Beans on the Banks Chili Challenge” is looking for a group to organize and run the chili cook-off this year.

For more information, contact The Chamber at (701) 772-7271 or info@gochamber.org .