While most anglers at the Slay Nation Kayak Trail Series Minnesota tournament near Mankato were fishing for bass Erik Koffski, an avid competitive fisherman from Maple Lake, MN, caught something furrier.
Angler Erik Koffski rescues kitten
According to a post on Facebook, Koffski was paddling in the early morning when he and five other anglers began to hear a yowling from a cat coming from shore. For a while, Koffski listened to the noise. As it got lighter out, he noticed a kitten swimming toward him and pulled it out of the water.
“I noticed something small and yowling swimming through the weeds and directly towards me…I tried to meet it halfway and plucked up this scrawny little weed covered kitten!” Koffski wrote on Facebook. “This poor little guy stayed with me my entire day and helped me fish.”
According to an interview with Fox 9 KMSP, the kitten found a home on Koffski’s shoulder for the remainder of the tournament, and when it came time to pack up the kitten wasn’t ready to go. Koffski asked the kitten if it wanted to come with him, and it hopped into his car.
Fisher finds a home
The kitten has received a warm welcome at Koffski’s home as well.
“We didn’t want a cat, but we want him,” Koffski’s wife told Fox 9 KMSP, adding that their son had picked out a name for the cat before it even made it home— Fisher.
The Southern MN Slay Fest was the fifth event in the 2024 MN Kayak Series. While Koffski’s winning catch was a cat, other anglers also found success with Hong Thao taking home the win.
“Congrats to Hong Thao for taking home the win with a huge 92″ limit and a monster 21” Big Bass,” Erik Koffski shared on Facebook as the admin for the Slay Nation Kayak Trail Series Minnesota September 16.
The Angler Of Year (AOY) Championship and final event will take place on October 5th. With Koffski currently in sixth for AOY standings at 227.5″, we can expect to see Koffski and possibly Fisher back on the water.
