Louisiana has many rivers and lakes in each of its regions where catfishermen are likely to tangle with healthy populations of channels, flatheads or blues. Photo by Bruce Ingram.

Amid the recent trail camera documentation of at least one cougar prowling Louisiana's woodlands, it's easy to lose focus on our state's most popular -- and most populous -- wild "cats."

Practically all of Louisiana's waterways, lakes and ponds teem with catfish that continue to attract attention of anglers because they are fun to catch and mouth-wateringly good on the dinner table.

Louisiana catfishermen employ a variety of techniques to bring catfish to the boat -- methods as widely divergent as noodling, snagging, slat-trapping, jug-fishing and trotlining -- in addition to the traditional rod and reel method.

Let's examine these more popular methods of putting catfish in the boat, and perhaps catch a glimpse of the best areas of the state this year for catching catfish.

Noodling is a catfishing technique that is not for the weak and squeamish. Hardy souls with a taste for adventure and excitement -- tempered with a touch of insanity -- probe with their hands the murky interiors of hollow logs and stumps and holes beneath boat ramps until they feel a catfish lurking there. Slipping fingers inside the fish's mouth to secure a handhold on the lower jaw, the noodler wrestles the fish out of its hideout and into the boat.

When all goes according to plan, the noodler wins the match. However, other creatures like to hang out in underwater lairs. More than one noodler has lost a digit or two to the powerful jaws of a snapping turtle or found himself having to deal with an angry cottonmouth.

In spring, another method is employed by catfishermen who are more interested in putting fish in the freezer than in enticing a catfish to bite. Snagging is a legal method of taking catfish (no other species of fish may be taken by snagging) and usually takes place in the state's rivers around locks and dams. During this time of year, catfish move upstream on spawning runs and congregate at locks, where anglers use outsized treble hooks to snare them.

Other anglers use slat traps to take advantage of fish moving upstream in spring. These simple but effective tools, baited with an attractant such as cottonseed meal, allow a catfish to enter -- but not exit -- the trap.

As the weather warms in spring, anglers and boaters unfamiliar with jug-fishing, are likely to think that "litter bugs" are on the loose in the area, as empty milk jugs and large plastic cola bottles bob about on the lake's surface. However, these jugs are bobbing with a purpose. Stout fishing line is tied to the jugs with catfish bait skewered onto the hooks. Getting a catfish to bite using this method is simple. Chasing it down is another matter entirely.

Trotlining for catfish is one of the more popular methods of taking these tasty whiskerfish in Louisiana. Suspending lines far enough beneath floats to keep from becoming entangled in motorboat propellers and baiting with a variety of enticements is a proven method of taking catfish.