"Toledo Bend has a tremendous catfish population, but it's underutilized," said LDWF biologist Ricky Yeldell. "It's not uncommon to catch 40- to 48-pound blue cats. It's possible to catch a catfish over 100 pounds in Toledo Bend. The bigger catfish are usually flatheads, but we have some pretty impressive blue cats."

Below the Toledo Bend Dam, the Sabine River runs down to Sabine Lake, an estuary that connects with the Gulf of Mexico. When the Sabine River Authority releases water into the river, a tremendous current flow agitates fish into feeding. Big blues and hungry channel cats gather in the tailrace below the dam to feed.

Between Toledo Bend and Sabine Lake, the Sabine River flows through upland forests and cypress swamps. The lower Sabine River holds plenty of catfish, mostly channels in the 1- to 5-pound range and some impressive blues and flatheads. Near the tidal marshes, anglers catch more blue. Most blues range up to 10 pounds, but anglers occasionally catch a 30-pounder.

East of the Sabine River, the Calcasieu River near Lake Charles holds good catfish populations. Bundick Creek enters the Calcasieu River near Kinder. Many people fish at a spillway where Bundick Lake empties into Bundick Creek.

"Catfish are one of the most underutilized species in our state waters," said Bobby Reed, LDWF district biologist in Lake Charles. "At Bundick Lake, people fish the pool below the spillway and catch more blue cats. Blue cats are coming upstream from the Calcasieu River, which has an excellent population of blue cats. It's not a very large spillway -- only about 200 feet wide."

Water sometimes washes over the spillway, oxygenating the pool below Bundick Dam, about five miles from Dry Creek. Baitfish, especially threadfin shad, congregate here because of the oxygen. Also, fish moving upstream find their way blocked and stack up at these structures. Often, catfish lurk beneath baitfish, feasting on targets of opportunity.

Fishing from the bank beneath the Bundick Lake Dam, anglers drift live shiners suspended from bobbers. Anglers usually catch blue cats. Reed reported one blue cat tipping the scales at 76 pounds. However, the creek also holds large flatheads exceeding 30 pounds and good channel catfish populations.

"We found populations in our sampling that were outstanding," Reed said. "There are so many catfish in there, you can't help but get them. People either tightline or cast a bobber near where water coming down out of the spillway hits the pool. Large baitfish concentrations, primarily threadfin shad, swim around that bubble line. Catfish wait under them and eat them. People either cut up shad or use them alive for blue cats and channel cats."

Farther south, bank-anglers fish along the Calcasieu River at Sam Houston Jones State Park in Moss Bluff. The Calcasieu holds lots of all three major catfish species.

South of Lake Charles, the Intracoastal Waterway crosses the Calcasieu Ship Channel, a straightened, widened version of the old Calcasieu River. Running through the marshes of south Louisiana, the waterway connects the Sabine, Calcasieu and Mermentau rivers with other honeyholes. Near the Mermentau, the waterway runs through several canals and large, shallow lakes such as Lake Misere in Cameron Parish. All of these waters can produce excellent catches of catfish.

"Louisiana has some of the best catfishing in the United States and I've fished in many places in the South," said avid catfish catcher Don Caldwell of Moss Bluff. "On the Mermentau River, my brother and I caught 83 catfish on juglines in two days one time. They averaged about 4 pounds, but we had a 20-pounder and a couple 12s. We probably released an equal number of smaller catfish."