Photo by Greg Keefer.

Louisiana is blue cat country.

From the Mississippi River in the East to the Sabine along the Texas border, there are plenty of places for anglers to catch blue cats ranging from pan-sized to monstrous.

For truly big blues, the larger river systems are the best, with the Mississippi, Pearl and Sabine producing the most impressive specimens.

"Big water equals big catfish," said veteran angler Greg Stephens of Vinton. "A lot of times, people just sort of go out fishing for cats in any old place -- but if you really start looking at the structure under the water you will have a much better chance of catching really big blues."

In my experience of looking for catfish in deep rivers, I've found that plenty of signs underwater point to possible catfish "holds" -- areas that whiskerfish congregate in. The ideal hold is a small spot or shelf on the edge of a steep dropoff. This hold might be a 20-square-foot area in 15 feet of water that borders a 30-foot dropoff. In most situations, the 15-foot zone would gradually get shallower as you move toward the bank, but then drop off suddenly into the main channel.

Such places provide a zone where catfish can feed on baitfish that also come to this spot, and it provides them with a place to trade between the deeper main channel and the shallower shoreline.

Big-river (or even ship-channel) catfish tend to feed in stages, just as those in the cuts and bayous on a lake system do. They move up closer to shore to feed, and then back toward deeper water, and back again. We'll talk about the deep spots, and then concentrate on hitting them in the shallows.

After locating such a spot, fishing it is the second challenge. Position the boat where the anchor is right on the edge of the hold so you can fish straight up and down. For tackle, I recommend a stout casting rod and reel spooled with a braided or fusion line.

The terminal rig is simple, consisting only of a drop shot rig on a 1- or 2-ounce weight. On this rig I'd use a medium-sized live perch, half of a large perch or a chunk of carp. We're talking about the pursuit of big catfish here, so don't be afraid to use big bait.

Once you've baited the rig, simply lower it down over the spot, sink it to the bottom and start jigging it up and down. If the catfish are there, they usually hit pretty fast, so if you don't get a bite within 10 minutes, move elsewhere. It's that simple.

If you're having a hard time finding holds, you can achieve positive results by positioning the boat on the edge of the dropoff and using the same technique. If you have a trolling motor, set it on low and let the bait drag the bottom; if you don't, make long casts parallel to the dropoff so you can cover more ground. There are shallows along big river channels, and catfish certainly move to these spots to feed. I've found that many of the big ones simply stay deep, but you can certainly catch some big fish in the shallows as well.

The key is figuring out which spots are best. Once you start looking for holds, that's quite easy, but narrowing down shallow banks in the ship channel can be tough. It might seem as easy as moving toward the shallows from the deep hold, you are fishing but that is not always the case. Look for little points coming off the shoreline.

I'm talking about even tiny fingers of soil that extend out toward the deep and concentrate on them. These big-river catfish tend to congregate around structure even more so than those in reservoirs do, so any structure in the channel is good.

Also, look for any exchange of water, whether it is a cut, pipe or space between islands. Water exchanges are places catfish can easily intercept baitfish -- and no matter where they are, catfish like it easy.

Another important feature to consider: eddies, areas of slack water that form at breaks in the flow such as a hump or a log. Eddies are important for catfish because a lot of baitfish end up there. Small baitfish like Nile shad can't negotiate stiff currents well, so they often end up in the sanctuary of an eddy.

I discovered that the eddy, a crucial element in saltwater fishing, also affects freshwater catfish, because I once found myself catching a couple of catfish per trip on artificial lures in an eddy in brackish water in the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. One day, I pulled up to the spot and found someone was already there, fishing bait on the bottom for catfish. The gentleman told me that he routinely caught brackish blues in these areas of slack water.

"You can't overlook the eddies," said Greg Stephens. "This is especially true the farther you move south in the river, where you get a lot of tiny shad. They get thick in the eddies, and the big cats move in to feed on them."

For anglers who prefer fishing lakes, Louisiana also has plenty of choices, top spots including Toledo Bend, Lake Claiborne, Indian Creek and Caney Creek.