"Catching channel catfish on D'Arbonne is a year-round operation," Wood added. "There is no period of the year when the catfish won't bite and that is the main reason fishing for them here is so popular."

A drive around the lake validates what Wood said. Chairs line the banks along state Route 33 with fishermen of all ages, creeds and cultures watching several lines cast out and propped up with forked sticks. Watch long enough and you'll see a whippy rod bending and pulsating as yet another D'Arbonne channel catfish is headed for the skillet.

For more information on Lake D'Arbonne State Park, call (888) 677-5200.

Poverty Point State Park
Poverty Point Reservoir and State Park are among the newest of the state's recreation areas. The lake and park are new; the site itself is ancient. Archaeological findings reveal a culture that inhabited the region as early as 1730 to 1350 BC.

The 2,700-acre, man-made lake that is the centerpiece for Poverty Point Reservoir State Park offers visitors an outlet for a diversity of water sport activities. A variety of freshwater fish inhabit the lake with the eye-popper of the bunch being the outsized channel catfish that make their home in Poverty Point Reservoir.

"Some very large channel catfish live in this lake," Mike Wood said. "It's not at all uncommon to see some caught in the 20-pound range. There is a huge forage base of shad, and these fish grow fat and healthy."

Wood noted a popular method that local anglers use to fish for channel catfish on Poverty Point. With the lake being so open, drift-fishing is popular, and the innovative tricks some use are indeed different.

"For drift-fishing, some of the local fishermen have found a way to control the speed of the boat as it drifts along and also allows the boat to drift sideways, giving anglers at both ends of the boat equal chances to fish unencumbered.

"They take two five-gallon buckets and two lengths of rope," Wood explained. "Holes are cut into the bucket bottoms and after tying them to each end of the boat, the buckets are tossed overboard and allowed to sink. These act as dual 'drift socks' and allow the boat to drift along sideways, and it is very effective."

The majority of anglers catch their own bait for catfishing. They locate schools of shad and use cast nets to catch them.

"Cut shad is the bait of choice and the lake has an unending supply of bait, which makes fishing here an economical proposition," Wood summed up.

For more information on fishing for catfish on Poverty Point Reservoir and for information about the state park, call (800) 474-0392. North Toledo Bend State Park

Located near Zwolle, North Toledo Bend State Park is situated on the shores of mammoth 186,000-acre Toledo Bend Reservoir.

The park provides a spacious boat ramp, large parking lot, boat rentals and a fish-cleaning station.