Photo by Ron Sinfelt

By John N. Felsher

Blessed with easy access to a wealth of fertile rivers, bayous, canals and lakes, catfishermen in the Sportsman's Paradise can find often outstanding angling close to home. Most waters recovered from the storms of 2002. Food sources remain high, water quality is good and fish populations are stable and abundant. All of these factors combine to suggest that Louisiana anglers could enjoy an outstanding season this year.

Throughout the Bayou State, anglers catch three species: flatheads, blues and channel cats. They often share the same waters, although each dominates its own niche. More tolerant of brackish water than are other species, blues prefer clean, flowing rivers, but also thrive in tidal marshes. Channel cats prefer quiet water. Flatheads hunt in the roughest cover of major rivers and large reservoirs.

"Flatheads do quite well in lakes and reservoirs, but are also found in rivers," said Mark McElroy, a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist. "Channel cats do better in lakes than rivers. Blues prefer rivers. Blue cats are omnivorous and eat live fish or dead bait. Anglers can use anything with an odor to it."

Blue cats top the whopper club, as anglers sometime catch blues weighing more than 120 pounds. Old records dating to the 19th century contain claims (not always entirely credible) of the Mississippi River giving up individual whiskerfish of the blue kind in excess of 300 pounds. Joseph Wiggins landed the official Louisiana record, a 105-pound blue, from the Mississippi in June 1997.

Flathead catfish may also exceed 120 pounds. Harley Rakes landed a 66-pounder from the Red River near Shreveport in July 1998 to set the state rod-and-reel record, and people occasionally catch 90- and 100-pound fish on trotlines.

Channel cats rarely break the 20-pound mark, with most weighing less than 10 pounds. However, they can grow larger than 50 pounds. In August 1977, Harold W. Clubb landed a 30.31-pound channel catfish off the Intracoastal Waterway near Houma.

Today, catfish remain one of the most abundant, most widespread and most neglected fish in Louisiana. There are those who dedicatedly set out their trotlines or float jugs, certainly, but most sportsmen ignore catfish. It's the comparatively few ardent whiskerfish fans who most relish the challenge of battling a mighty fish without going 100 miles offshore.

Monster blues eat just about anything, but prefer fish, alive or dead. Use whole fish 4 to 6 inches long, fillets, belly strips or meaty chunks. Larger live shiners also entice big cats. The oilier or smellier the bait, the more blues and channels like it.

If you want to catch whiskered monsters, you need to fish the big rivers. The Mississippi, Atchafalaya and Red rivers are home to some of the largest catfish in the nation. On many levees, including in downtown New Orleans, anglers can use deep-sea tackle and entice giant catfish from major rivers. Don't discount smaller rivers such as the Sabine, Pearl, Calcasieu, Cane, Ouachita or Amite for yielding big numbers of cats and the occasional big fish.

No Bayou State anglers catch mammoth cats more consistently than do those who frequent the Mississippi River, its tributaries and oxbows. A catch of a blue catfish in the 50- to 80-pound range is an ordinary occurrence here; some - not often, but often enough - go over 100 pounds. Ranking just behind Joseph Wiggins' 105-pound state record are Arthur Pierre's 8-pounder from August 1987 and Jon Michael Fortenbery's 87-pounder, landed from the river near Transylvania on July 22, 2002. And many big cats go unreported each year.

"The Mississippi River is a very good place to catch catfish," said David Hickman, an LDWF biologist in Ferriday. "The Mississippi River and its backwater lakes are great places to catch huge flatheads, blues and channels. For numbers of fish, I recommend Lake St. John. It has a tremendous population of 1/2- to 3-pound channel cats."

Lake St. John and Lake Concordia no longer connect to the Mississippi River, but these ancient oxbows still hold huge populations of channel catfish, flatheads and some blues. Some channel cats weigh more than 5 pounds.

In these old river channels, ancient currents swept the bottom clean of cover. However, logs, pilings, camp docks, cypress trees and other objects along the shorelines provide good catfish cover. Weedy, shallow flats at either end attract catfish feeding at night or spawning in the spring.

Several active oxbow lakes still connect with the Mississippi and thus rise and fall with river levels. As waters rise, the river replenishes fish stocks in these lakes. Falling water frequently makes fish feed more aggressively, so people fish near the chutes that flow from the oxbows into the river.

The Red River used to flow wild and muddy like the Mississippi, but five water-control structures from Shreveport to Marksville tamed the mighty stream. Sediment dropped from the water, increasing visibility considerably. Some whopper catfish still lurk in the pools created by these structures; in these pools the cats find abundant forage in the form of bass, bream, shad and other species that populate the pools and backwaters.

"On a good day on the Red River, an angler might catch 30 or more catfish with rod and reel provided he or she knows where to go," said James Seales, an LDWF biologist in Minden. "They might catch a 40-pound flathead. The average would be much less than that on other water bodies."

With so much woody structure composed of timber inundated by the rising water after the dams formed the pools, the Red River ranks extremely high for huge flatheads. Harley Rakes caught his record from the Red, and in February 2000, it yielded a 52.04-pounder to Michael L. Guimbellot. Some 100-pound flatheads and blues roam the river.

Look for big blues where current scours holes on the outside shorelines of major bends or at the ends of rocky wing dams used for redirecting current; current also digs holes around logjams. Seeking to escape the currents, big catfish face upstream and wait for morsels to bounce along the bottom into their mouths. When they see something they like, they gulp it down and sink back into their holes.

"Blues congregate at the end of wing jetties where current creates an eddy and digs a deep hole," said Gary Hood of Red River Catfish Guide Service in Bossier City. "Around that hole, I fish three to five rods with different types of bait. I put two baits in front of the hole. Feeding catfish find a comfortable spot and face upstream looking for food to come to them. Inactive fish rest in the bottom of the hole. I put another bait in the bottom of the hole and one or two behind the hole. Sometimes I won't get a bite in the bottom of the hole, but I can't keep them off on the upstream side."

To book trips with Hood, call (318) 741-1195.

Other top northwest Louisiana destinations include Lake Bistineau, Lake Claiborne, Grand Bayou Reservoir and Caddo Lake. An 8,500-acre reservoir averaging about 7 feet deep that supplies water to Shreveport, Cross Lake harbors plenty of channel catfish up to 10 pounds. Most anglers drift across the middle of the lake looking for channel cats.

Toward Alexandria and Marksville, the Red River and its tributaries also provide rewarding action in central Louisiana. Black Lake holds good catfish concentrations, as does Lake Rodemacher.

"Someone fishing the Red River or Black Lake during periods when the water is ideal could probably catch 25 to 35 small fish per day," observed Ricky Moses, an LDWF biologist in Alexandria. "Fishing below the lock and dams will not produce nearly as many fish, but the fish caught will be much larger."

Like the Mississippi and the Red, the Atchafalaya River also hides huge catfish in its swirling depths. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allows 30 percent of the Mississippi volume to flow down the Atchafalaya.

"I've seen a 100-pound flathead come out of the Atchafalaya River," said Mike Walker, an LDWF biologist in New Iberia. "When we sampled in the Atchafalaya River, we saw hundreds of blue catfish up to 15 pounds."

With deep water and awesome flow, the Atchafalaya River didn't suffer as much from the ravages of Hurricane Lili in October 2002 as did other waters. The storm churned the lower portion of the massive Atchafalaya Basin and killed fish in Lake Verret and surrounding water, but this swampland should be set to make some memorable action available this year.

"I've collected some flatheads and blue catfish as large as 60 pounds in Lake Verret and Lake Palourde in our samples," Walker said. "We have a lot of channel catfish in the 3- to 4-pound range. It's not uncommon to catch blue cats in the 5- to 10-pound range. You could even catch one 35 to 40 pounds. Lake Verret is a highly productive, extremely fertile lake. For catfishing, it probably ranks second or third in the state, if not the country."

By some estimates, less than 1 percent of those fishing Toledo Bend target catfish, yet catfish comprise a huge portion of the biomass of the 186,000-acre reservoir on the Louisiana-Texas line. The lake produces both high numbers of fish and enormous ones, as well.

"Toledo Bend has a tremendous catfish population, but it's underutilized," noted Ricky Yeldell, a LDWF biologist. "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 individuals that we see are very healthy. The bigger catfish are usually flatheads, but we have some pretty impressive blue cats."

The official lake-record flathead, a 97.5-pound fish, was caught on May 24, 1991, by Texan Otis Pleasant, who was running a trotline. Another Texan, Pamela Gray, landed a 68.5-pound blue cat on June 12, 1999, also by means of a trotline. And Doug Skinner landed a 67.65-pound blue cat on April 12, 1995.

Toledo Bend Reservoir has more structure than most anglers could possibly fish in several lifetimes. The lake contains millions of cords of flooded timber, old stumps, cypress logs and other sorts of woody debris. Many old river points, creek channels, roadbeds and weeds serve as topnotch catfish cover. In the spring, catfish head shallow; spawning flatheads burrow into hardwood logjams. Many people fish creek channels or dropoffs in 12 to 30 feet of water.

In the deep water near the dam swim many huge catfish. "I've caught a lot of catfish up to 25 pounds near the dam while fishing with bass jigs or while vertical fishing with slab spoons," said Joe Joslin, a bass guide.

Bass anglers sometimes catch catfish near schools of threadfin shad. Sometimes, big blue catfish hang just below shad schools. As largemouth or striped bass smash into baitfish near the surface, catfish gulp the cripples fluttering down or scoop the pieces off the bottom.

"A lot of success in Toledo Bend is based on the success of forage species, especially threadfin shad," said the LDWF's Yeldell. "In the fall, blue cats stuff themselves to the point that some look like they swallowed a softball, because they are so gorged on shad."

Catfish also congregate in the Sabine River tailrace below the generators. When the generators run or the Sabine River Authority releases water into the river, a tremendous current flow agitates fish into feeding. Sometimes the generators kill fish, and big blues and hungry channel cats gather to feed on the morsels.

Downstream, the rest of the 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 blues in the Sabine River logjams. Most blue cats range up to 10 pounds, but anglers will now and again catch a 30-pounder.

Elsewhere in southwest Louisiana, Anacoco Lake, Bundick Lake, Vernon Lake and the Calcasieu River hold cats in quantity. On the river, fish in the mouths of cuts, the outside bends and the upstream side of logjams.

Canals off the Intracoastal Waterway near Lake Misere and the Bell City Drainage Ditch by Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge hold good numbers of blue and channel cats along with some plus-sized flatheads. Most cats run in the 1-to 3-pound range, but some top 20 pounds.

"Catfish are one of the most underutilized species in our state's waters," said Bobby Reed, LDWF district biologist in Lake Charles. "Depending upon salinity levels, a lot of catfish move down into the area around the port of Lake Charles in the winter. They congregate around the docks because they load a lot of grain onto ships. Some of that grain spills into the water and attracts catfish and other fish."

Already a notable catfish area, the upper Terrebonne and Barataria estuaries near lakes Salvador and Cataouatche could brim with still more opportunity if the troubled Davis Pond eventually operates as designed. The Davis Pond water-diversion project should siphon fresh water from the Mississippi River near Boutte and let that water flow into the upper Barataria Estuary. The project should help rebuild marshes and restore a better balance of fresh and salt water into the marshes southwest of New Orleans.

"Lakes Cataouatche and Salvador were historically freshwater environments with extremely high catfish populations," McElroy said. "Due to coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion and other factors, the salinity levels became higher and higher. Consequently, we lost the freshwater environment in that system, especially after the three-year drought a couple years ago. It's right next to Lac Des Allemands, which in my opinion, is probably the best catfish lake in the whole United States."

Little more than 10 feet deep and extremely fertile, 12,000-acre Lac des Allemands holds incredible catfish habitat. Bayou des Allemands and other waterways link Lac des Allemands, Lake Salvador and Lake Cataouatche in myriad bayous and canals.

A wet labyrinth of cypress tangles, bayous, stumps, brushtops, fallen trees and grassy flats, the area's enormous forage base enables cats to grow big and fat. Anglers commonly catch 30- to 60-pound blues and flatheads in the area, and a large complement of channel cats will nip on lines as well.

"Catfish start spawning in Lac Des Allemands in May and continue through September," McElroy said. "Not many lakes in the country have the spawning structure that is in Lac des Allemands. Reproduction potential is superior to any lake in the country. The freshening of that system from the Mississippi River diversion will keep the salinity ranges at a lower level and increase catfish habitat. It has more of each of the three species of catfish per acre than any other lake in Louisiana."

The Lake Pontchartrain Basin (including Lake Maurepas and the Manchac Swamp) plays host to many gargantuan flatheads and some big blues. Stumps in the lakes provide optimal cover for hungry or spawning fish. Anglers may fish the entire portion of Lake Maurepas and the western shoreline of the brackish Lake Pontchartrain, and can also find catfish in the tributaries such as the Tickfaw, Tangipahoa, Amite and Blind rivers.

"Lake Maurepas is an excellent catfish lake," said Howard Rogillio, LDWF biologist in Lacombe. "It has a lot of blues, channels and flatheads on the north end by the cypress trees. They get in the bayous and rivers that feed the lake. Lake Maurepas is noted for big catfish, mostly flatheads."

With a little bait and luck, anglers in just about any waterway in Louisiana could load an ice chest with the makings for a delicious catfish fry this year. They might even catch some prehistoric-looking whiskered monsters!