Catfish

The long rock wall jutted from the bank into the Mississippi River. At the wall's end, the river rolled around on itself to create a huge vortex. It looked like someone had pulled a huge plug from the river bottom, and all the water was going down an enormous drain.  

North America encompasses thousands of lakes and rivers that produce catfish in extraordinary numbers and huge sizes. Coming up with a "best" fishing list is like trying to pick America's best restaurants. It's darn near impossible, and lots of excellent establishments are bound to get left out. 

Anglers that view the flathead catfish as a worthy adversary, but one best pursued on dark, steamy, mid-summer nights are missing the boat, literally, on what might well be the best shovelhead bite of the year.

Wintertime provides a great opportunity for you to catch some really large catfish.

First, catfish anglers decide the type of catfish species and the region in which you are fishing.
 

Flatheads are the sumos of fresh water fishing .

Fishing for catfish is becoming more and more popular across America. They can be caught on worms, minnows, goldfish, small bluegill, commercially prepared baits, and at times, even crankbaits.

Every fishermen dreams of catching a truly big fish, especially a once-in-a-lifetime monster that stirs the heart and the imagination. Long time flathead catfisherman Donnie Wolford, of Sikeston, Mo., has done just that.

Most catfish anglers are "sit-and-wait" types. They find a shady spot on the bank where they can sit, toss out a bottom rig, lean their rod against a forked stick, and then sit and wait, hoping sooner or later something will bite. Something usually does, if they wait long enough. But hours may pass before it happens. There are times, however, when still-fishing from shore is totally unproductive.

I've never had a burning desire to catch catfish by noodling for them. I'd much rather use a fishing rod and reel and bait. Where I was raised there were just too many snakes and turtles but a new editor wanted an article on "noodling." I publish about 200 articles per year but still, you can't be an expert on every topic — even though a lot of writers try to act like that they are. What you do in situations like that is to find an expert and go with them.

If you want to catch heavyweight fish in freshwater, you need to take up flathead catfishing. Trophy-size fish are usually caught after dark because that’s when the big flatheads feed. Shallow feeding flats above and below a hole, or the inside turn of a river bend, are ideal. Place your bait at the head or tail of a hole just where it starts to deepen. The deep-to-shallow transition area along a shoreline flat is another prime stretch. Flatheads will cruise these areas all night looking for something to eat.