Procats tournament team Luke Steen and Mark Farrow with Wahl Outdoors Host Ken Duncan

Exasperation sets in as I grip the remote even tighter. My teeth grind and brow furls. I point and shake it in the air with each click as if swatting flies. Not a single catfishing show. Not one.

Now I?m not hackin? on folks who enjoy watching 3-pound fish being caught. They?re just not for me. I wanna see giant catfish. I want to watch big river fishing thick with fast current, deep water, big hooks, giant sinkers, and huge cats sloshing and rolling on the surface of the water; even an occasional huge splash or two would be nice. I?d rather drop a brick on my big toe than see little fish skiing in at 10 miles per hour, launched into the boat, and dropped into a livewell, I want to see people having my kind of fun. Maybe I?m asking for too much but I?d like to witness good, solid, catfishing information where the TV anglers know what they?re talking about, teach well, have fun, and get a little dirty. Chopping the head off a bloody baitfish, sending it to the depths and battling with monster-sized fish on solid tackle is my kind of television!

Maybe you feel the same and are hoping for some good catfishing shows this coming cold-water season. If you are, get your easy chairs ready! The Wahl Outdoor Group contacted us mid summer and asked if we would help film some tackle-busting action for channel cats, flatheads and blues. We were more than happy to oblige.

For the first of three shows, Procats E-Magazine editor Matt Jones took the Wahl Outdoors crew on their first ever Mississippi River channel cat excursion. Launching the boat midmorning and finishing the filming just a few hours later, host Ken Duncan was surprised the action was so fast. 35 good-sized channel cats were boated while fishing a tailrace pattern not often used by catfishermen on the upper-middle Mississippi River. Instead of anchoring in the deep water ?scour hole? Matt took them close to the dam face and threw cutbaits close to the gates. As the baits washed back towards the boat, the hungry channel cats would oftentimes hit the baits while it was bumping along bottom. If the rig became snagged, Matt and Ken would be patient and most of the time a channel cat would pull the bait right out of the snag! The channel cat show airs on the Men's Channel at 4:30PM CST on October 23, 2006.

For the second show, Jones, Duncan, and cameraman Dusty Renkes teamed up on the Rock River near Prophetstown Illinois to film the rivers most famous resident. Flathead catfish is the target species and Matt knows flatheads. Fishing wood cover, deep holes, and some unusual areas, they put flathead after flathead in the boat. They filmed during both daylight and nighttime conditions and as I write this they are wrapping up the show. Will they catch one of those Rock River monsters? You?ll have to find out on the Men's Channel at 4:30PM CST on December 18, 2006.

For the third and final show for this year, Procats tournament team Luke Steen and Mark Farrow demonstrate just one of the patterns they use to put big blues in the boat on the middle Mississippi river by landing over 500 pounds of blues in less than 5 hours! ?I?ve been fishing all over the country and beyond. This is one of my top fishing experiences ever! Unbelievable!? Commented Duncan. I you want to see big blues caught from boiling currents on the Mississippi River, tune in to the Men's Channel at 4:30PM CST on December 11, 2006

Of course an article about 3 new catfishing shows coming out is worthy of an article in the pages of Procats E-Magazine but without some hardcore catfishing information to help you catch more and bigger fish on your waters I don?t think I could live with myself.

Everybody knows catfish hang out in the scour hole below a dam nearly year round. At times 30 to 50 feet of water produces decent catches of big blues but at other times an angler can ply all the deep water he wants with nary a bite. Exactly like fishing a down river deep hole, an angler can be fishing behind the catfish by fishing the core of the hole if the active fish are positioned at the head of the hole. Break down the section immediately below a few dams and you?ll notice the mechanics of the hole to be quite similar to a classic downriver hole except for a few exceptions, which can make all the difference.

Probably the most important difference between holes below a dam and a downriver hole is the presence of at least some current most of the time. Some of the heaviest current in any stretch of river can be found below a dam. Pressure from the higher water level above the pool pushes water faster immediately below it.

Dams impede upstream movement of traveling fish. If a dam has all the necessary requirements for the comfort level of big cats to be met, they will hang around for a while. With lengthy periods of the right water levels, cats begin to stack up in numbers. It?s not uncommon for Steen and Farrow to catch 30 to 50 blues from 15 to 50 pounds on just a few anchors.

The very designs of some Mississippi River dams create currents that gather debris close to the gates and along the shelf or riffle/head of the hole. Good cover located in the right current combined with adequate depth always holds big fish for at least a good portion of the fishing season. Downriver holes are usually the area that gathers good cat-holding cover while the heads of the holes are usually quite clean of massive amounts of woody debris.

Last but not least baitfish. Blues more than flatheads or channel cats seem to hinge their location on copious amounts of baitfish as long as the current, cover, and depth fall into their specific requirements. At certain times, tailraces are literally packed with various species of baitfish such as skipjack herring, mooneye, gizzard shad, threadfin shad, or even white bass: oftentimes all are present.

If the current flow is adequate, (good to moderate flow) Steen and Farrow throw a single anchor off the bow as close to the face of the dam as safety and regulations allow. Once accurately positioned, they stand on the front deck and throw a cutbait rig consisting of a 7/0 circle hook tied directly to the main line with the tag end being 6 to 12-inches below the hook. A three to four-ounce bank sinker is tied directly to the end of the tag line. They will cast up and off to the side of the boat using a 7 ? foot medium action casting rod coupled with a Garcia 6500. Once the bait has landed, they will begin reeling in the slack, feeling the sinker tap the bottom. As the sinker and bait rolls and bumps along the shelf overtop of the various debris such as logs, rocks, barge cable and the like, they keep contact with the bottom all the while ready for a strike from a big blue. ?Sometimes they?ll just pound the baits. You?ve got to be ready for it or they?ll rip the rod right out of your hands.? Mark mentioned.

Well there you have it folks. Hardcore catfishing information that hopefully some day will make your time on the water more enjoyable. When you get a chance, get out there and try it, but remember to be cautious, never double anchor below any dam, and stay behind the ?do not pass? signs. They are there for a reason.

Good fishing,

Tim Scott