Along the main river, blue catfish generally will dominate the catfish catch. Fish can be any size, but bait type and size will largely determine whether an angler will catch numbers of cats or big fish. Small pieces of shad will produce fast action from blues and channels up to about 15 pounds (plus occasional big fish). Big chunks of skipjack will produce less action, but far more 20-pound-plus blues and a better chance at a really big catfish.

Up creeks and inside pockets, anglers can find fast action from channel catfish without having to battle the current. Fishing in the creeks is especially good during the night this time of year. Good places to anchor include the tops of points and the edges of creek channels, where fish can move easily through a variety of depths and anglers can vary the depths they explore just by the angles of their casts. On windy nights, a good approach is to drift over flats and across creek channels, bouncing baits across the bottom. Either way, cut threadfin shad is tough to beat as bait.

Under the provisions of the Pickwick Lake reciprocal agreement, anglers who possess a Tennessee license may fish anywhere downstream of Mile 224.8 along the Tennessee River channel at the mouth of Bear Creek. The agreement does not include the impounded portions of Bear Creek or Yellow Creek above the Highway 225 bridge.

REELFOOT LAKE
Like Pickwick, Reelfoot is an outstanding catfishing destination. Tennessee's only major natural lake, Reelfoot is really just a big area of flooded bottomland. It has an average depth of only about 5 feet, despite spreading over approximately 15,000 acres.

Reelfoot is mostly a channel catfish lake. Channels up to about 10 pounds absolutely abound in the lake and provide very good fishing from mid-spring through the end of fall. Flatheads also call the lake home, however, and the few anglers who seriously target them sometimes hook into some very large fish.

Flathead specialists should venture out at night, armed with live bluegills or other panfish, and look for the deepest water they can find in the lake's Lower Blue Basin. The flatheads may not be in the deepest water after hours, but they'll hold in it by day and move shallower to feed at night. Therefore, they'll at least be near the deeper water. Flathead fishing in timber-filled Reelfoot requires stout rods, strong reels and at least 30-pound-test line.

Because flatheads are far less abundant than their channel cat cousins, and because flatheads can be finicky eaters, anglers who target them are wise to also bring at least one smaller rod that's set up for channel catfish, with threadfin shad (used as cut bait) or night crawlers. Channels will serve up steady action and help fill the cooler whether or not the flatheads cooperate.

Channel cat anglers do well around the edges of cypress stands and on broad flats that have scattered logs spread around them. The cats use a lot of different areas, and hotspots seem to change from week to week. Bait shop and fish camp operators can steer anglers to good areas to begin looking for cats.

Because so much timber litters the bottom of Reelfoot, guide Jackie VanCleave typically targets catfish with a float rig. VanCleave baits up with either night crawlers or Strike King Catfish Dynamite, and sets the cork to dangle the bait just barely off the bottom. He generally casts close to cover or casts just upwind of a cypress knee or a log, so that that the wind and waves will carry the offering to the cover. VanCleave expects fast action from cats most summer days. Most fish weigh between 2 and 5 pounds, but fat channel cats in the 5- to 10-pound range show up fairly frequently.