To contact Blakely and fish at Blue Bank Resort, call (901) 253-6878 or go to www.bluebankresort.com.

PICKWICK LAKE
A good portion of 55-mile-long Pickwick Lake runs through Hardin County near Savannah, Tennessee, the self-proclaimed "Catfish Capital of the World." This 43,100-acre Tennessee River impoundment harbors healthy populations of channel cats, blues and flatheads. Cats weighing 15 to 40 pounds are relatively common, with much larger fish possible. Anglers often land 30 to 100 catfish daily, ranging from 2 to 10 pounds.

I had a chance to fish here a couple of years ago with guide Phil King of Corinth, Mississippi. King practically lives on this stretch of extraordinary catfishing water, and he's won the World Championship of Catfishing and Cabela's King Kat Classic several times here using tactics he's developed.

The method of fishing King showed me is basically a way of bottom-bouncing baits as you drift, but it's not quite as simple as that description makes it sound. To me, it's a form of "finesse fishing." The angler must develop a keen "feel" for his bait rig to keep in the fish zone without becoming hung up.

The rig is a special three-way outfit that has two wide-gap circle hooks. This King baits with the innards of a skipjack herring sandwiched between two fillets from the same baitfish. He starts at the head of a hole and drifts through after the bait has been lowered to the bottom.

Most cats hold beside river-bottom timber and rocks, which "telegraph" signals through braided line to the angler above. The angler must be attentive at all times, raising or lowering the rig with the rod tip so he maintains feel with the rig below and keeps it bouncing across the pieces of cover and structure without hanging.

While drifting, King watches a fishfinder, looking for signals indicating cats holding near structures below. If he spies good fish that fail to take the bait on the first drift, he may drift through the hole again, targeting those spots once more that appeared to hold catfish.

During the four hours I fished with King using this method, we caught scores of blue and channel cats in the 5- to 12-pound range. Bigger specimens eluded us, but Phil has landed blue cats up to 50 pounds and flatheads up to 48 pounds using this tactic. For the big-river angler hoping to catch numbers of cats with an occasional trophy-class fish in the mix, this is a superb technique that's easy to learn.

In summer, Pickwick's many flatheads can be targeted by fishing the lake's riprapped banks.

"The technique for catching these fish is trolling crankbaits that will dive to the bottom where the riprap stops," King noted. "The flatheads wallow out holes to spawn in where the mud meets the rocks. I use deep-diving crankbaits and a variable speed trolling motor that will drive the lures down to the bottom. When the lures start hitting bottom, I back off the trolling motor and allow the lures to skim the bottom. If a flathead is in the area, it will come up and smash the crankbait. Troll two to four rods with lures of different colors, and when the catfish show a preference for one color or another, rig all your rods with that particular color. Natural shad, blue-back shad, bright orange and green work well for me."

Try these techniques yourself, or call King and plan a guided trip so he can teach you first-hand. To contact him, phone (662) 286-8644, or visit his Web site at www.h2o.com/catfish.

(Editor's Note: Keith Sutton is the author of three catfishing books: Fishing for Catfish, Catching Catfish and Catfishing: Beyond the Basics. Autographed copies can be ordered by visiting Sutton's Web site at www.catfishsutton.com)