Expert catfish angler Kay Emmons (known as "Catfish Kay" to her friends) frequently fishes the Little and Saline rivers above Lake Millwood. One of these streams, she believes, could produce the next world record flathead or blue. Emmons, who has hooked some that straightened 7/0 hooks, reported that shad gizzards are preferred to all other baits. She fishes with a slip-bobber rig, anchoring above deep holes and still-fishing with long, heavy-action rods, big baitcasting reels and 75- to 120-pound-test braided line. Wise anglers should follow the lead of this genteel lady who fishes these rivers day and night year 'round. Her biggest cat to date was an 82-pound blue.

ADDITIONAL HOTSPOTS
In the few words allotted here, I could never discuss all the great catfishing waters in the Natural State, but in summary, I'd like to offer brief notes on several additional lakes and streams you should consider fishing this year.

Certainly we can't leave out the Mississippi River, perhaps the best catfishing water in all of North America. Anglers here will find an abundance of catfish of all sizes and sport types (blue, channel and flathead). The West Memphis area, where Charles Ashley Jr. of Marion caught a world-record 116-pound, 12-ounce blue cat, gets the most publicity, but the entire length of the river on Arkansas' eastern border has been producing near 100-pound blues in recent years, plus many trophy flatheads and channel cats.

Other big-river reaches to consider include the lower Ouachita River from Calion Lock & Dam to the Louisiana, which has a good population of blue catfish that commonly reach 20-30 pounds; the L'Anguille River off Highway 70 east of Palestine, where giant flatheads await visiting anglers; and the middle White River from Jack's Resort at Allison downstream to Batesville and Oil Trough. There are a lot of big cats here, and hardly anyone fishes for them.

Bull Shoals and Norfork lakes in the Ozarks near Mountain Home have been turning out some huge catfish in recent years, including blues pushing 100 pounds. Both these Corps impoundments are worth visiting if you're serious about catching trophy cats. At only 2,910 acres, Blue Mountain Lake in western Yell County is much smaller than its sister Corps lakes, but district fisheries biologist Bob Limbird calls it the best catfishing lake in the region, with good numbers of all three major species.

Other waters rated high by district biologists include Felsenthal Reservoir in Union County, Lake Erling in Lafayette County, Lake Hogue in Poinsett County, Lake Frierson in Greene County, Lake Columbia in Columbia County, Lake Overcup in Conway County and two large oxbow lakes, Grand and Chicot, both in Chicot County.