A growing number of Arkansas anglers are targeting big, hard-fighting flathead catfish. Photo by Keith Sutton.

Interested in catching one of the hardest-fighting sportfish on the planet? Then you might want to go after one of the giant flathead catfish common in many waters throughout Arkansas. These brutes are known to reach weights up to 140 pounds in the Natural State, and 30- to 50-pounders are as common as costume jewelry at a flea market in many waters.

Anyone who’s tried them also will tell you flatheads are among the best-eating fish in the world. Their sweet, flaky, white flesh fries up crisp and delicious, and while catching a trophy flathead may require extraordinary persistence on the part of the angler, catching small eating-size fish does not. One- to 5-pound flatheads are extraordinarily abundant and easy to catch in many of our lakes and rivers.

So no matter what you want -- a mess of small cats for a fish fry or a trophy-class fish that’ll make your muscles ache when you try to reel it in -- Arkansas can produce. The waters discussed below serve up better-than-average angling for the cat fan.

ARKANSAS RIVER
The Arkansas River is the undisputed queen of Arkansas flathead waters. No other body of water in the Natural State has produced as many record-book flatheads. Fishing is excellent throughout the warm months on the entire length of the river from Ft. Smith to the river’s mouth near Yancopin.

Some of the best hotspots along the river’s length include the tailwater of Ozark-Jeta Taylor Lock & Dam south of Ozark, where an 80-pound flathead -- the current state record -- was caught in 1989; the tailwater below Dardanelle Lock & Dam near Russellville, which has given up two state records and numerous 50-pound-plus flatheads; and the tailwater below Dam No. 2 on the Arkansas River’s lower end below Tichnor, which produces astounding numbers of big flatheads year after year. A sleeper honeyhole is the stretch immediately below David D. Terry Lock & Dam, where Bruce and Mackey Sayre caught the biggest flathead ever recorded in May 1982.

Heavy tackle is essential. Rods should be 8- to 15-foot, heavy-action models and reels -- whether level-wind or spinning -- should have drags in good working order. Hooks should be no smaller than 7/0 to 9/0 when fishing exclusively for large flats, and you’ll need plenty of egg sinkers heavy enough to hold your bait on the bottom. Use top-quality, 50- to 150-pound-test line.

Small bluegills, live shad and live skipjack herring are the baits of choice. Most anglers catch their own using a hand-thrown cast net.

A simple rig that works fine in most situations is the egg-sinker rig. Run an appropriately sized egg sinker up on your main line, and tie a sturdy barrel swivel below it. To the other eye of the swivel, tie a 24-inch leader to which you’ve tied a hook. Impale a baitfish on the hook, leaving the point of the hook exposed.

MILLWOOD LAKE
This southwest Arkansas impoundment is home to an astounding population of flathead catfish. Many in the 50- to 75-pound class are taken each year.

Several factors enhance Millwood’s productivity. When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built this 29,200-acre impoundment on the Little River in 1966, they flooded more than 24,000 acres of timber and underbrush. Many oxbow lakes, sloughs and creeks were also inundated. These features provide ideal habitat for feeding, resting and spawning flatheads. Baitfish such as shad and bream are abundant, so there’s no lack of food, and Millwood’s extreme southerly location and shallow water keep temperatures on the mild side, thus promoting year-round growth of catfish. Top it off with water that’s highly fertile and constantly flowing, and you have a perfect situation for growing big flatheads -- and lots of them.