Standing timber in the midlake section around the power line is a good spot to bait a few holes with soured maize or wheat to attract hungry catfish.

The water averages 12 to 20 feet here. The channel catfish like to hang out around the heavy wood cover, where they feed on shad. With all the underwater obstructions there, Ginsel suggests tying the boat up and fishing vertically for the catfish, or possibly using a slip-cork and casting to the edge of the heavy cover. Either way, just be ready to set the hook and get the catfish's head coming your way as soon as possible.

Richland-Chambers is another of my personal favorites when it's time to put more catfish fillets in the freezer. The 309 Flats down by the dam is a great spot for drift-fishing for the lake's plentiful blue catfish. White bass and hybrid stripers will begin pushing the big schools of shad into the area, and catfish move in to feed on injured baits that fall to bottom. Guide Bob Holmes concentrates more on the lake's finfish, but often sets juglines on the big flats for catfish while he and his clients chase the schools of white bass.

I remember my first trip with Holmes, which took place a few years ago. We strung about 10 juglines baited with fresh shad along a submerged ridge on the edge of the big flat, and then proceeded to use topwater lures to catch a couple of limits of the white bass churning the water's surface. After the whites were filleted, we returned to check the juglines. Several of them were way out of line, obviously being towed by large catfish. We took five blue cats from the jugs that weighed between 12 and 22 pounds -- an average catch for early summer, Holmes noted.

"Blues in the 30-pound range and larger are regularly caught by juglines set in the lower end of the lake," he said.

The area on either side of the railroad trestle a bit farther up lake is another good early-summer catfishing spot. Post-spawn white bass will be chasing shad in the flats around the trestle; the catfish will be under them.

This is a good spot to anchor and fish water 4 to 6 feet for spawning catfish. Long casts to position the baits away from the boat will avoid spooking the fish in shallow water. Floats that keep the baits a foot or so up from bottom will help indicate strikes.

For years, guide Chris Watson has been running catfish trips on the Trinity River, which is just downstream from R-C. He keys on eddy water around bends in the channel, noting that the ramp at Highway 287 just below the lake is a good spot to launch. The stretch of river a couple of miles on either side of the confluence with the discharge channel from R-C is a great spot for catching big blues. Fresh shad fished on a No. 6 to No. 8 Kahle hook is the ticket.