Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Texas encompasses so many great catfish waters that it would be arbitrary to highlight just a few. Literally hundreds of reservoirs, rivers and other bodies of water produce blue, channel and/or flathead catfish in extraordinary numbers and huge sizes. Coming up with a list of the best is like trying to pick America’s best restaurants. It’s darn near impossible, and lots of excellent establishments are sure to get left out.

Nevertheless, following are some reviews of Lone Star lakes and rivers renowned for their great catfishing. Some are known for their trophy potential; others have well-deserved reputations for fast action -- lots of cats caught in a day’s fishing, with an occasional lunker in the harvest to keep you on your toes. But there’s one thing you can count on: All of them offer excellent fishing for the savvy Texas catter.

LAKE TEXOMA
Straddling the Oklahoma-Texas border, this 89,000-acre reservoir is first and foremost a lake known for producing trophy blue catfish. Texoma gave up two former Texas record blue cats -- a 116-pound trotline-caught blue in 1985 and a 90-pound rod-and-reel record in 1995. In addition to those great catches, the Oklahoma portion of Texoma surrendered a 118 1/2-pounder to a jugfisherman in 1988; that fish stands as the Sooner State’s record for unrestricted tackle. At least four International Game Fish Association and National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame line-class records also were caught in Texoma. These include fish weighing 80, 75 and 69 pounds. The most notable catfish caught there, however, was the 121 1/2-pound former world-record blue caught by Cody Mullenix on Jan. 16, 2004.

Although anglers take Texoma blues year ‘round, local guides say that the best chance to catch a record-class fish is during winter. Blue cats are more concentrated then, because the shad they feed on are concentrated. Lots of big fish congregate in small areas, and if you can pinpoint them on a graph or by other means, the chances of catching several trophy fish are superb.

One excellent locale for catfishing is the lake’s Red River arm from the islands to the dam, a six-mile stretch of water. The Washita arm is good from the Roosevelt Bridge to the main body of the lake. Drift-fishing over the river channels with live shad is a popular local tactic, especially on calm winter days. Most blues stack up in bends of channels.

Texoma also boasts a substantial population of dandy channel cats. Heavyweights are rare, but small ones serve up plenty of action. Huge flatheads aren’t common, but occasional 50-pounders do turn up.

Information: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Dennison, (903) 465-4990. Accommodations: Denison Chamber of Commerce, (903) 465-1551. Guide service: Capt. Steve Barnes, 1-866-

PRO-GUIDE.
LAKE LIVINGSTON
No body of water in Texas has more potential for producing lots of big catfish than does Lake Livingston. On the Trinity River 75 miles northeast of Houston, this 82,600-acre impoundment is one of the best year-round catfish lakes in the country. Blue cats, channel cats and flatheads thrive in fertile shallow-water environs rich with shad and other forage fish. Hefty specimens of all three species are taken on a regular basis. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the lake-record flathead caught in February 1987 weighed 82 pounds, the lake-record blue caught in March 1986 weighed 71 pounds, and the lake-record channel cat caught in February 2004 weighed 14 pounds.