Last summer, while fishing with Lake Texoma fly-fishing guide Steve Hollensed of Fly Water Angling Adventures, I was fishing a full sinking line and a shad-imitating fly pattern in about 30 feet of water when a monstrous fish struck my fly, sounded for the bottom, and eventually broke me off in the depths below.

What was the fish? Steve and I quickly concluded that it was no striper, but instead a very large blue catfish, probably 30 pounds or better.

Of course, anglers who fish more-conventional tackle are learning to target blue catfish across the state in the wintertime when the fish will group together near tight balls of shad, or in the summertime when the fish are more spread out as shad disperse through a lake.

Keep in mind that blues can be and often are caught on the bottom of a lakebed, as well as higher up in the water column.

That's because the fish are prolific fish eaters, pigging out on threadfin or gizzard shad, even those attracted to a particular dining spot in a most unusual way.

"On Lake Texoma, a lot of times, they'll be caught around the fish cleaning docks where the striper guides are cleaning their catch and throwing the carcasses and rib cages over," Gilliland said. "It's almost like a baited hole."

While blue catfish may be the Sooner State's glamour species in terms of whiskerfish, the channel cat wins the vote as the state's most numerous and widely available catfish species.

"The channel cat is probably found in just about every water body in the state," Gilliland said. "If they are not native, then they have been stocked."

That's particularly true in small lakes where ODWC biologists try to manage the water for a single species or in urban fisheries, park lakes, or places where kid's fishing events are held.

"We typically stock them at 6 to 8 inches and in a year or two, they've grown to an attractive size," Gilliland said. "People will take them out and we'll come back and stock some more."

Part of the prolific nature of channel cats in Oklahoma waters is due to the fact that the fish are very adaptable to finding something to eat.

"They'll eat just about anything, including artificial food," Gilliland said. "In fact, on many smaller bodies of water, there are often fish-feeders set up to feed the catfish."

Where are the top spots in our state to fish for channel cats? Probably at an urban lake, a park lake, or a farm pond near you.

But for bigger bodies of water, Gilliland says that a number of spots come to mind.

"The channel cat population in Oklahoma seems to be universally good," he said. "Canton Lake has a good channel cat population. Some of our western lakes . . . have good numbers. One is Fort Cobb Lake, which has a good channel cat population along with Lake Lawtonka.

"Texoma has good channel catfish numbers in it and Eufaula is a good channel catfish lake. Lake Thunderbird, right outside of Norman, is also good for channel cats, and even fair for blue cats."

One good thing about channel catfishing is that the period from late spring on into midsummer is a great time for catching these whiskerfish. "That's spawning time," said Gilliland. "They're up in the shallows, the rocks, around blowdown logs, and undercut banks. Channel cats are no different than bass fishing in the springtime; they are more available (in shallow water) and vulnerable like bass in the springtime. At other times of the year, they may be deeper and their habitat selection may be such that it doesn't put fish and fishermen together."