Missouri anglers can access prime catfish waters in virtually any area of the state. Photo by Keith Sutton.

My first official catfishing outfit consisted of a “knuckle-buster” casting reel mounted somewhat precariously on a telescoping steel rod. Through the years I carried that combo up and down enough muddy riverbanks to realize that trying to stuff most catfishermen -- to say nothing of most catfish -- into one category is akin to trying to walk across inch-thick ice while carrying an anvil.

According to time-honored catfishing tradition, there are three ways to categorize a whiskerfish: by length, by weight, and by the distance between its eyes.

Length is the accepted standard for all catfish measuring less than 16 inches from nose to tail. It’s best to describe channel cats between 2 and 10 pounds and blues and flatheads between 2 and 30 pounds by their weight. True catfish addicts grade trophy cats by measuring the distance between the fish’s eyes. However, when a survey conducted by the Missouri Department of Conservation asked catfishermen to define the minimum weight a catfish must attain to be considered a trophy, a plurality said 10 pounds for channel cats and 20 pounds for blues and flatheads.

Admittedly, living in Missouri makes it easy to be such a flexibly inflexible catfisherman. To avoid spending the rest of my life in a nonstop argument with residents of several other states, I’ll refrain from claiming that Missouri is the nation’s overall best bet for catfishing. However, the record should show that every Missouri citizen lives within a two-hour drive (at most) from not just one but several bodies of water in which swim catfish that will fit nicely into one, two or perhaps all three of the aforementioned categories.

Alas, while a broad-stroke portrait of the entire state’s catfishery is exciting, encouraging and accurate, most of us catters can’t spend as much time fishing as we might like. Choosing the right body of water from many has never been a sure thing, and it still won’t be after you’ve finished reading this article, because there are hundreds -- thousands, if you count private ponds -- of good places to catch catfish.

Rather than give you a generalized long-range forecast that would stand little chance of being any more accurate than an almanac’s weather forecast, I’ve provided specific information about a small number of past, present and future catfish hotspots scattered around the state. For purposes of clarity, I’ll divide the state into four quadrants with Interstate 70 forming the boundary between north and south across the state. North of I-70, U.S. Route 65 will form the boundary between the northwest and northeast quadrants. South of I-70, U.S. Route 63 will perform the same function regarding the southwest and southeast quadrants. Each quadrant’s catfishing potential for 2008 will be illustrated with a big river, a small river, a large reservoir and an MDC impoundment.

NORTHWEST MISSOURI
The Missouri River is this quadrant’s only choice for big-river catfishing, but it’s a good one, because it’s accessible both from boats and from the bank. An overwhelming majority of the cities, towns and villages located along its banks have public boat ramps, and the Missouri Department of Conservation maintains several others located either directly on the river or a very short boat ride up on one of this section’s many tributaries. Most of these boat access sites also include at least some opportunities for fishing from the bank.