Photo by Mike Biggs

Some of my fondest memories from my childhood have been those times my dad took me fishing. I recall when he took me to Black Lake in spring to catch bream and the Saline Lake after bass in summer.

One of the highlights of my youthful days of fishing took place on the Red River. Dad would sit my brother and me on a sandbar, give us a rod and reel loaded with a gob of red wigglers and instructed us to lob the bait into the river. A tug on the line meant but one thing -- a catfish was hooked on the line, and we were hooked on catfishing.

That was a long time ago. And today, I am privileged to share some of those special times with my grandchildren.

It matters not where you live in Louisiana, you can be assured that you live close to prime catfish water. What better experience is there than to take your child -- or grandchild -- to one of these hotspots and watch his/her eyes light up when a catfish begins dancing a jig on the end of the line?

To help you find those special spots around the state where you can introduce a youngster to the joys of having a catfish on the line, we took the time to talk with Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries experts who do everything within their power to provide a quality fishery for state residents, especially our youngsters.

To make it simple, we have divided the state into sections, highlighting some of the best areas in each section where catfish is king and where youngsters can have a ball catching them and get hooked on fishing in the process.

BATON ROUGE
Baton Rouge District Fisheries Biologist Ralph Allemand tapped a lake that could have been named after one of his ancestors -- Lac des Allemands.

"This lake is loaded with channel catfish and is a great place for a dad or granddad to take youngsters to try their hand at catching catfish," said Allemand. "There is a public boat launch off Highway 90 into Bayou des Allemands, making it easy to motor into either Lac des Allemands in one direction or Lake Salvador in the other. While most of the catfishing here is done from boats, there's an old railroad bridge about 100 yards from the launch area where people can sit and fish off the bridge."

Another area Allemand suggested is located virtually in Baton Rouge along the Comite River.

"This is just off Hooper Road where the Corps of Engineers has constructed a couple of ponds, and we have stocked them with catfish. Kids can have a ball fishing here," said Allemand. "There are public bathroom facilities at the site and a paved walking path around the lake, with convenience stores located nearby -- ideal for taking kids on an outing."

LAFAYETTE AREA
According to Jody David, biologist with the LDWF office in Opelousas, the city of Lafayette has several ponds available for catfishing.

"We have stocked about four ponds around the city park with catfish, and these are open to the public. One pond has a fishing pier, but all of them can be easily fished from the banks. There are public restrooms located near these ponds, which makes it more desirable for taking kids to fish.