Photo by Marc Murrell.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall -- what's Missouri's fairest fish of all?"

Getting the right answer to that question has been very difficult for the Missouri Department of Conservation's fisheries biologists. Alas, it's also very important to their mission because the only completely workable definition of the term "fairest" is "being of the most interest to the state's anglers." It's no wonder that the hardworking men and women in the MDC's fisheries division sometimes wish they had access to a magic mirror.

For decades, creel surveys -- face-to-face conversations between anglers and MDC personnel conducted either on the water or at boat ramps and marinas -- have been the primary means of determining which fish species are most popular with the state's anglers. The results of creel surveys consistently rank black bass (largemouths, smallmouths and spots in the aggregate) as the state's most popular fish and bequeath second place to the state's two species of crappie. Third went to the three large catfish species more or less by default.

Don't misunderstand: The MDC was well aware of the fact that catfish fill an important ecological niche, as is evidenced by the fact that channel catfish join largemouth bass and bluegill as the three species that the agency provides for stocking private ponds and many of its own impoundments. Likewise, the MDC knew that some percentage of the state's anglers (albeit one of unsubstantiated dimensions) enjoyed catching them. The problem was -- and to an extent continues to be -- that both catfish and catfishermen don't lend themselves to traditional sampling methods.

It wasn't until the 1990s that the MDC decided to join a rapidly growing number of states already on the "catfish bandwagon" and began to make serious efforts to find out not only just how many anglers fished for catfish but also where, how, and for what catfish species these anglers preferred to invest their efforts. Many of the results of the early angler surveys -- which provided significant input regarding the shape of the state's catfish management plans --came as no great surprise. Others, however, raised eyebrows even among those of us who, like my great-uncle Lester Allison, believe that "(t)here are only two kinds of fish in this world: catfish and them scaly (expletive deleted)."

For example: One of the first mail-in surveys confirmed that catfishermen are significantly underreported in creel surveys -- so much so, in fact, that, according to this survey, catfish ranked second only to bass in the minds of the state's anglers. Another mail-in survey pushed catfish back to their traditional position behind crappie, but only by the narrowest of margins.

However, simply stating that Missouri anglers spend a lot of time and effort fishing for "catfish" paints an all-but-hopelessly murky picture for fisheries managers. Fortunately, the MDC's survey program demonstrated that, to the state's catfishermen, that same picture is clear. Despite the fact that Missouri's portion of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers -- and perhaps the Osage River as well -- are among the best bets for a new world-record blue cat, only 9 percent of the state's catfishermen named blue cats as their primary target species. Only 14 percent of the state's catfishermen targeted flatheads. Subtract another 2 percent to cover bullhead fanatics, and a whopping 75 percent of Missouri's catfishermen prefer channel cats.

Actually, the fact that the channel is Missouri's undisputed King of Cats should come as no surprise, because channels have so much to offer. For openers, anything from a fly rod to a worm a rod is suitable channel cat tackle, so -- a few hooks and weights aside -- every angler in the state already owns most of the "channel-cat gear" that anyone needs. Channel cats take an even more laissez-faire attitude about potential food, and will readily sample anything from maggot-gagging "sour" shad to fresh-dug worms, a hot dog left over from lunch or an artistically-tied wet fly. But be all that as it may, it's the channel cat's availability that's the most important reason for this fish's royal status. Channel cats can be found in impounded waters ranging in size from a quarter-acre to more than 40,000 acres and in flowing waters ranging from tiny creeks to the mighty Mississippi.

The fact that no one in Missouri lives more than a few miles from channel-cat water is, of course, a good thing. But true though it may be, telling you that channel cats are "everywhere" doesn't help very much when you're trying to decide exactly where to spend your precious fishing time. Well, we don't treat our readers that way here at Missouri Game & Fish. The waters I'm about to describe aren't 2007's only good bets for channel cats -- there are many others -- but they are streams and impoundments in which conditions are ripe for yielding exceptional channel cat fishing this year.