Near Larchwood in Lyon County, Lake Pahoja makes it easy for anglers without boats to access cats from shore. Christianson says that though you can find catfish all around the lake, it was the high numbers in the far end of the arm adjacent to the lake's dam that impressed IDNR workers in their last survey.

Those searching for channel catfish at the Iowa Great Lakes should check East Lake Okoboji near the IDNR's Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery. Christianson noted that channel cats converge on the outlet whenever water is discharged from the hatchery.

"We've also started stocking catfish in Center Lake in the Great Lakes region, as well as at Silver Lake, near Lake Park," he reported. "Our last survey showed a lot of channel cats up to 20 inches in both those lakes, especially Silver Lake."

Farther south, Storm Lake and Lake Black Hawk both have long-standing reputations as cat factories. According to fisheries biologist Lannie Miller, they may be our state's two best lakes for channel catfish.

"The population of catfish in those lakes is far above average," he stated. "We did a creel survey at Black Hawk a couple years ago, and anglers were taking 8,000 to 10,000 channel cats per year from that lake -- and they weren't even making a dent in the population."

Boaters do well drifting for catfish from midsummer through fall at both lakes. At Black Hawk, the edges of the dredged area are often productive. Shore-anglers at Storm Lake meet with success by working the north shore, especially on a warm summer evening following a day during which that side of the lake has been heated up by steady southerly breezes.

"Fish with crawdads off the riprap on the north shore of Storm Lake when the wind is blowing hard from the south," suggested Miller. "Don't cast very far -- they're right in on the rocks, maybe no more than 5 to 15 feet out. And if a thunderstorm rolls through, try fishing where the city storm sewers discharge into the lake, or where one of the temporary streams is running after the rain. Cats will lay right below those discharges, and you can really clean up on them as long as the water is running."

Thanks to ongoing stocking programs, rewarding channel cat fishing figures prominently at the smaller lakes in western Iowa, as well. In recent IDNR surveys, Crawford Creek Lake, in Ida County, revealed a strong population of catfish, as did Yellow Smoke Lake, near Denison. Brown's Lake, near Sioux City is another consistent source of catfish. And catfish hunters often overlook Snyder Bend Lake, a few miles farther south.

"We rolled a lot of nice 2- to 5-pound catfish the last time we electrofished at Snyder Bend," said Miller. "We saw a lot of them in the downed trees along the east shoreline of the lake."

Vance Polson, the fisheries technician from southeast Iowa, says that several small lakes or ponds in his region offer above-average catfishing.

"In Keokuk County, the old pond at Belva Deer Park has a lot of nice cats in it," he noted. "Not the new lake -- I'm talking about the old pond that's over the hill from Belva Deer Lake. Another small pond that's good for cats is Yenruogis Pond, near Sigourney." ("Yenruogis" is "Sigourney" spelled backwards.)

"With our stocking program, there are plenty of catfish in just about every lake and public pond in Iowa," Polson. "Sit on a windward shoreline around sunset and fish with stinkbait, chicken liver, crawdads or cut-bait and you'll probably catch catfish. The same goes for just about any of our rivers or large creeks.

"The problem in Iowa isn't finding a good place to fish for catfish," he concluded. "It's deciding which place to fish, with so many to choose from."