For those whose idea of a pleasant catfish trip is to plunk down on a bank and stick a rod in a holder, none of the above areas is very inviting -- there's precious little suitable bank!

A better bet is Hanna Park in Jacksonville. This is part of the Urban Pond Program and receives continual stockings of channel cats. Not many of those fish evade anglers' hooks long enough to top 8 to 10 pounds, but there are plenty of 1- to 4-pound fish -- and in a friendly park-like setting that makes this an appealing fishery.

GAINESVILLE/BIG BEND
Moving westward, the next catfish hotspot is Rodman Reservoir and the Oklawaha River upstream that feeds it. Although best known for bass and crappie, the reservoir boasts some monster channel cats. During the periodic drawdowns, I've seen fish that would likely exceed 35 pounds finning their way through what deeper holes remained. This is an overlooked spot, but a productive one for anglers who approach it the same way as the Oklawaha River below the dam -- find the deeper holes in the original river channel, especially those with timber on the bottom, and fish them patiently.

That does require a boat. But a boatless angler can find some solid catfish action by stopping in at the Rodman Recreation Area just below the dam. The dam's tailrace is a top spot for big and small channel cats. It can be accessed comfortably from either the bank, or from the state-maintained fishing pier.

River systems tend to produce the largest cats, but lakes can often provide plenty of action on smaller fish. If you're feeling catfish-hungry in Gainesville, Newnans Lake can supply the ingredients for a serious fish fry. Both bullhead species are present in large numbers and can be found around the offshore fish attractors, in the deeper waters near Palm Point, and at the mouth of Prairie Creek when rainfall makes the water run hard. Wigglers and night crawlers are top baits, but anglers also do well on chicken livers, clams, and commercially prepared baits.

All of the Big Bend tidal rivers host respectable populations of bullheads, channel cats, and some white cats in their upper reaches, but none of them really rank as hotspots -- except for the lower Suwannee River. Even that river only offers good action under the right conditions.

Those conditions aren't hard to identify. Suwannee cats turn on when the water runs high and dirty, when not much else will bite. The lower four miles of the river make up the key spot, and the offshore holes and limestone ledges are where you want to be. Channel cats, white cats and bullheads predominate. But blue cats have also been documented, and it is now accepted by biologists that they have arrived in the Suwannee.