Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

Why is Florida called the Fishing Capital of the World? It earned that moniker. Whether you're looking for freshwater or saltwater opportunities, the possibilities we have make anglers in most other states jealous.

From March through October, lakes like Okeechobee, Hatchineha, Tohopekaliga, Panasoffkee, or the St. Johns River offer unparallel bream fishing.

In these waters and countless others, largemouth bass fishing is as good as any place in the country. And then there is the saltwater.

With all that variety, we sometimes overlook the catfish. But for the roughly 3 million residents in the Gainesville-to-Jacksonville corridor, there are plenty of great places for catfishing as well.

Let's have a look at some of the best rivers and lakes in that area for catfish -- plus a few tactics that just might help you have a successful outing this year.

But first, we'll consider what species of catfish are important to freshwater anglers.

THE CATS
Fishermen in northeast Florida are apt to catch four species of catfish with some regularity.

Channel catfish can grown up to 50 pounds or more and are some of the better-tasting cats around.

White catfish is another species that rarely grows larger than 12 to 15 pounds.

Brown bullheads seldom grow larger than 5 pounds, but have the unique trait of often traveling in schools.

Finally there's the spotted bullhead, the smallest of all the bullhead species. In fact, they are so small no one has ever submitted an application to establish a Florida state record for the species. That's in spite of needing only a fish that meets the minimum qualifying weight of 2 pounds.

WHERE TO CATFISH
Using Gainesville as a starting point, just a short drive to the west is one of the best free-flowing rivers that offers great catfishing. The Suwannee River begins in Georgia and courses its way south across peninsular Florida to the Gulf of Mexico.

At first it snakes along past steep limestone rock banks until the river and terrain both flatten out south of Old Town.

Dewey Weaver is a Lake City resident who knows the Suwannee well and is now retired from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He said fishing is better in the middle section of the river -- basically, from the Dowling Park area down to the Old Town-Fanning Springs region where U.S. Highway 98 crosses the stream.

Along this stretch of the Suwannee, there are plenty of places to bank-fish, but most fishing is from boats. Weaver said there are no secrets to fishing the river. Most anglers just anchor upriver from holes or patches of sandy gravel bottom and drop bait down into those areas. They tend to catch channel and white cats or the much smaller spotted bullheads.

Some anglers use poles, but most fish with rods and reels, 3/4-ounce egg sinkers and earthworms for bait. Weaver said he didn't know why, but catfish anglers don't catch many channel cats out of the Suwannee bigger than 1 1/2 to 2 pounds in size.