Is there a best lake for catching a blue catfish trophy fish?

Blue Catfish are arguably the largest North American catfish species, with the Flathead Catfish also frequently coming up in the same immense weight category. While both of these fish are often very large, their habitats differ considerably. Flathead cats like river water - deep, muddy, warm and full of small fish to chase, and with a decent running current. Blues, on the other hand, while they can often be found in rivers, prefer much cleaner water, compared to their Flathead peers, and so, if it’s trophy Blue Catfish you’re after, clean rivers, or, even better, deep lakes or reservoirs, will likely produce the best specimens. Blues also tend to live in somewhat cooler water than Flatheads, making them more common farther north, as opposed to Flatheads, which are a decidedly Southern fish, speaking in terms of North America, at least.

As with most all catfish, big Blue cats like it deep and dark. Unlike Flathead cats, though, Blues are not primarily hunters, but are more of a scavenger. However, in either case, the largest specimens eat a diet almost exclusively composed of fish, though, in the case of Blues, the fish they eat are generally already dead. For this reason, a large, smelly and properly presented whole, dead bait fish is your best bait for a big Blue, most of the time. The biggest Blues tend to lie out of the way, just downstream of structure, or on the upstream slope of a deep hole in the bottom, where they can sit tight, and wait for their next meal to float past. If it happens to be a big bait fish, with just a small amount of weight, so that it drifts along just like the real thing, you just might snag a monster.

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