Another advantage you gain in a spot like this is the ability to drift-fish the deeper water. That is, you can add just enough weight to allow your bait to bump along the bottom, and then you cast it into the water flowing into the hole and let the current drift it into and through the deeper water. Catfish using these areas are not unlike stream bass or even trout in that they'll lay in wait along the current edges and snatch any easy meal that comes floating by. You can use that natural tendency to your advantage when you find a setup like the one described here.

On truly large rivers, you can take a similar approach adjacent to wing dams built to provide current breaks. At places like those, you can put a bait out on the bottom in the calm water of the eddy, and then cast another bait out into the current, slightly upstream, and drift-fish that offering. Both should prove effective at catching cats.

When fishing from a boat, you can find a spot to anchor that will provide you easy casting access to the deep, slow-moving/still water and the current nearby. You'll cast one rod into the deeper water and still-fish it, while you drift-fish another bait along the current edges. This dual approach works very well, and you're likely to catch fish both ways during the same trip.

Another approach you can take when fishing from a boat, especially on large rivers, is simply to drift-fish through an area with a bait bumping along the bottom. And you can do it two ways. This time of year, streams and river are generally at normal levels, and you should be able to find current edges that will provide a moderately slow drift for your boat without a lot of help from you. If anything, you might have to tap your bow-mount trolling motor now and then to stay on course.

And during periods of high water with swifter current, you can still effectively catch cats with this kind of drifting by using your trolling motor to work slightly against the current and, as a result, slow you down. This technique can be especially effective because catfish will get a longer look at your bait as it moves along slower than the prevailing current would otherwise carry it.

On large lakes and reservoirs, you want to identify spots similar to those described for river and stream fishermen -- that is, places where deep water transitions into a shallow bay or main-lake flat where cats can roam in search of food.

The mouths of feeder creeks generally provide this kind of structure break. So will many main-lake points. These are great spots to target for cats from your boat.

They'll also work well if you're shorebound because you can set up in a spot that will provide you casting access to the deep and shallow water. You'll be still-fishing pretty much exclusively using this approach, regardless of whether you're in a boat or on shore.

Other great places to target for cats on larger lakes are those spots where the feeder creeks actually begin widening from their normal channel width into a cover or bay on the main lake. Often, these spots will have a least a little bit of current from the inflow of the stream, and that will draw baitfish and game fish of all types, including cats.

Generally speaking, you won't notice as significant a depth difference from the stream itself into the cove -- at least not for some distance. If you're fishing from a boat, one of the best things to do is to anchor right at the point where the feeder creek widens into the cover or bay of the main lake. From that spot, you can cast out into the cove -- say off the bow of the boat -- then cast off the stern up into the stream itself. There could be decent current there, and your bait will drift back toward you. Or you can impart your own action and use a slow, deliberate retrieve such as you'd use if you were bass fishing with a Carolina rig.

If you're fishing from the bank, your approach ought to focus on finding a spot that will let you cast one bait into deep water and the other into shallow water. And if there is current at the back of a cove where the feeder creek dumps in, that's a great place to set up. You can set up so as to permit casting into the deeper water with a still-fished bait, and also cast into the current at the tail of the stream and drift your offering into the cove. Each of those methods can be very effective.

When you're just fishing a local pond, take the shallow-and-deep approach simply by keeping one bait fairly close to shore while you cast the other toward the base of the dam, or -- if you know it's there -- the deep water in the middle of the lake. Doing so simply gets your bait into spots that could expose them to the largest number of catfish during a given outing.