Fast Action Cats at Reelfoot

Reelfoot Lake is nationally known as a panfishing destination, and most Tennessee bass anglers also know about it's stout and strong largemouths. Sometimes overlooked are the lake's abundant channel cats, which serve up fast action all summer long.

Blue Bank Resort guide Billy Blakley keeps thing simple when he targets Reelfoot cats. Focusing on shallow flats that are littered with downed trees, he moves from one downed tree to the next, fishing each with a night crawler under a Thill slip float that is set to suspend the worm just off the bottom. He'll anchor 20 or 30 feet from a tree on the upwind side, pitch his float rig next to the cover and wait for the float to dart under. Most trees have at least one willing cat sitting beside them. Some have three or four.

As long as it's not too windy to keep a float rig in place, Blakley can almost always fill a cooler with cats. Most are channel cats in the 1- 5-pound range. A few, though, are notably larger, and occasionally one of his clients will set the hook and find a big flathead catfish at the other end.

During the fall, the cats get under groups of cypress trees where water turkeys roost and Blakley targets them with shad, but that's another story for another day!