“I think 90 percent of the fishing in those areas for big catfish, be it blues or flatheads, is in the tailraces below the locks and dams,” said Larry Pugh, the District 1 fisheries biologist for the MDWFP. “But the rest of the system is good when you get into the old river channels -- not the canal part -- and fish the deep holes. It’s just like any other river system in that respect: Fish for big catfish either in the tailraces or in deep holes.”

The northeast corner of Mississippi is home to one other famous catfish hole, Pickwick Lake. “You hear so much about smallmouth and largemouth bass, crappie and all that,” Pugh said, “but the No. 1 species up here is the catfish, and big blues in particular. Even some of the bass guides have taken it up.”

One of those would be Iuka guide Roger Stegall, who offers his bass clients a jugging sidebar trip. “We put a dozen or jugs out when they’re interested and then bass fish and let the jugs float on their own,” he said. “It is rare that we don’t dig up some big blues, some up to 20 pounds. It’s a hoot.”

Down on the opposite end of the state is the Pascagoula River, the largest undammed river in the country. Its tributaries include the Leaf, Bouie, Chickasawhay and Escatawpa Rivers, and Black and Red Creek -- all outstanding blue catfish producers.

“Fish the deep, deep holes, except in the summer when the fish move up to spawn in stumps and holes in the banks,” said Moss Point’s Tommy Phillups. “My largest blue was 52 pounds, and I caught it grabbling. My second largest was 49 pounds and I caught it on a hook and line with a small live white trout while I was striped bass fishing. I chased that fish for a mile up and down the river before I got it.

“Now that’s fun!”