Hey everyone,
I do far more lurking than posting and yes, I have done a forum search for the topic above, but had some questions and was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to offer advice. My brother is coming from up North and has never caught a decent sized catfish(over 10 pounds). We are going to go fish the Wednesday or Thursday before Christmas, depending on weather. We have access to a boat and gear. We would like to go try to catch a bunch of catfish. For clarification, I live in Arlington and we don't want to drive more than an hour, so no Twak. Here are the questions.

1) Which lake would you reccommend we try?

2) I know shad is a popular bait, should we use it cut or whole? If we can't get shad, what's the next best option?

3) I'm pretty familiar with rigging, but any special ideas for rigs to go with or stay away from?

4) Here's the last and possibly dumbest question, just put the lines out and drift? What type of structure or bottom areas should we look for?

Thank you in advance.

CR

I live in arlinton as well and id suggest lake lewisville for good sized blue cats... I'm sure anyone on here would tell you cut gizzard shad would be a great bait of choice if its available. Some use live and cut perch, or whole shad as well. I mostly drift when I catfish, so that's what id recommend. As far as structure, I always try to drift across a point. If not a point, in or out of a cove has worked for me also. Not a pro by any means but I hope this helps!