And since a number of area lakes are full of threadfin and/or gizzard shad, it’s little wonder there are so many spots for Metroplex blue cat anglers to give a try.

“Lake Ray Hubbard? It’s probably our best blue cat lake in the D/FW area,” Brock said. “It was gill-netted in ‘05, and there were numerous blue catfish in the 15- to 25-pound range. The biggest one we caught was probably 65 to 70 pounds. It is unusual to catch a lot of big ones, and we caught them all the way down to 9 inches. That means that there is a good stable population of blue cats there.”

Why’s that?

“Well, it’s a combination of a tremendous forage base and a lack of fishing pressure,” Brock said. “We did a creel survey out there and tried to figure out who was out there and what they were fishing for. What we found is that it doesn’t get much fishing pressure, especially in the summer when it is more of a recreational lake.

“When you take the combination of adequate forage and a lack of fishing pressure, that has allowed the blue cat population to build up and the fish to grow large.”

Just to the north of Ray Hubbard is another good catfish lake, Lake Lavon.

“At Lavon, blue cats were stocked in the early 1990s and they seem to be the predominant catfish in there now, which a lot of people like better,” said John Moczygemba, a TPWD fisheries biologist stationed at Lake Texoma.

One thing to keep in mind about Lavon is that if summer rain from either thunderstorms or tropical activity moves northward through Texas, any flowing water can turn the lake’s catfish on.

“That’s especially true on Lavon,” Moczygemba said. “It’s got several big tributaries like Pilot Grove Creek and Sister Grove Creek, besides the East Fork of the Trinity (that flows into the reservoir).”

Should summer rains get the river and creeks up and flowing -- including the area near Twin Grove Parks -- the TPWD biologist says that the catfish, especially channel cats, are lured to such spots by the inflow of insects, invertebrates, and nutrients.

“If it is a good flow that lasts several days, it will attract them,” Moczygemba said.

Another area to consider when catfishing on Lavon is to the east of Lucas where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding a bridge going across the creeks.

“The Corps has decided that instead of tearing down the old bridge, they’re going to convert it into a fishing pier,” Moczygemba said. “That’s going to be great, especially across the East Fork when there is a heavy rain, because it will be good for catfish and in the spring, the spawning runs of sand bass.”

To the west of Lavon is another good blue catfish water body, Lake Lewisville, which Brock says has a good population of the fish.

“Lewisville seems to get a little more fishing pressure,” Brock said. “Back 15 to 20 years ago, the area around the lake was more rural, but now it’s much less so, and there’s more fishing traffic, more boat traffic, more urbanization, etc.”

That said, Brock still believes that it’s possible to catch blues in the 10- to 15-pound range.

“Fish that size are not necessarily common, but for those really fishing for blue cats, you definitely have a chance to catch a fish that size,” he said.

Another water body that Brock says to consider for blue cats is Lake Benbrook, just west of Fort Worth.

“In our sampling there, we get blues up to 15 pounds and occasionally to 20 pounds,” Brock said of the relatively small lake. “In fact, a new lake record was set in October at about 42 pounds. Plus, we’ve been getting reports the last few months of guys catching them to 30 pounds.