“It’s such a small lake, that’s surprising because when it comes to blue cats, they’re a big river (or lake) fish and you wouldn’t think of catching bigger ones on smaller lakes. Of course, they wouldn’t thrive at Benbrook if it didn’t have such a good forage base of gizzard and threadfin shad.”

When the subject turns to channel cats, several D/FW area lakes come to mind.

One is Ray Roberts, according to Moczygemba. He says the lake could be really good in early summer if the rains that were falling recently continue to refill the lake.

“Channel cats are the predominant fish on Lake Ray Roberts,” Moczygemba said. “If we can keep gaining some of that water back, those channel cats will be in the inflow up around terrestrial vegetation.

The TPWD biologist says to look for channel cats on Ray Bob -- especially in late spring and early summer -- in the upper end of creeks. Also, check on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, near the Isle du Bois state park unit, near the bridges on the lake’s upper end, and in the Buck Creek area along the railroad bridge and the Highway 377 bridge.

Other spots to try for channel cats in the Metroplex region include Benbrook, Eagle Mountain, Lewisville, and Ray Hubbard according to Brock, while Hungerford also adds Lake Arlington to the list.

While not necessarily noted for catfish, Grapevine and Joe Pool offer good catfishing action, according to the TPWD Web site, www.tpwd.state.tx.us. So keep those two in mind for a summertime whiskerfish outing.

One lake that Brock is really high on for summertime channel cats is Benbrook.

“You can catch them in July and August at Benbrook,” said Brock, who reports “tearing them up” at times while fishing for bass there.

“I’ve caught channel cats up to 8 pounds on crankbaits and stuff. It’s pretty amazing since we’re talking about catching them in about 3 feet of water.”

Perhaps one of the best spots to chase channel cats in the D/FW area, according to Hungerford, is in two three-acre city park lakes enrolled in the TPWD’s Texas Community Fishing Lakes program.

“These lakes are stocked about every two weeks with channel cats,” Hungerford said. “The good thing about these small lakes is that you don’t have to have a boat to access the fish, but you can catch them from the bank.”

One such spot is Lakeside Park in Duncanville, and the other Chisholm Park in Hurst. Stocked every other week on a per-acre rate, these 250-plus channel cats measuring 12 inches or better are very good to eat. According to Hungerford, they’re basically farm raised in hatcheries.

“I prefer blue cats from one of our reservoirs unless they are channel cats from one of our urban lakes,” Hungerford said.

One thing Hungerford notes about this program is that it is a great way to get kids involved in fishing.

“These channel cats are fairly easy to catch and that’s a good thing because this program is designed to get people to catch fish,” he said.

What about flatheads in the area?

“All of our lakes have flatheads in them,” Brock said. “Lewisville at one time had the state record and there are still some big ones out there. On Hubbard, the flathead is such a different catfish and doesn’t occupy the same areas as blues and channels, so if you catch one, it’s unusual. Still, just about all of our lakes have had some pretty big flatheads come out at over 30 pounds.”