The third-largest of the Highland Lakes is LBJ, which features a strong flathead fishery. Also rated as good by the TPWD, the 6,000-acre lake west of Marble Falls features a heavily developed shoreline with no shortage of houses, bulkheads and other artificial structures. The area near the lake's dam tends to be rockier and clearer, while the area to the upper end is normally more stained. LBJ features a number of small creeks that branch off the main lake and have a small variety of vegetative cover.

One often-overlooked area lake, Granger, is more usually thought of as an outstandingly productive crappie lake, but the catfish rating that it's garnered from the TPWD puts it in the "excellent" column. The structure in this 4,000-acre lake northeast of Austin near the town of Granger consists mostly of flooded timber and laydowns; the best cover can be located along humps and ridges and in creek channels. Though that flooded cover is prime real estate for large clumps of crappie, it also can harbor big numbers of catfish looking to hide out and to find the occasional meal.

Two smaller lakes in the area that offer up worthy catfishing opportunities are Inks and Bastrop, each smaller than 1,000 acres in area, each with eminently fishable populations of cats. Inks and Bastrop offer very serviceable channel catfishing, and are often less crowded than are other lakes.

Some plus-size catfish lurk also in the depths of another of the area's well-known largemouth hotspots. Lying just east of LaGrange, 2,400-acre Fayette County Lake boasts an impressive record flathead, its weight just over 79 pounds. According to De Jesus, stocking efforts there have fostered a solid population of channel cats as well.

To the southwest of Austin and north of New Braunfels lies 8,000-acre Canyon Lake, which can be an excellent fishery for blues, flatheads and channel cats. The lake features a wide variety of superb habitat, including rockpiles, flooded timber, dropoffs and ledges for fish to skulk near. TPWD reports show that the most consistent catches come in the upper third of the lake.

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The TPWD's De Jesus remarked that, in general, the Highland Lakes mean different angling opportunities for different people. "All these lakes have different reputations," he said. "In other words, they are valued differently by anglers. For example, anglers spend the most time fishing for striped bass in Buchanan while in Travis, as well as many other lakes, most angling efforts are directed toward largemouth bass. However, catfish fisherman effort consistently ranks second or third behind the most popular species in reservoirs known for catfish.

"Even though catfish are available throughout the chain, catfish anglers tend to concentrate their efforts in waters that are known for quality catfish fishing."

According to De Jesus, many people in the area still use gear that they can set out and leave to do its work, coming back later to inspect the results. And most of the anglers are looking to find bigger fish. "A lot of catfish fishing is done with passive gear such as trotlines and juglines where it is legal," he said. "These anglers tend to stay under our radar, since they are rarely intercepted during creel surveys due to their absence while their gear is set."