This 101-pound blue catfish is the largest ever caught in California. Roger Rohrbouck of Lakeside made the record catch back in 2000 at San Vicente. Photo by Jim Niemiec.

Southern California is home to many trophy catfish lakes that over the past decade have produced monster-sized catfish. The state-record catch exceeds the 100-pound mark and every year sees a number of big blue cats caught that weigh between 70 and 90 pounds. Over the past two decades, I've witnessed the release of 25 blue catfish weighing from 60 to 101 pounds, as well as the state-record channel catfish.

"As lakes transition from spring to summer and then into early fall, catfish start to purr," says Ronson "Catmando" Smothers, an angler who spends a lot of time fishing for huge catfish. "The water warms up in Southern California lakes, and catfish begin to feed heavily. Lakes that I consider to be prime catfish waters include Irvine, San Vicente, Lower Otay, Jennings, Buena Vista Lakes, Lake Casitas and Poway. To my knowledge, the lakes that offer the best potential of setting a new state record would be Irvine and Lower Otay. But San Vicente could break its own record as well."

Gearing up with the right fishing tackle and bait, knowing a lake, being patient and having a big net on board are all important when an angler sets out to fish for trophy blue or channel catfish. Ronson is a spinner-gear guy who uses 6- and 7-foot rods, rated for 14- to 20-pound-test line, in a medium or medium/heavy action, which allows for long casts. He likes the "bait runner" feature of a spinning reel that permits a catfish to swim off and swallow the bait before the angler sets the hook. Other dedicated catfish anglers use conventional reels that are matched to medium-action saltwater rods and spool up with nothing less than 20-pound-test line.

On the terminal end, catfish anglers can choose from basic bait-holder worm hooks when fishing smaller baits, while 2/0 to 4/0 octopus and circle hooks are ideal when fishing chunk baits. When fishing deeper water, anglers rig with a sliding egg sinker. Many regular catfishermen have discovered the effectiveness of fishing the shallows with no weight, allowing their bait to sink slowly and enticingly to the bottom.

Veterans know how important it is to anchor up with no fewer than two anchors out (one forward, one aft) and four anchors (one per corner) for pontoon boats. Keeping a boat positioned and not allowing it to swing in the wind or current increases your odds of getting big catfish to suck in the bait, because they won't be spooked by movement overhead.