Catfishing in August can be Huck-and-Jim laid-back or tournament-strategy high-tech. It’s at once a sport for cane poles or high-dollar rod-and-reel combos, done from the decks of expensive boats and, with equal success, from the bank with a 5-gallon bucket for a stool, and carried out with bobber and hook, simple fishfinder rigs, and elaborate vertical-drop and bottom-bumping gear. Anglers may impale such varied offerings as wigglers, night crawlers, cut bait, crayfish, stink baits, blood baits, live fish, or chicken livers. Fishing may be done in daylight or by the light of the moon.

One needn’t claim a specialty to be a catfisherman: It’s largely a matter of what you’re after and where you’re after it.

If big-stream catfishing is to your liking, the riverine non-reservoir sections of the Chattahoochee River in Henry and Houston counties are prime destinations. Channel, blue and white catfish all abound in the river, and bullheads are plentiful, especially in the numerous feeder creeks. Flathead catfish have also started showing up in greater numbers during recent years.

Bank-anglers in the tailwater areas below the Walter F. George Dam, near Abbeville, and the George W. Andrews Lock and Dam, just southeast of Columbia, can expect ample stringers of pan-sized summertime cats on a regular basis, primarily caught on earthworms and cut bait. Day or night, these stretches are consistently productive.

Boaters anchored in or drifting the tailrace stand the best chance of catching bigger fish in better numbers, with live shad being the bait of choice. Farther downstream from the dams, worms, shad and frozen shrimp take cats of various species and sizes from deep water behind sandbars and along bluff walls.

The Chattahoochee’s tailwaters, it should be noted, are likely the best southeast Alabama trophy catfish destinations. During the past five years at least one 50-pound-plus flathead and the Georgia state-record blue catfish -- 68 pounds, 8 ounces -- were taken from the Andrews tailrace.

The region’s smaller rivers can also be profitable locales for the stream angler. The Choctawhatchee River, including the east and west forks of the stream, winds through Barbour, Dale, Henry and Geneva counties. Upper stretches of the stream contain large populations of white catfish and small-to-average channel cats. Bigger channel catfish, large blue cats, and the occasional flathead inhabit the river’s lower section. The Choctawhatchee is also the eastern limit of the native range of the black bullhead, which creates an opportunity for many anglers to catch a rather unique catfish they might not encounter elsewhere.

Popular catfish baits on the Choctawhatchee are earthworms, catalpa worms, prepared baits, and minnows. These are usually fished on fish-finder rigs or beneath a bobber on light tackle.

Other “‘minor”‘ streams include the Pea River in Barbour, Pike, Dale, Coffee and Geneva counties and the Conecuh River, which flows through Crenshaw and Covington counties. The Conecuh, including Gantt Lake and Point A Reservoir north of Andalusia, is well known for its nighttime flathead fishing. The Pea River, in Barbour, Pike, and Dale, contains what biologists term a “‘robust”‘ channel catfish population.

Note that many fishable creeks crisscross Southeast Alabama, most tributaries of the aforementioned rivers. All contain at least representative populations of various species of catfish, and are worth a look.

Anglers preferring not to deal with strong river currents but nonetheless seeking to sample some good mixed-bag catfishing should consider Lake Eufaula. The sandy flats on this sprawling Chattahoochee River reservoir provide feeding habitats for large populations of channel and white catfish and smaller concentrations of blue cats and bullheads. As in other southeastern waterways, the flatheads, for better or worse, seem to be on the increase here.