Most seasoned cat anglers will tell you that winter is the best time to fish. While the flatheads go into hibernation mode the blues and channels take advantage of the annual shad die-off. Winter is the time of year that large blues will congregate so it can be a feast or famine deal. Once you find where they hang out you can usually repeat success year after year. They also begin to target dieing or dead fish so this is the time to break out your frozen jacks/shad you caught last spring. Old frozen bait can actually outfish fresh bait this time of year and it beats throwing a cast net in 25 degree weather. Some likely spots to try were mentioned above and if you can find a combo (creek mouth+warmer water+deep hole) you can likely hit the jackpot. Gotta put in your time like anything else. Happy hunting...

I think we need a good hard rain to get the season kicked off right now.