Bushgot began fishing for blues about five years ago on the Missouri. "My brother, Josh, got me started," he said. "He clued me in on tackle and after I hooked into and lost a couple of huge ones, I went even heavier in my choice of line, sinkers, rod and reel. Right now I'm using a medium-heavy action rod that can handle 20- to 50-pound-test line and up to about 10 ounces of sinker. At first I thought tackle like that was heavy, but after losing a lot of fish, I decided on 50-pound-test line and a reel that can handle up to 400 yards of monofilament.

"I have found the big blue cats prefer deep, fast, water," Bush said. "I catch fish in 25 to 40 feet of water in the river, and I use up to 10 ounces of flat sinkers to get the chub down if the current is heavy.

In 2005 Bush laid claim to five big blues measuring 46 to 52 inches. He reports catching numerous smaller ones, 10 to 30 pounds, but they don't qualify for a Master Angler award. To earn an award, a blue must be at least 40 inches long or weigh a minimum of 30 pounds.

"I did even better last year," said the Greenwood fisherman. "I caught six that weighed 30 pounds or better. My largest one weighed about 70 pounds, and I had another half-dozen or so that weighed between 25 and 30 pounds."