The author (right) and Jim Reid took these fat channel catfish over a chummed hole on a Kansas lake. It doesn't take long for hungry cats to find the bait when it's done right. Photo by Marc Murrell.

If you enjoy fishing for big channel catfish in Kansas, you'd be well served to be a schoolteacher. As the students head home for summer vacation at the end of May or early June, that's the time when things in the whiskered world really get cranking up. And you wouldn't even have to call in sick to work. Chances are, a state fishing lake or reservoir is near enough that you could visit daily if you could work it out with your spouse.

"We really start looking at catching channel cats in June and July," said Kent Dodds, an avid angler who recently started pursuing channel catfish. "Just as the water temperatures start to heat up, so does the fishing for channel cats."

Catfish are right up near the top in angler preference in Kansas. Other more glamorous species, such as crappie, walleyes or bass, sometimes get all the attention, but there's no doubt the catfish is king among many Kansas anglers. Their popularity is likely tied to their availability, as virtually any stream, river, pond, lake or reservoir in Kansas has potential to produce plenty of catchable-sized cats throughout the year.

"We primarily fish the reservoirs, although the methods we use could be used on any body of water," Dodds admits. "Chumming really doesn't have any boundaries and it's like pour it out and they will come!"

Long thought illegal by some anglers, chumming is anything but in Kansas. In fact, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has its own version of it in the form of fish feeders at many smaller bodies of water and even some reservoirs. Officials admit that concentrating channel catfish and other species making them more available to the average angler is a win-win situation for the KDWP as well as the angler.

Most feeders are set to go off at least twice a day, usually right after sunrise and before sunset. As fish food is released, it doesn't take long for fish to come swimming to the dinner bell. Carp are the most obvious diners, but both boat and bank anglers will tell you that channel catfish are picking up the pieces below.

"We just happen to use our 'feeders' in a different location," Dodds said of chumming. The tactic is popular in many Kansas reservoirs.

In fact, Perry Reservoir in northeast Kansas has gained notoriety for an area that many anglers call "The Hog Trough." The mid-lake location oftentimes has anywhere from a half-dozen to several dozen boats on it. There seems to be plenty of room for everyone, and it's not uncommon to see multiple boats hooked up with catfish all at once.