Another trick of catfish experts in the area is to pre-bait a fishing hole. Normally, this is best accomplished from a boat. First, ferment a 5-gallon bucket of feed-store wheat or milo for several days under the hot sun. Dump about half of this in water 20 to 30 feet deep to get a hole started. Return every few days to add more. After a week or so you can anchor up, dump a gallon of bait, wait an hour, and began catching fish. Under these circumstances, stinkbaits and such normally work best.

If you want to catch the lake's notorious flatheads, fish with fresh live bait during daylight hours. I say "notorious" because as a kid I heard tales of man-sized flatheads run rampant.

Someone's father always knew someone who knew a state police scuba diver in training for deep-water body retrieval. A common version of the story was that the guy came across a monster catfish so big that he nearly died of fright. No man-sized flatheads have yet materialized. But enough 50- to 60-pound fish are caught via hook and line to make the prospect tantalizing.

Some anglers specialize in these big flatheads, typically using fish finders and big tackle. For bait they use live shad, sunfish or baby carp that average about a pound. You won't catch numbers in this game, but one single 50-pound flathead equates to a large mess of channels or blues.

While in the area, don't discount Caballo Lake, a 15-minute drive downstream. It's often less crowded, especially on weekends when the Butte's personal watercraft and water-skiers conspire to dissolve the peace and quiet. Due to a featureless bottom with little structure, this water especially asks for a "baited hole."

For your bait needs, and to get an up-to-date fishing report at Elephant Butte, contact J's Bait Shak at (505) 744-5413, Marina Del Sur at (505) 744-5567, and Rock Canyon at (505) 744-5462. Lil' Abner's, at (505) 743-0153, is a good spot to call if you are fishing Caballo Lake.

LOWER GILA RIVER
I first discovered the incongruous catfish waters of the Lower Gila while pack-stringing aboard one of outfitter Billy Lee's sturdy mules in search of wilderness turkey hunting.

We didn't find much in the way of turkey, but we sure did have a blast catching catfish. I even caught several feisty channel cats up to 7 pounds while stripping streamers and Woolly Buggers for the river's smallmouth bass. Subsequent trips have shown us that realistic crayfish patterns, heavily weighted, can be deadly on the river's cats, a unique opportunity to catch catfish on flies, on purpose.

Someone's father always knew someone who knew a state police scuba diver in training for deep-water body retrieval.

A common version of the story was that the guy came acrossa monster catfish so bigthat he nearly died of fright.

I said "incongruous" because these cats often live side by side with rainbow trout in clear, cold waters that make their flesh firm and delicious.

Lee always brings along a package of worms and enjoys even better success. Flipping over rocks near the water's edge and catching pinky-finger-sized hellgrammites also paid off, since the river's big flatheads seem especially vulnerable to these mean-looking aquatic insects. Just watch out for their nasty pincers.

The river also holds a healthy population of crawdads, so a small dip net would be worth packing.

Catfish are typically found in the very deepest pools. Hike along and give each pool a dozen good drifts before moving on to another. When water's clear, often you can sneak up on a pool and actually see the big cats hanging on the bottom.