They carry no daily limit on the Mississippi River. They're considered among the tastiest of God's creations. And you can catch them pretty much anywhere along this waterway from just northeast of Blytheville to southeast of Eudora.

Often referred to as "opportunistic omnivores," channel cats will eat virtually anything available -- insects, small fish, birds -- that will fit into their mouths. Photo by Keith Sutton.

Of course, we're talking about the channel catfish that inhabit the Mississippi River along Arkansas' eastern border.

Right now is a prime time to catch these whiskerfish. They're preparing for the spawn, fattening up over the spring and looking ahead toward their annual mating rituals.

True, these fish may not stack up size-wise to their blue and flathead cousins, but a livewell full of these fish, often ranging from 1 to 10 pounds, can prove more palatable for table fare than their larger relatives.

To know when, where and how to catch channel catfish during the month of June, an angler first needs to understand the biological mechanisms driving the catfish's engines at this time of the year.

READIED FOR THE SPAWN
Channel catfish will spawn in water temperatures ranging from 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit. This roughly translates into the fish spawning in our neck of the woods somewhere from May through July. Of course, a big runoff of cool, early spring rains and snow up north can delay that process a few weeks on the Mississippi River when compared with surrounding waters.

Over the previous few months, as the weather has warmed, the channels have been feeding heavily. Spring is usually accompanied by high-water periods on the Mississippi, which means fish are finding lots of food trying to escape strong currents in the main river.

The channel cats will ambush their food by waiting in depressions on the river's bottom, behind wing dikes or at the edges of chutes connecting the river to oxbows, bayous and ditches that drain into it. Often referred to as "opportunistic omnivores," the catfish will eat anything from insects to small fish to birds or carrion.

When these fish are hungry, they use their senses to find their next meal. Those senses include taste buds that are distributed over the entire surface of the body, with a concentration of taste buds on the four pairs of barbels, or whiskers, around the mouth.

Furthermore, their exceptional sense of taste is accompanied by an ability to smell some amino acids at rates as low as 1 part per 100 million. These amino acids are often referred to as the "building blocks" of proteins.

In other words, if it's alive or dead and smells and tastes like something a catfish might want, then that's what's for supper. Even high, muddy water with near-zero visibility is not enough to keep channel cats from the dinner table, since they don't rely heavily on sight for feeding.

While channels are interested in feeding during the spring months, they are also on the move. This movement is another preparation for the approaching spawning season. Fish are moving toward the banks, up tributaries and into backwaters where there is lighter current.