Flooding makes great catfishing

Treasure lies in the dark river, clothed in iridescent greens and yellows, slipping smoothly down the main channel, bumping up into the flooded bottomlands, gliding, prowling, lurking.

In a crazy commotion of slapping water, it comes squirming and flopping into the bottom of Jim Dockery’s aluminum jon boat.

Behold Ictalurus punctatus, the common channel catfish. By the time this three-hour Wednesday morning outing is over, Dockery and his future son-in-law, Anthony Redd, will have hauled about three dozen channel cats into their G.I.-green boat. He figures the fish will dress out into 80 pounds of prime fillets worth about $250.

The fishing trip is a welcome respite for Dockery, 61, a 35-year resident of the Clarksville area who has spent much of the last week helping friends and neighbors trying to fend off the rising waters of the Mississippi River.

Bad for people, the flooding is excellent for the omnivorous catfish, giving them newly inundated areas in the willows and cottonwoods to prowl for minnows, crawdads, crickets and even — for the bigger ones — snakes, turtles and muskrats.

If you have traveled anywhere along the Mississippi River and not eaten catfish, well, sorry, but you have not really been here. Deep-fried, pan-fried, baked, steamed, poached and grilled, its firm, white flesh is one of the main food groups in these parts. It’s on most every menu, in po’boys, served as breaded fish fingers or whole — a golden brown meal that sticks off both ends of the plate.