Top baits for the areas around the grain elevators include night crawlers, blood baits, shad steaks, minnows and cheese baits. Some fishermen use floats to suspend the baits; others prefer to cast a 2- or 3-ounce barrel weight, pegged about 2 feet from the hook. The fishermen set anchor along the edge of the nearby channel and cast their baits in the area of the elevators. The cats stack up under the conveyor belts used to move grain in and out of the elevators.

Local anglers also tackle flatheads, blues and channel cats in the tailwater washout below the dams, along the edges of the Ohio's main channel, and along the dropoffs around its islands.

Those fishing below the dams and along the channel/island dropoffs frequently drift-fish with cut shad and skipjack for blues and channel cats. Successful anglers also fish around brushpiles and fallen trees, which are especially attractive habitat for flathead catfish. Anglers fishing for flatheads tend to use live bluegills hooked through the back just behind the dorsal fin. It is then suspended about 3 feet below a float and allowed to swim back into brush or log piles along the shore.

More boating access to Smithland Pool is located (upstream to downstream) at Cave in Rock, Tower Rock, Elizabethtown, Rosiclare, Golconda Marina, Golconda and Barren Creek on the Illinois side of the river.

For bait, tackle and fishing information, contact Golconda Marina, phone: (618) 683-5875 or online at www.golcondamarina.com. Travel and lodging information is available from the Southernmost Illinois Travel Bureau, phone: (800) 248-4373 or online at www.southernmostillinois. com.

WABASH RIVER
The Wabash River is one of the largest free-flowing rivers east of the Mississippi River. The Illinois portion of the river -- from about Terre Haute, Indiana, to Wabash Island at the confluence with the Ohio River -- is more than 200 miles long.

Blue, channel and flathead catfish can be found throughout the entire length. Some of the best fishing takes place in the vicinity of Darwin; Vincennes, Indiana; Mt. Carmel; New Harmony, Indiana; and the area at the mouth of the Little Wabash River near New Haven.

Particularly good catfishing occurs along the stretch of river below Maunie, and at the mouth of the Wabash River above Old Shawneetown are good locations. Rockpiles and brushpiles are the best places to begin. Many of these sites can be easily fished from shore, by wading and from boats. Boaters need to exert care so as not to strike unseen underwater structure.

The Wabash is not dredged or marked with navigational channels. Water depth can be challenging to boaters, with depths ranging from 6 inches to 50 feet. During periods of low water, some areas are cut off from the main channel. Public boat ramps are located on both banks of the Wabash. In Illinois, these include landings at Hutsonville, Westport, St. Francisville, Mt. Carmel, Grayville, Brown's Pond near Maunie, and New Haven via the Little Wabash River.

For bait, tackle and information about catfishing on the Wabash, contact Long's Tackle Box in Robinson, phone: (618) 544-2709. The Super 8 Motel in Grayville, phone: (618) 375-7288, offers clean and comfortable local accommodations. For area travel information and other lodging options, visit the Southeastern Illinois Web site at www.southeastillinois. com.