Brian Newberger caught this big blue cat between the locks on the Cape Fear River. Photo by Mike Marsh.

It was so hot the heat waves wavering over the crest of a hill created dreamscape images of a pickup truck backing down a boat trailer and unloading its cargo, a 20-foot pontoon boat with a sunshade top. The Corps of Engineers boating access ramp at Lock and Dam No. 2 was so steep you couldn't see anything from the level part of the parking lot under any conditions. But topping the hill and looking far down at the ramp through the heat waves shimmering above the pavement distorted the image of a man and woman readying their boat for a day on the water.

The name on the boat was a mirage until I got close enough to load my gear. Then the name, Web Weaver, told me I had found my night's ride. A few people were swimming and fishing from the nearby banks. But very few boat trailers were in the parking lot. While those boaters were probably sightseeing or panfishing, Web Weaver was setting out to catch giants.

No right-minded angler can argue that Web Weaver's owner, 46-year-old Brian Newberger, is anything but an expert at catching enormous catfish. What he learned bank-fishing as a kid he built upon for decades, until his expertise resulted in the landing of the North Carolina state-record flathead catfish Sept. 17, 2005, from the Cape Fear River. She officially weighed 78 pounds and was returned to the river for good after receiving her moment of fame -- unless and until, of course, Brian catches her again.

"I've been fishing for catfish since I was 10 years old," he said. "I started out as a pack mule for my dad, carrying lawn chairs, coolers and rods. I always enjoyed fishing, even from the bank."

While the record flathead was huge, she wasn't the biggest Brian has hooked. He thinks he may even have battled a world-record sized fish.

"I've hooked catfish I know weighed over 100 pounds and I think there's a world record in the Cape Fear," he said. "In 2006, I spent a week catching bullheads and bream as big as your hand for bait and fishing every night. I hooked a big flathead on a 1-pound bream. I finally got the fish up to the top and he broke off on a stabilizing line I had tied to a cinder block. That's happened to me twice with 100-pound-plus catfish. There's no margin for any errors when it comes to landing the big ones."

Brian fishes the Cape Fear and Neuse rivers. In the Cape Fear, he fishes as far upstream as rocks allow him to go at Fayetteville near the NC 13 bridge and as far downstream as Lock and Dam No. 1. At Fayetteville, he launches from River Side Marina. He launches from the COE ramps at Lock and Dam No. 1 and No. 2 at Riegelwood and Elizabethtown. To fish the Neuse, he launches from Price's Landing at Goldsboro and from Neuse Bait and Tackle in Smithfield.

"The Neuse has tremendous catfishing, but the river has to be up a foot over the normal flow," he said. "The rocks cause problems when the water is 2 or 3 feet deep. I've had to get out and pull the boat to get to a good spot. That's not the case in the Cape Fear between the locks because the water is deeper."

But in both rivers, his fishing methods are the same. Find a deep hole in a river bend, scan it for fish with the sonar machine, anchor upstream and begin fishing.

Ellie doesn't get to fish often, but enjoys being on the river with Brian. She said once it cools off at night and the stars come out, it's peaceful and quiet.

"I like to cook hamburgers on the boat," she said. "I like to catch catfish, too. But I have as much fun catching bait."