A barrel sinker will work but is slightly more snag-prone than the "slinky" drift rig. Nichols uses a 2/0 to 4/0 style 42 Eagle Claw hook for his drifting. However, some catfishermen prefer a 4/0 to 8/0 circle hook. Fishermen can experiment to see which specific rig works best for specific fishing styles. This is a basic rig you can employ to catch plenty of wintertime blues on all three of the lakes we'll discuss. All of the experts in the story like to drift at about the same speed as Nichols described for Lake Norman.

Moving down the Catawba River, the next stop for the blue catfish is Mountain Island Lake. While this is a small lake by comparison to Lake Norman, with only 3,281 surface acres of water, it does pack a powerful blue catfish punch.

Rodger Taylor is another professional catfish guide on Lake Wylie in North Carolina and Lake Wateree in South Carolina (803/328-9587). Taylor also frequently targets the blues at Mountain Island Lake. You can visit his Web site at www.catfishon.com.

"Mountain Island Lake is a very interesting lake for blue catfish," Taylor said. "I began fishing it during the winter about five years ago. My first trip specifically for blue catfish was in the lower end of the lake, near the island just above the dam. I drifted in 25 to 55 feet of water all day. I literally just worked the boat around the island and caught a bunch of 9- to 15-pound blue catfish. That got my attention for sure."

Taylor said that in the past few years he's found some other patterns that work real well on Mountain Island. The deep-water drift pattern near the dam is still very productive, but he has also discovered that if he fishes uplake, in the more river-type environment, he also catches many blues.

"We've fished a number of catfish tournaments at Mountain Island," Taylor said. "I'd say most of the tournaments during the winter are won up the lake. But the lower end of the lake area does produce well and tournaments are won there at times too."

Taylor said the key to the uplake fishing is to work the bends and drops along the old river channel. He said the best depths are usually in the 20-to 28-foot range.

"In the middle to upper part of the lake, there are a lot of bends and twists in the channel. That provides a number of ideal places for blues to be found," Taylor said. "Since the lake is not large, when water is being released upstream there is a good current, especially in the upper and middle portion of the lake. A good current situation is an ideal time to anchor up on one of the bends. I'll anchor in about 10 to 15 feet of water and cast baits all around the boat, mostly in the deeper water. The shallow-water ledges can be very good for blues, so I typically check all depths until I get on a solid pattern for the day."