Catfish abound throughout South Carolina and the difficulty in identifying the top spots for 2006 is deciding which good lakes or rivers to leave out. There are few freshwater lakes or rivers that don't harbor excellent catfish opportunities in our state.

It seems that the catfishing resources throughout the state are more utilized now than in the past. But anglers are not tapping the catfish resource that hard. As a rule, there's plenty of room on most of our lakes for more catfishing pressure and therefore more catfishermen.

As a statewide policy, there are no limits on catfish, either size or numbers, when taken by rod and reel methods, which is what we'll be discussing in this feature. However, on a few specific lakes some special management regulations will apply. You must note and observe these on a case-by-case basis. But the major lakes and rivers offer literally unlimited fishing potential for Mr. Whiskers in South Carolina.

We're also fortunate to have excellent populations of all three of the major species of catfish, specifically the flathead, channel and the blue. Although not all three species are present in all of our lakes, some of the lakes do have all one, two or all three in excellent numbers. In some areas, where only one or two species are dominant, those species are usually found in very good numbers. And in some areas, especially the Lowcountry rivers, the bullheads also offer excellent fishing and grand table fare.

Part of the reason for such outstanding catfishing opportunities in our state is the climate, which is conducive to rapid growth. In addition, the generally fertile waters found in our lakes and rivers will foster fast growth and high populations. The abundance of freshwater lakes and rivers that harbor these species gives anglers an opportunity to catch fish in big numbers and sizes on a statewide basis.

Profiled here are a few of the better places to spend your catfishing time this year, with some hints on the best techniques and times of day and year to fish. Your job, of course, will be to locate the specific structures on these lakes that harbor the good catfish populations and present the right bait in the right manner to catch them.

There are many other lakes and rivers throughout the state that offer excellent catfishing possibilities and the following are consistent producers of outstanding catfishing: Lake Wateree, Clarks Hill Lake, Lake Murray, the Great Pee Dee River and finally lakes Marion and Moultrie.

Topping the list of places that have all three species is the Santee Cooper complex of lakes Marion and Moultrie. While the Santee Cooper lakes are typically noted when catfish conversations arise, there's simply no way to leave this big lake system out of the catfish equation when discussing the best of the best in the Palmetto State. We'll save the discussion of this resource until last. There are plenty of other great places to fish as well.