Dupree keeps catfish on the menu 

By: Glynn Harris

If you like to catch and eat catfish, there is nobody anywhere more fortunate than Roy Dupree. He lives with his wife on the shores of Clear Lake in Natchitoches Parish and two of his sons and their families live next door. He discovered awhile back that the lake was teeming with one of his and his family’s favorite things to have for dinner. 

Catfish. 

Clear Lake is full of channel catfish and Dupree has mastered the technique of being sure, no matter the time of year, that his family has plenty of catfish filets all fried and crispy on the table. 

Dupree has figured out the best times of year to use certain techniques and he explained how and when they work best. 

“Beginning September and October, I’ll use trotlines, but I don’t fish them like most folks do. I sink the trotlines and let them lie on the bottom; that’s where catfish like to feed anyhow and trotlines suspended above the bottom can be inadvertently snagged by passing boats,” he explained. 

“I use small hooks on