Dan, sounds like you've gone to fishing heaven. I don't encounter catfish very often but when I do it's usually a gafftopsail which is known as a sailcat down here. It's a scary looking critter with venomous spines who will eat shrimp and crab fly patterns and puts up a good scrap.

When I was a kid we used to catch catfish in the Potomac and my mom would soak them in brine over night and fry them up in the morning with scrambled eggs. Quite good.