I never thought about the big western rivers having catfish.

There are some might fine channel cats inthe Willamete River in Oregon. The Willamete is the longest river in North America that flows true north. Blullhead, yellow cats abound in Oregon in riverrs and lakes. Big Sturgeion lake on sauvie Island in Oregon is full of catfish. We use to go out at night (when the island regulations let you fish at night0) build a fire on the beach, the cats would come up to the fire, you would catch them 3 feet from shore.