hey it sounds like you have a pretty good jist of it. we caught a 50lb flat last week and several from 7-10lb. its a great sport to get into. i just started myself this year. night time is best by far i dont hear of to many cats being caught during the day. sucker minnows also work good if u dont have access to bullheads. we go by franklin witch is by redwood falls, MN upstream of big log jams is best and what we do is tie our boat about 5 feet from shore. the cats are running shallow this time of year from 2 to 6 feet of water. we caught that 50lb er in about 2 feet of water at 2;30 in the morning. we were using bullheads and fishing about 2 feet from shore, ya thats right 2 feet from shore. slower moving water by big log jams seem to produce the biggest and most numbers of cats. well hope this helps and let me know how you do. by the way 50-80lb test line is not too big i have talked to guys that have had cats break 80lb test on the MN river where i fish. happy hunting