One of my friends who is a life-long resident of this area told me about some Cahaba fishing memories:

We used to go redhorse snaring when I was young. In the spring when water temperatures were in the 60-75 degree range, the redhorse would spawn. We attached a wire to the end of a long pole, and at the wire's end, made a loop and put weights on it. We would look for spawning fish in shallow water. They would be side by side by side, swimming in place, 3 abreast (according to Alabama Outdoors, 2 males usually spawn with one female). The loop was placed upstream of the fish and then slowly moved toward them, with the weights bumping along on the river bottom until the loop encircled the body of the fish. The redfish were stout -often in the 5 to 10 pound range- and wouldn’t give up easily. We did this at night so we needed a light source. We used carbide lamps that coal miners used underground. We would spit on the calcium carbide and then light the lamp. You could adjust the amount of light by letting more or less water from the top reservoir into the bottom chamber which held the carbide. (I have learned that mixing water and calcium carbide produces the gas acetylene which is combustible, thus generating light).

Another acquaintance told me about how they would get catfish when he was young:

In Perry, Bibb, and Dallas counties there are some deep areas with large catfish. We used to "call them up" using an old phone from underground coal mines. This phone had five large six-inch horseshoe magnets which were connected, with a armature in the center and a crank that made it work. We connected copper wires to the positive and negative poles, with brass rods on the ends to keep from getting shocked.  One end of wire was thrown into the water on each side of the boat, sinking to the bottom. Then the crank was turned, becoming harder as the current built up. The electric charge created between the two wires stunned the catfish at the river's bottom causing them to float to the surface for several minutes until the effect wore off.  We "called up" some 75 to 100 pound yellow catfish- not any good for eating, but impressive to see.
(In case this story gives you any ideas, the Alabama Department of Natural Resources states, "It is unlawful to use electrical devices... to take fish of any species from these [public] waters.)