What do you use for catfish bait?

1) chicken liver
2) hotdogs
3) smelts

ORIGINAL: pghmarty

French fries, frozen works but Mickey D's are better.

Hell I didnt ask what to eat with the cats.I asked what do you use to catch them to have fillets with your french fries rofl

lettuce tomato and onion.

Fished in a couple cat tournaments out west. Nebraska, I fished with a couple anglers that used blood. It's hard to get your hands on raw blood unless you know a butchers that slaughters his own.
If you can get your hands on a bucket of fresh blood, just put it in the fridge and let it set up it will turn into a stiff Jello. Dump the blood jello out and slice the big glob into one inch thick cakes and then into one by one by nine inch strips.
Let the blood strips dry just a little then bag.  Was quite impressed at the hook holding and cast ability of this home made bait.
Caught plenty of big catfish with this bait, it leaches out slow when fished and draws in allot of cats. When the bait leaches out and turns white its time for a new strip.
This bait isn't for the average Joe, cat angler but is worth the the time if your a serious catfish angler. 
Blood strips can also be rolled in brown sugar before bagging helps keep the bait strips separated. But night crawlers will slam the big cats off walnut next month.
Presque Isle Angler bait & tackle
Andy Daniels

The nut will be one heck of a catfish hole and the fish will come in the channel and can be caught off the wall. Elk creek also produces allot of cats but just a little harder to get to.

appx. what water temps start bringing them in? if you'd rather you can PM me. we've done ok on elk before the new water channel was created, have'nt been up for a while. does any body sell 5-6" emerald shinners in that area?

ORIGINAL: Presquisleanglr

Fished in a couple cat tournaments out west. Nebraska, I fished with a couple anglers that used blood. It's hard to get your hands on raw blood unless you know a butchers that slaughters his own.
If you can get your hands on a bucket of fresh blood, just put it in the fridge and let it set up it will turn into a stiff Jello. Dump the blood jello out and slice the big glob into one inch thick cakes and then into one by one by nine inch strips.
Let the blood strips dry just a little then bag.  Was quite impressed at the hook holding and cast ability of this home made bait.
Caught plenty of big catfish with this bait, it leaches out slow when fished and draws in allot of cats. When the bait leaches out and turns white its time for a new strip.
This bait isn't for the average Joe, cat angler but is worth the the time if your a serious catfish angler. 
Blood strips can also be rolled in brown sugar before bagging helps keep the bait strips separated. But night crawlers will slam the big cats off walnut next month.
Presque Isle Angler bait & tackle
Andy Daniels

i use mostly live creek chubs but if i reel in a half of one, ill usually leave it on and add a live one to it(2/0 hooks) but chicken liver and worms also produce for me. 2 biggest cats i got last year- 35" flathead on an average sized live chub and a 28" channel on 1 chub head and the inside of a rather large dead mussel found on the bank.... shouldnt have said that. anyone else ever use a dead mussel or clam found on shore?

live bluegills cut all the fins off and trim the tail.....

I mostly use live creek chubs, big shiners, or live bluegills.  I've also done well on raw squid, liver of various types, and raw red meat (the bloodier the better). 

oh forgot to mention on the previous post the few times that I have tried beef kidneys worked as good as chicken liver and it stays on the hook well without netting

c4 gets them but not a good tool  iuse blue gill or creek chubs alive if you can use a lind rig or a slack line cats are spooked as soon as a tug use a soft leader no stiff line and dont forget your ugly counter part bull will steal the bait