New to catfishing at night in Erie, PA. Would love some help. Locations, time, etc..

Run a slip rig.  2-5 oz sinkers.  Large heavy spin or baitcast gear.  Use shrimp for bait. Its a utility bait that I would recommend only for Lake Erie.. its no secret.
 
Locations: Any trib. mouth on the lake.   With much reading available, this information can be applied and used on Lake Erie.  Don't confuse articles from channel cat fishing to flatheads.  Different animals from area to area. IMO.

I've always used 5-6 inch creek chubs. I let them die and as soon as they get a little mushy, they're ready. Any cutbait works well too. Trout is oily and seems to work great as cut bait. I'm sure that shrimp works well, but I'd rather eat it than catch fish with it. lol.

The catfish we catch (channels) seem to prefer small live bluegills over other baits including chubs.  In fact all but one of the big cats we caught last year on Arthur was on a bluegill.  The one exception was on a huge alewife we had netted.  I'm certain that the body of water affects which baits work best as Hummer82 suggested.  I'll have to try shrimp though, just for grins.  Quite used to using it in saltwater but haven't tried in fresh.  

hey guys and gals...wanna introduce myself. I am William winkelman. founder of the Erie County Catfish Club. we are the first and only catfish club for erie county. and we are also the only fishing club in erie county with authorization to restock public waters. here is a link to our facebook page.
go check us out. and remember liking the page don't make ya a member. we have a sole mission. to bring back the once great catfishing experience to erie. erie used to have a rich catfishing experience 50 yrs ago and its been lost to commercial fishing and other sport fish. while there is still some monster kitties to be pulled , the consistant catchin is not there. its never fun to fish if your not catchin anything. I invite and encourage everyone to come check out the page and contact me to become a member. please be sure to read all information about us. we are here to make a conservation effort and educate everyone young and old and bring back a once forgotten past time. ty

I've done great with shrimp in lakes but not in rivers.