Last year I went out and bought a big catfish rod along with all the hooks, leaders, etc so that I could real in one of those monsters.  To my surprise I didn't catch a single one all season long.  What would you guys say is the best bait/way to catch the big ones?  I don't eat them so I don't care about the quality of the fish.  I just want to catch and release some monsters.
 
Also, I live close to the Mon but mainly fish the Allegheny because I target walleye.  Any tips you have would be greatly appreciated.

live large shad, bluegill, trout, perch, etc. with the fins clipped so they have to thrash but can't really get away. i fish the yough and those bait's do well for me. i also keep one rod out there with a dough bait made from cheese, ground cat treats with shredded cotton smashed in to help hold the bait on my hook. i find that the closer the fish are to 10lbs the less likely they are to hit the dough bait.

Location > any bait you can chuck....just sayin'

Bluegill under a big bobber or a soda bottle drifting.

if your feeshen the mon. below the locks with the biggest live bait that u can chuck out there. bluegill or creekchubs are the norm. then kick back and just wait. go at dark and fish all nite.

Use some tasty trout...

Why don't you use some tasty trout cut up. I caught three huge ones last week on it. 27",26",and 25"

I don't fish the Mon, but some things are universal for cats... they tend to hang out in the deeper holes during the heat of the day and come up onto flats/shallows after sun eases off in evening. Find a nice hole with shallows nearby and it would be a good start, add some cover in the form of dead trees/debri then it is even better. If they find decent cover they will stay in it all day even in shallow water and come out in the evening to hunt nearby flats. If you aren't out on a boat you can about expect that top outside of river bends scour holes and insides of them get sediment buildup causing shallows.
Larger cats and ones feeding more aggressively seem to be more likely to hit live bait (though there are always exceptions to the rule), next would be larger, chunky cut bait of something that smells or is oily, gobs of nightcrawlers is a staple bait for midsized channels and bullheads.
Since it is the middle of the night and I couldn't sleep I did some digging because I know we've had some decent threads on here last year about catfishing preferences/setups...
hopefully the links work.
http://forums.fishusa.com/m_319383/mpage_1/key_flathead/tm.htm#320632

here's another
http://forums.fishusa.com/m_317641/mpage_1/key_catfish/tm.htm#323456

on the one above, I have a link to yet another thread about chicken liver on one of my posts...

Hope these help

Wow, Fisherlady might really be Catwoman!

I hear that Tull!  Thanks for the info fisherlady.  I think I'm really going to give it a go this summer.