25 lb line, goods hooks and 1-2lbs of shrimp and you will be catching cats like crazy, i caught 16 cats in less than an hour. average size was between 13lbs-7lbs. put up a good fight but hell its a crazy ride.
Throw alot of catfood into the area you wanna fish first. Its illegal here at the lakes in CA. They'll throw you out if they catch you. Then use Sunny's stink bait. You'll catch some monster Cats that way. Stink bait rules. I got close to 20 cats in one hour using stink bait.
screw all that... just catch any sunfish, put a single 2/0 hook through its back with a 2 or 3 ounce egg weight about 2 feet from it... cast and wait...
i never went catfishing before a few summers ago n just doing that I caught 16 catfish in 4 hours the first time n 7 in 2 hours the second time... most over 10 pounds...
my dad and i are big catfishermen and i know everything you need to know. channel cats will bite on simple baits like worms and minnows but if you can get your hands on skipjack or shad use that blue cats and channel cats love them. call for the depth and set the depth 1-2 fett above the bottom. dont do the flashlight thing because catfish hate light that is why they bite at night.