If I am just trying to catch a few catfish in the afternoon what is the best bait for rod and reel fishing?

Always shad or some kind of baitfish

Punch bait, also.

Do you guys use shad from the bank and how is your rig set up (hook, weight, etc)

Very nice diagram !!

I always prefer shad the very most, but if it's hard to find them to catch them, I'll try nightcrawlers, and I've used this with much success in the past too:

Buy a beef kidney at the grocery store, cube it up into 3/4-1" pieces, let it drain or dry it off, throw into a ziplock bag with lots of garlic salt and toss to coat. Then lay out on cookie sheets lined with foil and set out in the sun until there's no liquid left on them and they're tough, not quite jerky-dry but rubbery and dense. These work really well and stay on the hook way better than chicken livers. I've also done the exact same thing with chicken livers, with good results.

I've also caught on those strips, Yeh Monn or something like that, bait strips, when drop-lining around a dock I had really baited out well. Easy to keep in the tackle box, doesn't reek like other baits.

I agree with the diagram above. I like to have a 2-3 foot leader between the sinker and hook to keep it up off the bottom, I think it's easier for them to find the bait.

Any day of the week a good punch bait is hard to beat for box fish.

Fiesta bought Buffalo, cut Carp, Shad, Black Salties, "Perch"...........

Good info.

+1

just make sure its fresh and not frozen!

That greasy buffalo works best in my home waters

For channels to eat go to stubby cheese bait for a good fish fry .

In spring and summer I switch to blue gills for bluecats. I still use shad and drum also but gills are easy to catch and I keep some in a trough next to my barn and the stay alive for a month., Saves me a ton of time getting bait and I get to fish a little longer..bluecats gobble them up as well as flat heads.. Channel cats can't chew em off as quick either. This is what it looks like to fish around those pesky little channel cats..they picked my shad clean and they chewed my gill in half but they can't eat his head!