No one good way for this. Most common rig for me though is a carolina rig with cut shad or live hooked through the nose on a 3/0 circle hook with 20# fluoro leader 1', tied to a 3/0 barrel swivel with a 1 once cast net weight above. Main line is 50# braid.

The reason for using a castnet weight (other than being free) is that you won't get friction when the braided line slides through like you would with a typical bullet weight. It won't twist around as much as a typical bank sinker either. This rig works fine suspended off of a large cheaper float too.

If I can get away with it I'll use the same rig with no weight. If the bite is tough I'll use an ultralight rig and fish just like I would for crappie with a small bobber except instead of an aberdeen hook I'll use a stonger bait holder or small circle / kahle hook. This is also good for smaller channels during the spawn.



Most people say catfish just don't care about the thickness of line or presentation, but I've seen over and over again identically rigged poles (except one with lighter line) where the light line outfishes the thick line considerably.