Any and all advise is welcome and thankyou for the tips. Me and the family will be at granger this weekend. We have a boat and the gear. Just need some pointers ,dephs for this time of year. Plan on catching shad for bait and I was also wondering if live shad or cut shad is better. Im new at this cat fishing so all advise is going to let us have a good outing I hope.

My dad made some hotdog bait in a gallon pickle jar. Smells bad has garlic and a bunch of other stuff. We will be winging it. Plan is to figure out what depth the thermalcline is at and fish his bait and fresh shad and fresh cut shad. Will still like you guys to chime in with any pointers. Thanks.

There is some reading involved but some very good info in here Steve.
http://www.learntocatchcatfish.com/

Hey Steve, honestly, I cant give you any tips on Granger,..my preference on cats is channelcats,.dont catch 50lbers but you catch a lot more.I like the two hook saltwater rigs with weight on bottom and just a bell weight, top 2 hooks I use 3/0 Kahle Hooks. If using shad,..try a live one on one and a cut on the other,..(my favorite is frozen bait shrimp,..thats all I use, comes in a box and its cheap,...and it works!!) Me the Wife and 2 kids will all cast out and let line out sometimes 30 to 50 yards out, and let the wind slowly drift us,.using the trolling motor to keep us all parallel with the lines. Kahle hooks mean no fish lost. The wind has to be just right,..but I like a slow drift,..I think covering more territorry,, more fish, plus once you go across a part and catch a few,..go back and odds are youll catch a couple more,..Ive noted as the sun comes up they slowly start moving deeper and deeper gradually. My wife who doesnt fish often Ive watched her fishing the dual hook pretty much straight down and pull up two foot and half channel cats at one time. You got a fishfinder, look at which way the wind is blowing,..look at which way its going to push you,..get a nice long drift,..not sure what kind of boat you have but I will leave the motor straight down in the water, the front end will want to push downwind first,..I just tap on the trolling motor a bit and it keeps us from drifting too fast, and if the wind isnt blowing enough Ill get the motor out of the water so I drift a lil faster.
Our first catfishing trip we spent two ours tied off in trees,..threw a bag of chum out and everything,..once everyone got tired of fishing,..I did what I said above and we were out there for 5 hours having fun.
Hope this Helps!! Good Luck!!
PS seriously,get you a couple boxes of bait shrimp in a ziplock bag,..and throw it in the cooler.

Oh yeah,..as far as depth, I like early in the morning to start in 6 to 8 foot deep,..and by 10am I like to be in 12 foot of water,..If you can find a point,..watch your depth and youll figure out what depth they are liking. For me 10 am to 4pm is the slowest time of the day,..but remember dry hooks dont catch anything.

Cool thanks guys for the info. Im taking it all in and im going to use it this weekend. Thanks again.

Where are you getting bait shrimp around here? I'm buying it down in Clear lake when I go fishing down there with a buddy that lives in Dayton.

Shrimp are available at just about every bait shop and some grocery stores around here. Going to try those as well.

On the shrimp note do you peel them?

I never peel em . I dump em all in a ziplock bag with a lot of garlic powder and in about 2 hours its ready to go.

No Just pull the head off, start at the tail and push on just like a worm,...If waters and waves are slow Ill toss the heads out for chum,..or just leave em in the ziploc bag and let em marinate the rest of the shrimp.

I use to get it at HEB, then they quit it,..now I order it by the case a box of 12 from Brookshire Bros,...I find it in the frozen food dept where they have shrimp to eat. Says bait shrimp packed in Aransas Pass Tx. I dont have a huge choice of Grocery stores around here, but do know the Brookshire Bros still carries it.

Today was a bust. No fish on jugs and one 5 ft gar on the rod. Had a hard time catching bait as well. See what tomorrow brings.

Forgot the shrimp but will go buy some tomorrow.

Hot dogs 0 had cut bait on one jug with 2 hooks caught a 4 pound blue. Going to put jugs in a little deeper water and go get some shrimp.