Hey Don,
Depending on what your after, I would say stay away from the hassle of using shad. (unless your after bluecats.)
If you decide to go after channel cats (smaller ie: 1 -4lbs, easier to clean and in my opinion better tasting) then this will help:
To answer your question, channel cats will hit just about anything, including chicken hearts and livers. Hearts and livers are good baits for channels, but not the best.
If you want to increase your chances of catching channel cats, try these things: (you don't have to do these, but i've got this down to a science that works 99 out of a 100 trips)
1. Go to the feed store and buy two 50# bags of whole grain wheat.
2. Fill a 5 gallon bucket just over half full and put water 3/4 high in the bucket. Let it sit for 2 weeks (it's cooler out and might take just a bit longer)
3. While your grain is souring, go shopping. You will need:
--package of Eagle Claw 4x strong #6 treble hooks
--grab a roll of yellow powerpro 50# test
--grab a package of 1/4 worm weights
--a package of weighless floats...I prefer a pencil style
--get a net...I prefer a rubber net
That should do it for terminal tackle. I use a 7ft Medium/Heavy action spinning rod coupled with a Shimano SideStab 4000RE:
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores...t=SearchResultsMake sure when you put on your powerpro that you first put on about 25 yards of mono...I use 20lb test cheap mono to do this.
Rigging your gear:
Put on your 1/4oz worm wight and crimp it on your powerpro 14" above your 4x #6 treble hook. Attach your weightless pencil float 2-3ft above your worm weight. NOTE: Crimping your worm weight onto your powerpro does not hurt the integrity of the Powerpro at all. I still have rigs that have caught hundreds of fish that still have the same weight on the line. I've also never broke off at the weight.
Style of Fishing -- Where and How
You are set up to do what I call "Corking over Grain" It's by far the most action packed style of channel catfishing I think you can do.
Depending on where your located, Channel cats will be moving onto the rocks and rip-rap on dams in the next 45-60 days as the water warms. You are going to be identifying a section on the dam (about 100ft section) and your going to "grain it out" as we call it. I've even put orange buoys out on each side so that it "sections off" the grain location...especially if I have people on the boat who have never fished. This tells them where and where not to cast. Pull your boat up anywhere between 5-15ft from the rocks and have your partner (or yourself) fan the grain into the water. Don't "plop" it out in chunks, try to fan it out so that it gives a "rain" effect as it hits the water. You will use less grain and cover more water. Try to fan out your 100ft section and then pull off the grain. Remember, your wanting to be putting the grain in 3-7ft of water, so depending on how fast the water drops off from the dam will dictate where you put the grain. Most dams drop off pretty fast.
One of the most important parts in now anchoring off the grain. I recommend that you use two anchors for this. I do this so that the people on the boat do not ALL have to fish out of the back of the boat, which would be the case if you were using one anchor. Two anchors (one off the front and one off the back stabilizes the boat and gives maximum fishablility for all anglers on board. Don't anchor far off the grain. There is no reason that you are having to make 150ft casts to get to the grain. I normally anchor 20-40ft off the grain depending on who is in the boat. If I have kids, sometimes I will anchor less than 20ft.
With this style fishing, your best friend is the wind...hopefully it's blowing into the rocks, which gives action to your cork and keeps the fish active. If there is more than one place on the lake that has rip-rap, I highly recommend finding the rip-rap that has wind blowing into it.
Bait--
This is "Punch-Bait" style fishing at it's finest. The baits you mentioned (hearts and livers) will work, but will not work like punch bait. I use Mr. Whiskers, but there are a few on the market that will also work. I recommend purchasing at least a gallon just because it's so much eaiser to bait your hook when you have a larger container to "punch" in. I buy 5 gallons at a time and then transfer into a 2 gallon pool pucket which I keep two of those on the boat. One for the guys in the front of the boat and one for the guys in the back of the boat.
Sometimes it takes 15 minutes to get the fish started, but everytime you set the hook, you are knocking off a bit of punch bait which keeps chumming the water.
Get there at daylight. The hours your going to do the best are when you can see your cork till about 11a.m...unless you have a good wind and heavy cloud cover. Then you could fish all day.
This style of fishing produces great numbers of fish and provides lots of excitement on the boat. Other than catching schooling sandbass, I don't know of a more action packed way to catch fish. Many many times, we have caught a 4-man limit of fish (100) before noon.
Best time to do this style fishing: April - Dec or when water temps are 60 - 90degrees.
My wife, notice the 2 gallon pool bucket behind her:
You can do this style fishing in the weeds too:
Small Cedar Creek Channels, Two man limit before 8a.m. (1hr fishing)
This is NOT how you put out your grain, but we forgot the scoop:
Anchors off the front and back, 25ft from rocks. NO WIND is not good, 4 man limit by noon.
Jim Hood and his party of 4 fished next to us and also ended with a 4 man limit of fish by noon as well, notice his weightless cork on his powerpro and also notice where the guy is fishing behind him and where his cork is in relationship to the rocks:
[img]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/catfishsalsa/S6300010.jpg[/img]
His Cooler:
[img]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/catfishsalsa/S6300019.jpg[/img]
I always get stuck cleaning the fish:
[img]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/catfishsalsa/S6300016.jpg[/img]
Fishing flooded weeds and trees at Lake Whitney:
[img]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/catfishsalsa/Whitney_Cats008.jpg[/img]
[img]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/catfishsalsa/Whitney_Cats002.jpg[/img]
