So, as the title states I'm pretty new to fishing for cats... what's the most effective way of catching them? in the past I have just used worms.

the question I'm asking is, how to rig the hook, swivel, weights and Bait?

is the bait balls from Wal-Mart worth a darn?

You are going to get as many ideas as there are posters. Don't bother with the bait balls, go to the grocery side and pick up uncooked shrimp and chicken liver. If you have a cast net fresh cut shad will do. Many of the punch baits sometimes work, Danny King, Cj's. Off the forum here Stubbys and Chemdawg's have good reports.
I use a sliding egg weight, leader and have really liked Team Catfish hooks lately. Using liver go with the treble hook.

Shad,cut bait for blues. Good punch bait not walmart stuff. Search santee cooper and three way rig and Carolina rig.

I use a large circle hook on a 3ft leader tied to a swivel with an egg weight on the mainline. Then I have a cigar float on the leader about 8 in above the hook. I mostly use cut perch or cut gizzard shad for bait.

Went to Texoma on thursday, bank fishing for stripers. Only caught a few, so i decided to fish for cats. The key setup on the 12ft surf rod was "3oz no roll sinker", 2-3ft mono 50lbs leader with 7/0 gamakatsu circle hooks with fresh cut shad. depending on which area and lake you're fishing at, but that day at texoma, only the surf rods would get hits because of the distance in the cast. Overall, catfish, in my opinion is the easiest fish to target with little research and understanding.
Stink bait and liver would be the "to go bait" for smaller eating size Channel cats, but for big blue, you cant beat fresh cut shad or skipjack. Flatheads would be live bait from bluegills, chubs, gold fish or mudpuppies.
Good luck.

Welcome to the forum!

The easiest and fastest way to learn is to book a trip with a guide like tgravely aka lewisvillecatfish. He will teach you everything you need to know. Money well spent!

+1 for what others above have said. Fresh shad on a Santee Cooper rig for blues. (spazm09 described the Santee rig.) And punch bait for channel cat. I've had good luck with CJ's, but much prefer the fresh shad when I can find 'em.

I sometimes use a rig similar to a Santee Cooper but with a slip cork. Starting from the main line - bobber stop, slip cork, 3/8 oz egg weight, large barrel swivel, 2' of 20 lb. leader and a 5/0 or 8/0 Kahle hook. One advantage of this rig is you seldom get hung up and you can set your depth wherever you like.

You can use the same rig with a treble hook for punch bait, but channel cat will often let go of the hook when they feel the resistance of the bobber.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!