Well, fall will be here someday. No baitfish around the bank to catch. Thought about catching some shad now, and freezing for the future.
Not sure if that would be good bait after freezing though. Could use shrimp or chicken breast. Don't think punch bait would be effective or not.
What would be my best options for fall and winter.

Find something concrete near the shoreline reachable by cast net.I use an old bridge that pays off October through May.Hit it fist time in a few months yesterday........got plenty of shad and a couple carp.Fished all day and refrigerated the rest for Monday.

Not sure where you're located but up here in northwest Texas fall to winter no better bait can be had than cut carp........quantity and quality goes way up.Problem is shad are easy in the winter,carp not so much.Some of my biggest blues this past winter were caught with frozen carp caught back in the summer.

I know everyone will say fresh shad is best and I agree. But if you're bank fishing that can be a challenge as the shad will likely be out of reach. I just talked about this with Texas Brit the other day. If you're going to freeze shad, get big ones. The littles don't freeze well. The bigger they are the better they freeze.

Well, maybe I will just stick with shrimp, may doctor it up a bit, garlic or anise oil.

If you're after channel cat that will be fine