Rod:
7 1/2 G. loomis heavy action rod.
Abu garcia reel
17lb Pline
Leader line - 12lb rad cajun
#6 eagle claw treble
3/0 circle hook eagle claw
3 1/2’ comal slip bobber
1/4oz egg weight
3/4oz bank sinker
Barrel swivel
Bobber stop

Rig:
1. Slip cork

2. Three way T-knot

Bait:

1. Danny King’s punch bait

2. Chicken breast flavored with strawberry jello.

Go to punch bait set up-

Any M/MH spinning rod. 6' light if you want more fight.
20# Braid.
#4 4X strong treble hook.
Split shot.
Comal cigar float.
Sure Shot punch bait.

That sounds like a pretty good set up. 👍🏾 I just started to get into fishing for catfish and I have been doing good on the punch bait and chicken breast with strawberry jello. They really seem to like that strawberry chicken.

For serious catfishing:

7’ medium heavy Bionic Blade (I think) rod
Revo Sx reel
50 pound braid
Dragging rig
(5 ounce dragging weight)
(2/0 hook)
(Foam float)
Big chunk of shad. A 5”-6” shad makes two baits

If you haven’t tried trolling or drifting with a dragging you should give it a shot.

I have never drifted for catfish but if i get a chance to hit the lake this weekend ill try it. Hopefully i can catch some bait. If not ill drift the strawberry chicken.

If the lake bottom is smooth, you can use any weight. On Eagle Mountain, most of the bottom is rocky. Regular lead weights won’t hardly go 10’ without getting hung up. I use these 3 ounce dragging weights. They’re flexible so that they ride up and over rocks about 99.99% of the time. My bait follows the weight and floats about 8”-10” off the bottom so it seldom gets hung up.

Same two baits for me. I've been doing great fishing for channels with Danny King's.

As for rig, the most complicated I'll use is a Santee Cooper rig. My favorite, and simplest, is a dropper loop rig where I tie a treble hook to the end of the line, then a dropper loop 12-18" up from that.

If i get a chance to go out this weekend i might try the drifting setup. I used to be pretty good with a cast net but haven’t chunked one in a few years. Hopefully it comes back to me like riding a bike. I know i could probably bow fish up a carp or buffalo pretty easily but i dont have a bow fishing rig. If all else fails i try to catch a few blue gills and make it work.

Sometimes carp is king. When I caught the flathead on a carp chunk yesterday, I was drifting a big shad head on the other rod. I’ve not really done well on bluegill but I have a big one on ice so I’m giving it a shot today.

The shad and bluegill were tied at 2 fish each this morning when I lost my last piece of bluegill.