So everyone what do yall think is the best bait to catch catfish ?

Ive used all types of bait, and the best time ive caught the most catfish was with night crawlers.

Fresh shad .

I would have to go with the fresh shad. It's the most redily available and a natural bait.
Then I'd have to say the best bait is what your catching them on at the time.
There is no silver bullet, and you have to be fishing where the fish are or even the best bait will do very little to help your chances!

I don't think there is any such thing. It's too dependent on what kind of kitty you are fishing for, under what conditions.

If I have my holes set up right, there is no way fresh shad will catch the sheer numbers of eating size channels the punch bait I use will catch. At the rate of catch anyway.

But, if I want to drift for high fins, that shad is hard to beat.

During flooding conditions, when fishing fresh flooded shallows.....Nothing out there will best night crawlers.

See what I mean??

The best that i have found is Danny kings . It works some old black men i fish with was telling me about it and i thought yea just antoehr bait but i got some and it works. It is my lucky charm she is allways with me.

Shad followed by some other cut bait ( drum or carp ) will almost always catch you some fish. The best part is if you have a cast net and can find them they are free for the taking !

For numbers of fish, I catch more with DK's. I catch all my larger fish with fresh shad. For the best of times, I fish two rods with shad and another rod with DK's. The DK's keeps me entertained while I wait for the shad to catch the keepers. BTW, I think DK's really stands for "Dink Katcher".

Well I would agree that there is no #1 bait, but fresh shad and then beef kidenys will get you some serious fish. Caught 68 fish yesterday using beef kidneys as the only bait.

chicken livers have always been my #1 go to bait for blues and cats, Premo Punchbait(magic bait) works well also.

Blues: Shad and perch work well also

Flats: go with live shad or perch

The only right answer to this question was given by MikeC. There is not a best catfish bait. There are good baits for the kind of catfish you are fishing for. Mike has a catfishing guide service on Texoma now. Book a trip with him and let him teach you how to catch catfish and what bait you should be using for the kind of catfish your going after.

Yeah no one bait and shad works great in the lake. But there is better baits for the river, ponds etc. Like all the ones mentioned above.