liver , night crawlers , and red worms will catch them evertime in the TN river

 

thanks for all the ideas. I do use worms as well,but catch a lot of fish that aren't catfish with them,so i tend to stay away from worms unless i am fishing with my kids. I also try not to use the real bad stinky stuff,as it does make my hands stink for a long time after,no matter how hard i scrub to get the smell off.

 

I was watching River Monsters on Animal Planet, and they were showing some specially prepared bait that consisted of 3 complete chicken intestines laced on a hook and leader and allowed to steep in a sealed warm container for 3 days. Mmmmm.

 

Nice thing about using chicken livers for bait is if the fish aren't biting you can always flour and fry your bait.

 

we don't have catfish to my knowledge here, but by what I see on tv, a pair of overalls helps.

 

Try chicken necks or even hot dogs. Chicken necks will stay on the hook good. After you bait the hook with whatever you use, are you remembering to spit on it? This may be your problem. Scientific studies show conclusively that spitting on the hook results in larger catches.