Catfish will eat chicken livers good but my favorite has become shrimp. Don't waste the money trying to buy live shrimp, go to the grocery store and buy a pound of raw shrimp. I like to thread a egg sinker (weight depends on current and conditions) then tie on a small swivel with a leader anywhere from 12" to 24" set the rod in your rod holder and relax!! you can do this set up with livers as well. Night crawlers will work as well , but I seem to notice that I get the smaller cats on crawlers. Cats like stinky stuff, cut bait, shad, bream etc. Flatheads will take whole live bream and shad too.