a friend of mine recently moved to the coosa river near childersburg.i'm not much for catfishing,but she asked if i could get some advice on catching big cats in her area.what bait would you recommend?  thanks

cut shad or live sunfish.

If you are looking for BIG cats, carry a heavy rod, use a big hook, and use live or cut bait (like Dawson said). Drop it to the bottom in some deep water and let it sit.

If you are trying to catch some general cats, weighing a couple of pounds, I always toss on a piece of hotdog. They seem to LOVE IT. I guess is the salty/oily makeup of the food. In this case, the pole and hook don't need to be huge, but I'd still recommend at least 20 pound test and rod.

Cats are almost always good fights! Have fun!

I heard of coosa river in Alabama, you need some serious gear fishing over there, catfish a huge.