I catfish public waters almost religiously for catfish. I travel the entire midwest, southeast, and northeast for large catfish tournaments. Take it pretty serious. A few things I have noticed and key in on for tournaments:
Punchbaits work very well for small channel catfish but not for the larger ones.
All larger catfish of any species will feed on fish almost exclusively (as verified by that large vertebrae you got).
My suggestion is get some Danny King punch bait online. Set jugs or trotlines. Should get your fill of the smaller channels. For the big ones you need some good fresh oily fish. My top three (and really all I fish with in tournaments) are: 1. Mooneye 2. Skipjack 3. Gizzard Shad. I am almost positive you don't have mooneye in your area. I am not sure about skipjack. If you have them go hit the tailwaters of a dam and get a few. They get big and you will get 15 baits out of a single fish. They are super oily and big channels can't resist them. If you don't have a local source, your best option is to castnet some big shad. I find the fillet's work the best in colder water and just cut chunks in warmer water. I bet you can put a serious hurting on the big channels in your pond with some cut shad/skipjack on a trotline with a circle hook. I prefer non-offset eyes with a loop knot to the shank. Eagle Claw L2004 is a good hook and a cheap price online.
