Good information right here! I typically fish Oklahoma waters now, but over the last 15-20 years, it was predominately Kansas catfishing. I have had what I would consider good success over the years with the strategy:
Channel Cat - crawdads and stink baits
Flathead - live bait only, big green perch and bullhead catfish
Bluecats - exclusively fresh live or cut shad.
I have caught some channel cat on live bait and even occasionally while minnow fishing for crappie. But I have the most success on either crawdads or stink bait.
I suppose different areas of the country yield different results...heck, we might just have some crazy Kansas channel catfish!
I think this pretty much says it all. Channels rely on many, many food sources and can eat just about anything. Blues depend much more on fish but they don't mind eating dead ones and other things like mussels. A flathead is only going to eat fish after it attains a certain size. From 12" to 18" crawfish can be very important to flatheads but beyond that ... fish is the rule and not the exception.
