Not being able to catch catfish in poni\ds -- especially the larger catfish is a common problem. Ask Catmandoo.

I would guess they are not interested in your offering or may not even be habituating the bottom. When I worked as a biologist aid one summer, we sampled channel catfish in gillnets far above the bottom in reservoirs when forage fish were their main food source. (In that case it was gizzard shad).

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.