Bill … Fishing for cats can be just as involved as fishing for walleyes. Its not as simple as putting some chicken liver on the hook and tossing it in the water with a bunch of bait.
The locations and presentations will change with the seasons, sometimes by the week. The very early season(march) it will start by targeting fish in their wintering holes, wherever that might be. It could be below a dam, near warm water discharge, in deeper slack water… its going to be somewhere the fish dont have to spend much energy, and have an ample supply of food for a large number of fish. Channel cats are the target that early in the year, and they get in big schools in the cold water.
Early season channels(surface temps from 33 to 45 degrees) will still be schooled up in, or near wintering holes as stated above. You must locate the fish and present the bait within the school or you wont catch anything.. if your bait is 30′ away, your not getting bit and the guy next to you is going to catch 30 fish. The bait selection this time of year is small comparing to warm water. My standard bait is 1 1/2 fatheads(fresh, live) on a #2 hook rigged lindy rig style, the fresh bait usually works best… once in a while slightly more rancid(not rotten) bait will work a little better than fresh, RARELY. The amount of weight will be dictated by the depth, or by the distance you need to cast while shore fishing. Lighter gear with lighter line seems to work best on the early season fish, this also allows you to use lighter weights for casting a distance(if needed). Small, light presentations are best early.
Water temp 45-52 degrees… The fish become more active by the day(and start to fight harder). The fish will start to wander furter out of the schools, or pursue baits further away. Large channels will start to take live suckers(small to medium) while trying to catch the 1st flathead of the year. The bait of choice is still small, but the fish are feeding heavily… hard not to catch a fish at this point in half way stable weather. The flatheads will start to bite regularly in temps of about 50 degrees, but can show up any time the water hits the mid 40’s.
52-60 degrees… the fish are feeding actively and cruising for food near their intering holes. The Flaheads will start to feed heavily near their spawning areas, and will be schooled up for the most part(at least where I fish). Flatheads seem to like the suckers early, then will shift to a bullhead bite in the mid 50 degree water.. big channels will take your suckers regularly.
60 degrees to the spawn.. The channels slow down before the flats do. The flatheads will feed very well, but show scarring from digging out the spawning beds.. fish will look more beat up every day, but will feed good until they spawn.
After the spawn, the channels will still feed moderately. Bait choices get larger with a 1″ – 1 1/2″ chunk of fresh meat on the hook being my prefered bait on a 3/0 circle hook. The flatheads seem to dissapear for a while with an occasional fish popping up here and there… this usually happens around the beginning of July.. depending on weather and water temps.
I think this is pretty accurate for the 1st half of the year… or until the flathead spawn(early/mid summer). From that point they seem to grab your bait once in a while, swim with it for 3 feet holding onto it wherever the hook is not.. and they wait for you to set the hook and rip the hook out.. THEN they eat it, and you put a fresh bait on.
I didnt cover flathead equipment a all.. but a standard amongst many is a heavy rod of choise with a high capacity, dependable reel spooled with 65#-80# power pro(or super line similar), or mono up to about #30.. anything larger diameter than that you may as well spool your anchor rope. Terminal tackle for flatheads will vary on the size of your bait, amount of current, and line diameter in current(large diameter line has more current drag and usually takes more weight to peg bait). Hooks will run from 4/0 on small baits to 10/0 on larger baits and for bullheads(small hooks tend to hook back into the bullhead).
Channel cat gear will vary greatly. 1 oz, sometimes less in the spring for weight.. depends how far you need to cast, or current to fight… to 3-4 oz when the fish are holding in current swept areas in the summer and you have to cast cross current with a medium size bait. I never use a hook larger than 5/0 for channels int he brands of hook I personaly use for channels.
Rods and reels.. I wouldnt know where to begin. I have at least 12 here that are all different for the purpose of fishing cats. I fish more from shore than in the boat. Most of my equipment is balanced to have incredible casting distance(anyone who fishes with me can verify that).. but is very capable of playing out large fish. Other rods I have are to winch fish out of whatever hole, snag, or debris they are trying to get into.
Are you sure you want to get into catfishing? Come up here this spring when the fishing is *on*.. everything else will look like bait after a few outings.
I look forward to and will very much appreciate any and all of your Catin skills and Cat catchin stories that you guys will share. 
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Could resist that one as his computer is shot [struck by lightening] so he can’t defend himself on here right now. 
too well!