small river springtime cats

Vet - I've been a chicken liver or cut bait (mostly livers) guy for years but during covid,livers were almost impossible to get. Fresh cutbait isn't always a guarantee. This being WI I can't even possess a cast net on the water. I'd like to get away from livers for short trips...and since short trips are about all I'll be having time for...I did buy some of that mesh tubing for livers. I'd like to start using circle hooks as i really only want to keep the one or two smallest cats I catch. Livers will stay together better in the tubing and still stay on a circle hook. I've used a 3/0 baitkeeper hook since like forever but it's time I got more serious about release mortality.

SV - SSS - the blood? or the cheese mix. Dip tubes would work well with circle hooks and I've got a lot of big ones leftover from FL saltwater fishing where they were mandatory for certain species.

Wiscoarborist,
Once the pleasure boaters take over the local lakes, I like to fish the rivers for cats and anything else that bites a dead stick presentation. My preferred bait in the colder water 
is cut suckers. Once the water warms into the 70's, I go to chicken livers, but I will still use fresh cut bait for larger channels and flatheads. 
On the rivers I fish, I have not found a big difference in fishing the deeper holes versus shallower structure. But, the deeper holes are only 10' to 13' 
​

I use Triple S almost exclusively. I've tried cut bait and other stuff, but I always catch cats faster on stink bait. It works for me when the water temp is 50 or higher. I concentrate on snags in 2-6 fow in the Spring. I always do well.

I found some cats in the slower water with worms on the bottom on this trip. I'll echo what BIGG400 said. I think the water was warmer and calmer in the spot where I found them. ​On this trip, I was just searching for anything that would bite a worm on the bottom, and it just so ​happened to be channel catfish.

I'm a stubborn year-round dip bait guy and it's been a very good late winter and spring for me so far. I'm fishing pools 13 & 14 on the Mississippi River and the Rock River.  I'm catching my fish shallow - 6 feet or less.  Areas that have reduced current - below snags or points. Muddy banks that are exposed to the sun are a plus Anything that produces slightly warmer water are cat magnets. I get most of my fish this time of the of the year in the middle and late afternoon. Hope this helps.