We have used a lot of plain ole raw boneless chicken thighs and / or breasts for catfish bait. It is easy to obtain, stays on the hook good, and is not real messy. We simply cut the bait into silver dollar sized chunks, put em on a good circle hook and hang on. My wife likes to marinate them in garlic powder. I can't tell much difference.
A guide in this area uses chicken almsot exclusively for catfish bait. His clients catch a lot of fish with the largest caught on chicken being a 66 lb blue. Our largest on chicken so far is a 27 lb blue. We have caught blues, channels and one small flathead on the chicken. The cats seem to hit it better in warm weather than in cold weather. These two blues were caught about 30 minutes apart on the chicken. A 22 and a 27...both caught by my son.
