When do catfish bite the most?

catfish will bite a lot of different things, i usually use:

crawdads

cut up shad

minnows(dead or alive), the only problem with live ones is that they will attract other kinds of fish like bass and walleye.

raw meat

sardines

cheese

i get to the river or lake around evening, cast out with a 3-5 ounce bullet sinker, and a treble hook with a crawdad or a piece of cut up shad on it. then i reel my line in a little until its tight, and i usually bring a chair and something to rest my pole on. then you just sit there watching your rod tip, and if one hasn't bit in about 15-20 minutes i reel in, rebait, and cast somewhere else. i always cast in 2 or 3 poles at the same time so i can try out multiple spots.

and i always tie on a 6" metal leader before my hook, cause fighting catfish really can tear up the line, and it will eventually break it cause of their teeth.

the best fishing goes on mid summer, evening or after dark, not too far off the shore in probably 2-10 foot deep water. they come up into the shallows at night to look for food that has washed up during the day. the fishing is also really good under dams at some lakes, there will be a big deep pool where you can catch nice ones all day.

in rivers its a lot easier to find deep pools, and that's where they all are in rivers and streams. course you can find them pretty much anywhere, and it varies from place to place. you just gotta go out and do some experimenting.

good luck!

I fish for cats in the river and the best thing to use, in my opinion, would be wet cat or dog food in some panty hose. the pany hose will keep the wet fod intact in the rough waters. it sinks so you don't have to worry about sinkers, just a bigger bobber. works every time for me.