I have used worms, liver, minnows, shrimp, cray fish, hotdogs, bluegill, dip bait, grasshoppers and Lord knows how many other things for channel catfish bait over the years. These days if the boat goes out it always has worms, dip bait and cut bait on board. Of these three, cut bait is the #1 choice. Worms catch anything and everything that swims. Dip bait can be the best bait in the boat on some days particularly for eating size channel cat.