Chicken liver is hard to beat for catfish bait. Most of the folks I know like to use cut bait, mostly fresh shad (skipjack, blueback, gizzard and threadfin being the most common). There are as many different preferences for bait, presentation and tackle as there are catmen, but if you find a likely spot and you put a few lines out, you should be just fine with livers. I fish on the bottom mostly, with as many lines (fan-cast) out as I can manage. If you're in tidal water, I'd recommend any tide but slack tides, and I like a rising tide best of all. You can fish creek mouths adjacent to deep water. You can fish in deep holes with structure in them, and you can fish the flats in catfish waters on the rising tide and have success in all of the different kinds of set ups you choose. I like the rising tide on a flat near a creek with a lot of flooded timber in the creek. I also like a deep hole or deep water right next to a flat, fished about any time the fish are feeding.
The best part of your question is that I'm the least experienced catman (wanna be) on this forum, and there are guys here that fish circles around me... depending on the kind of water they fish, they are very wise in the way of the catfish... so pull up a chair, kick back in the ole Catfish Lounge and wait for the wise old Catmen to weigh in... it won't be long 'fore you'll find out what you need to know to be filling that boat with catfish slime...
Tom
