I live in northwest Oklahoma and work in a state park here.  We have a little 7 acre lake (I would call it a pond but my boss insists on lake) that was stocked three years in a row with catfish.  I know there are some decent catfish in the lake but I can't get a single one of them to bite.  I'm new to catfishing and probably don't use the greatest techniques available but I do know several people that are very experienced in catfishing.  No one I have ever talked to has pulled a catfish out.  Any ideas, tips, or tricks would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

You can try all kinds of stuff on them. Anything that has a strong smell Chicken liver, bacon, fish guts. Live baits like bluegills, chubs, worms. They should also bite on doughball or even chunks of fish. They mainly bite at nite time. During the day you have to fish in shadows or very deep waters.

How deep is it? For starting out i would just use a worm a couple feet below a bobber

Depth wise - on the west end it starts at about 5 feet and quickly goes down to a depth of about 40 feet. On the East end which is where i usually fish, its pretty shallow (right now about 3-4 feet until about 15 yards from the bank where it drops off. The east end has a very shallow creek that runs into the pond and has a very large area of cattails, this is where I thought I would throw the bait tonight. There are overhanging trees as well to provide shadow.

If bluegill are legal to use as bait where you live, catch a few and use them as cut bait, especially the heads. Channel cats love bluegill. Live bluegill are best for large channels and flatheads.

The one think about pond/lake catfishing I've found that those fish like to hide in the shadows during daylight hours. Fish the dark shadowy spots. My typical bait is always cutbait of suckers, that works for me. I'll also say that, fish the late evening to night run is also great for pond/lake catfish. Personally I prefer a bobber and bait for those times, but typical bottom rigs always works too. One thing I do hate is that it seems that you might have to go with light line in the 6-8# test to up the bite ratio.

HAY YALL, I'M FROM NEW JERSEY AND TOOK ANOTHER MEMBER DAVE W. WHO I JUST MET THROUGH THE CLUB FORUMS, OUT CATFISHING YESTERDAY ON THE DELAWARE RIVER NEAR WEST DEPTFORT. ALTHOUGH THE BITE WAS SLOW, WE DID CATCH A FEW CATS ON NIGHT CRAWLERS. DAVE CAUGHT HIS FIRST CHANNEL CAT OF HIS LIFE. WE CAUGHT ABOUT TEN OR ELEVEN CATS, SO IT WASN'T THAT BAD A DAY. ALONG WITH THE WHITE PERCH WE CAUGHT, NOT BAD AT ALL.
THIS WAS MY FIRST TRIP ON THE RIVER IN TWO YEARS, SENCE MY MOTOR BLOWED A HEAD GASKET AND THE RINGS ON TWO PISTONS." src="http://www.fishingclub.com/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/grey/emoticons/shocked.gif" width="20" height="20">
SPICAL THANKS TO DAVE, THANKS FOR GOING OUT WITH ME YESTERDAY, I ENJOYED IT." src="http://www.fishingclub.com/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/grey/emoticons/smile.gif" width="20" height="20">
" src="http://www.fishingclub.com/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/grey/emoticons/smile.gif" width="20" height="20">THE WATER TENP WAS AROUND 65 DEGRESS. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH WHEN THEY REALLY START BITEING.
THANKS AGAIN DAVE FOR GOING OUT WITH ME YESTERDAY, EVEN THOUGH YOU DID BEAT ME IN BOTH NUMBER OF FISH AND THE LARGEST FISH. CONGRATS DAVE, I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO KICKING YOUR A!@#$% THE NEXT TIME WE FISH TOGEATHER.
                                                                              THE EVERYDAY FISHERMAN
                                                                                        RICK HANKINS