Ive been fishing at my grandpas lake as long as i can remember and have came a long way. I can remember just catching blue gills and the occasional bass with my dad but since then i have surpassed my dad and taught myself how to fish. Bass and catfish are my favorite but every so often i like an ocasional carp, crappie, perch, and even blue gill. Ive been catfishing for two years now and noticed something i cant truly explain. I went a whole year strictly catching bullheads wich are fun and exciting on occasion but deep down ive always wanted a big channel, blue, or flathead. That year i believe it was in july i hooked into something big. Sadly it was a low quality button caster and i had little experience on how to fight a sizeable fish. The line snapped almost instantly leaving me at a loss. Catching 10 lb carp and the 30 lb amberjack in north carolina really made it clear to me on how to handle big runs on large fish and how to properly fight it along with setting the drag correctly. I had also invested in my fishing arsenal with some ugly stik rods with shakespear open face spinner reels. I also now have a abu garcia black max baitcaster reel and rod for my bass. I continued hoplessly catching bullheads throughout the spring and early summer months. I knew that july is the best catfishing time due to spawning and really hit this month hard. I took my little sister on a catfish trip and spent nearly the whole time tying on her hooks due to pesky hook swallowing bullheads, but the bullheads finnally slowed and i managed to get a pole in the water. The pole slowly and deliberatly went down. I set the hook hard and to my dismay the fish began stripping out line. I knew it was a big fish. I finally i hauled the beast ashore. It was a good sized 15 lber and was my largest freshwater fish yet. I managed to catch one more and now im wondering if you had any suggestions for larger channel cat baits. I always have used chicken liver and as you can see rarely catch a big channel. Ive even tried cut bluegill and shiners, so any suggestions?