Chris, welcome to the BOC/SOC :cool2:, best catfishing site on the web! Be sure to check out the library, a lot of good info in there.
My favorite bait is skip jack, fresh or frozen, fished cut or whole. 2nd favorite would be fresh caught shad, fished cut, whole or live. 3rd would be Danny Kings punch bait. That's my main three but as mentioned above, the only limitation to your bait is your imagination. Truth be known probably still been more fish caught on a gob of worms over the years than any other bait.