what kinda bait best for catfish and bass??i fish in this river and the water is like dark brown?

catfish love cheese bait, chicken liver, hot dogs and even corn usually anything with a strong odor would work. bass are a little tougher, usually prefer spinner baits and other lures that you have to develop a bit of a technique to use effectively.

Not too sure about catfish, but if your looking to hook into some bass you might want try rigging up a rubber worm. I find the french fry worm works quite well and the technique is very easy. Try using a darker color worm in brown waters. There is a good article on using the frenck fry worm at http://www.profishinghelp.com./

Bait for bass AND catfish? Humm... Worms will work. Small fish like shad or bluegill (if legal to use) will work. Crayfish will work. Insects such at grasshopper will work. Frogs will work too. Tadpoles will work. Baby carp will work. Won't list lures or flies because the list will be too big. :)

In my opinion there is no better bait out there for catfish than either beef or chicken liver (the latter is easier to find and is usually available in most grocery stores) I have used a few of the stinkbaits available at most sporting goods stores with limited results, nothing has worked as well as the liver (esspecially at night) although whole nightcrawlers left on the bottom work well during the day. Bass like a lot of things as well, most people use artificial lures, i myself like a crankbait with a natural or shad pattern. These baits all require a bit of practice to master. I have never bass fished in a river, but i've always read that the best places to look for bass are anywhere where the bass are able to get out of the current, a cove, behind a big rock or fallen tree. If you wanted to target bass in muddy water like you described i would probably use a dark colored spinnerbait or jig. I have also used live minnows very successfully to catch bass but using live bait you never know what your gonna catch. Without seeing a picture of that other fish it sounds to me like either a hybrid or striped bass or a grass carp. Both are shiny silver and both can get pretty big!! In regards to the comparisons to fishing fresh and salt water, i have to say that saltwater has the biggest fish but its much easier to catch big numbers of hard fighting fish in freshwater. If hard fighting is what you want try fishing for the smallmouth bass, they are the hardest fighting fish i have ever caught, and if you catch them in the right conditions the action can be non-stop. It is true that catfish and stripers get pretty big but if your looking for REALLY big fish deap sea fishing is your best bet. In that regards, freshwater doesn't compare!! I hope that helps