I wont eat anything but flatheads, channels, and blues. the rest are junk fish. I prefer fish that are 10 to 25 or 30 pounds so i can get a nice thick fillet out of em. personally i cant tell the difference in taste in these three species or by size. smaller than 10 by the time you trim off the yellow and red meat i feel youve wasted alot of fish for not much meat let them grow up some. the ones over 30 pounds are just for pics and turn loose. there meat is still good but they are alot of work.
as for bait i usually use bream live and cut.