River catfish help

Ok so in general I'm a pretty experienced angler, as I've been fishing since I was 7, but for some reason I can't seem to get the hang of catfishing in large rivers.

I live minutes from a dam on the tennessee river, so lately I've been trying to fish the tail race in an attempt to break a PB (45 lbs for flathead and 30 for blue)

I've used beef liver, cut skipjack, and live bluegill, and I've used 3-way rigs, Carolina rigs, and dropper rigs. And despite putting in over 24 hours with 2 rods in the last 3 weeks, I haven't got one fish. I had one bite one time but the fish came off.

Is there something I'm missing? I've literally copied the techniques of credible sources and still haven't got anything. This stretch is literally known for big catfish and yet I keep getting skunked