So I’m going cat fishing on snake river this year it’s been a bucket list item for a couple decades
I’ve never fished for them before and was looking for some advice on which pole, reel, bait line weight and such
Thanks for any advice

A quick google search says there are mainly Channel Cats and any heavy bass gear will work just fine,,, 15-17lb mono, some 1/2 oz egg sinkers and splitshots and some good catfish hooks. I really like an 8/0 octopus hook with fresh cut bait. You can find everything you need here... www.catfishconnection.com

Check out Steve Douglas on YouTube and he will have videos on that topic.
https://www.youtube.com/user/akwalung

Weighted onion sacks filled with beaver liver for chum.

I like ugly stick tiger rods for channels . Reels simular to garcia 5500 or 6500 . You need more line capasity than many bass reels when fishing in a river . If you think you might fish for blues sometime lean toward a 6500 or 7000 the tiger rods have a light tip and heavy butt I have handled blues up to seventy eight pounds and a friend caught a 7' lake sturgeon in heavy current . We run 60 ,80, or 100 lb power pro for line .the more current you fish in the more important braid becomes

It really depends on what your intentions are. If you want to chase really big cats you'll need to gear up something like Bigfoot said. If you just want to catch a bunch of fish to eat you probably already own what you need.

We catch a lot of channel cats 16-"19" range on 12 lb test, Lindy rig or Wolf River rig with floating jig head and a leech out produces commercial cat fish bait for us. We also run cut bait on Eagle Claw pre rigged treble hook with slip sinker shown below. If you're targeting bigger fish, amp up the line weight or go with braid, in addition, the bigger Channels and Blues seem to prefer live bait.

This is what I do this particular night I was fishing for channels.
https://youtu.be/uAVEMP0M4rc

Here’s my exact set-up for cats, I made this station that I mounted at the end of my pier. If I’m in a boat I’m fishing walleyes but I love to fish cats while I’m doing yard work at the cabin. I run Diawa line counter reels on St. Croix Eyecon 7’-6” rods with 12 lb mono. I zero out the reels and then I can see if any line has been taken out when I walk to the end of the pier and you can also hear the clicker going off.

Everything you'd ever want to know about catfishing.
https://www.catfish1.com/
just

My cheapest set-up, which I would recommend as a cost effective option that does a good job is the Cabelas King Kat rod. 8 foot heavy fiberglass rod that can handle any catfish in North America. But often it is more about having a rod that can handle heavy sinkers and larger chunks of bait.

I've got my cat rods spooled with 50# suffix 832. That might sound excessive but when you hook into even a 10 pound cat in some current, you'll be glad to have the equipment to horse it in.

The rivers I fish have considerable current,so to keep my bait pinned as much as possible I typically use a 4 oz. No-roll sinker on a Carolina style righing. Xtra heavy barrel swivel and bead stop, depending on how large of bait chunks I'm using I use between 3/0 to 7/0 Gamakatsu circle hook snelled onto a 12" 30# floro or mono leader.

For bait, nothing but cut bait. The fresher the better. NO STINKBAIT! Pretty much any kind of fish will work, but I usually opt for cut sucker, chubs, carp etc.

Circle hooks are by far the best hooks for Catfish, but if you've never used them, you do not set the hook in the same manner you would with a J style hook. More less, the fish will set the hook itself with circle hooks, but you need a rod with a soft tip, followed by plenty of back bone.

I think that Snake river catfish have quite a lot of mercury don't they? Not sure how safe to eat they are.

It does brownlee is supposed to have lower levels than further down stream . I did see your not supposed to eat any bass in Oregon now

The 7 foot med heavy uglystick tiger rod has a very light tip and tapers to a very strong butt . Its light enough to see a bullhead bite but heavy enough to handle a seventy pound blue . Or sturgeon . They handle 1 oz fine or 12 oz if you need it . 60# braid will cut current better than 12# mono has near zero streatch and its sensitive enough you can tell weather you are draging your sinker across pea gravel or sand
As alluded to earlier ive caught many many chanels with a zebco 33 or 404 and 12# mono drowning worms .Ive also set the hook into fish that just kept on swimming with tackle like this . No matter what tackle you got go fishing .

I use a heavy braided line and 3/4oz sinkers at a min. tie your hook about 18-24" below sinker. we have a lot of current here and many spots smaller sinkers will float. i use stink bait and crawlers mostly- depending on the day they both have worked well.

Reels with bait runner are the rage here.