Favorite Way to Rig Live Bait?

[Envenomation09]

I'll be doing some catfishing in AZ pretty soon and live bait is allowed there. So, I'd like to know how any folks here that have experience outside of Utah might recommend fishing with live minnows? I was looking at the Santee Rig or a 3-way Rig. Thanks!

[RockyRaab2]

Don't overlook the classic hook, weight, and bobber. Channels are active predators, and often cruise at mid-depths on the hunt. Hook your lively "minner" just under the dorsal.

[TubeDude]

You can find a bazillion ways to rig baits on YouTube.  Some of them actually work...and are not just the chance discovery of some goober fishing minners fer the first time. 

As a veteran of fishing both live and dead baits all over the USA...including the Colorado River in Arizona and California...I will chime in.  Oh yeah, I also worked a few years as a deckhand on live bait boats in southern California.  Rigged anchovies, sardines, squid and other tasty wiggly tidbits for a lot of different species.

There are several considerations for hooking a live bait.
1. How big is the bait vs how big is the hook vs how big and what kind of fish are you after?
2.  How will you be fishing it..."flyline" (no weight) vs sinker vs under a float vs behind an attractor?
3.  How will you be fishing it...casting vs dropping below a boat vs soaking in a current vs.still water?
4.  What kind of hook will you be using...J hook vs circle hook vs treble hook vs tandem hook rig (stinger)?

Can't possibly cover all potential permutations of bait, hooks and presentations here.  Don't claim to know them all anyhow.  But I can simplify it a bit.  Depending on the size and type of bait there are several ways to hook it.  The main objectives are to hook the bait securely...to avoid it pulling loose or allowing a fish to get the bait too easily without getting the hook...and to keep the bait as lively as possible for as long as possible.
1.  Crossways through the hard part of the nose...if the baitfish is not too wimpy.
2.  Upwards through the bottom jaw and out through the top of the mouth.
3.  Through the gill collar.
4.  Under the dorsal fin.
5.  Back by the anal fin. (A good choice for getting the bait to dive down without using a sinker)

When it comes to size and type hooks it becomes a Ford/Chevy/Dodge kinda thing.  Experience will lead to make your own choices for your own reasons.  And some of them might actually be close what others think.

If you know where you will be fishing, for what species, using what bait it becomes easier to make specific recommendations.  And I will be happy to offer my free advice...which should at least be worth what you will be paying for it.