I'm eager to hear some responses to this as well. I've just recently started doing a little Ohio River fishing and I'm really out of my element too. Having grown up fishing farm ponds and good size lakes/reservoirs, river fishing is a totally different animal.
The thought of tangling with a big catfish prompted me to go and spend some money on four different setups. I think I'll try for them down at Barkley in a few weeks, some biguns down there.