They are going to be necessary to catch about a dozen panfish for cutbait. A cutting board is a necessity as well as a bait knife. No need to have anything fancy, just as long as its sharp. Once you have the panfish, try to keep them alive as long as possible. Fresh cutbait is absolutely tops and even bait dead an hour or two is not as effective.
Any bottom rig is fine for cutbait presentations.
I do this most often when the possibility of smaller cats is evident. But with cutbait, the smaller cats are still usually much bigger than conventional size cats caught with other forms of bait. Cats aren't adverse to weight. Bigger cats don't care if you have a a weight the size of a car battery slung from your line. Important thing to remember when using deadbait is to keep the drag set a little lighter than normal to allow the catfish some extra leniency when they take the bait.