Best Catfish Bait

[jigngrub]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

Easy to keep the crawfish alive, put them in a closable net, like if u buy a bag of lemon, and put em in the fridge, ive worked at restaraunts that as long as they are cold they stay alive, warm them up I.e. take them out of the fridge and they wake up! Cold=sleep warm=awake... Good,luck! Down here we throw the catfish back and they tend to steal my freshly dead pinfish while im red fishin or trout fishin, I hear when using live pinfish its best to trim theyre dorsal spines with a pair of scissors, I guess this makes them easier to eat anywho.... Good luck !

You're catchin' those saltwater cats, those little hardheads are a pain in the butt... but those big Gaff Top Sail cats are a heckuva fight and not too bad on the table either.

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

Real smoked bacon is also a good bait, not the stuff from Kroger but the stuff from where they smoke it. Used it sunday had 4 cats in 30 min.

 

[1980Galaxy]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

around here helgromites produce catties. dont know if they are native to your area tho or if you can get them anywhere around there.

i have even caught them on small spinnerbaits.

i wouldn't try flies. catfish do jump out of the water but rarely. everything else that was described sounds like a good idea.

 

[ngt]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

^^ I meant flies to catch shad or some other bait fish. I have no idea what a helgromite is. I'll have to look that one up. thanks!!

Also, here's where I'll be going for catfish. Zoom in on the "B". It's right on the bridge we'll be fishing off of. Is that a good spot? I caught an 8 lb catfish there a few summers ago. Or would it be better to get closer to the mouth of the channel?

http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=s&lat=39.017597&lon=-122.806415&zoom=18&q1=94928&q2=39.017576,-122.806447

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

^^ I meant flies to catch shad or some other bait fish. I have no idea what a helgromite is. I'll have to look that one up. thanks!!

Also, here's where I'll be going for catfish. Zoom in on the "B". It's right on the bridge we'll be fishing off of. Is that a good spot? I caught an 8 lb catfish there a few summers ago. Or would it be better to get closer to the mouth of the channel?

http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=s&lat=39.017597&lon=-122.806415&zoom=18&q1=94928&q2=39.017576,-122.806447

If it was me, I'd try to get as close as I could to the mouth of the channel. Maybe fish off of one of the points on either side if I could. Points are a great place to fish.

 

[R&DMACHINIST]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

I recall an article from F&S or O.L. about old timers go to bait for cats being that of eggs from a big ants, something about the acids in them or something..? Also a friend of mine that works in a feed mill swears by "carmel flavoring" which is an additive in horse and cow feed, to make it more appealing to them..Ive got a bottle of it but just havent got around to trying it out because I prefer Crappie fishing to just about anything else in life! Anyways my buddy said to inject a tad bit of flavoring into whatever bait your using.It sure smells good but trust me DO NOT even think about a taste test for yourself! The tip of my tongue wasnt right for a week, worse than any hot sauce Ive sampled! LOL!

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

Here's another taste treat sensation that catfish love that I wouldn't want to take a taste of either!

http://www.catfishbait.net/catfish-bait-articles.htm

Cormorant Poop!

 

[ngt]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

We got one on our 2nd night. Talked with some guy who told us about a spot in Buckingham. 25in, 8 lb. Works for me. Caught it on the shrinp. Dough bait was getting nibbled all night. Guy said the only really good way to catfish there is on a boat at Rattlesnake Island. Oh well, next time.

thanks again!

 

[AF rigger]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

Nice cat you got there! An eight pounder here for a channel would be a really good one for sure. Glad you had some luck on your trip. Cats are fun to catch anytime, put up a good fight and pull hard too.

 

[relocyo]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

We got one on our 2nd night. Talked with some guy who told us about a spot in Buckingham. 25in, 8 lb. Works for me. Caught it on the shrinp. Dough bait was getting nibbled all night. Guy said the only really good way to catfish there is on a boat at Rattlesnake Island. Oh well, next time.

Rattlesnake island no thanks, leave all of the snakes up to you! :facepalm:
And only you, hope you got a cuddy I can hide in with a large cooler of adult beverages, or you might get left there......

 

[5150abf]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

I use 3'' blue gill that I net from a local pond on a main and trailer hook with a sliding 3oz pyramid weight, stick them in the gut just a bit so they bleed and scrape there scale abit, works really really well, most years average 4-5 a night.

I had read somehere that there is a scent released when the scales are torn off that warns all the other blue gills but tells the cats that there is an easy dinner waiting for them.

Tried chicken livers and stink bait, if you like catching alot of small cats it is fun but never got anything over a pound or two, live bait or fresh cut is the way to go.

I am in way north Indiana about 10 minutes from the Michigan line so 20 is pretty big here, normal is 7-8

 

[ngt]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

Rattlesnake island no thanks, leave all of the snakes up to you! :facepalm:
And only you, hope you got a cuddy I can hide in with a large cooler of adult beverages, or you might get left there......

lol, I don't think you actually get off the boat onto the island. I think you just fish around it. Signs said they were there.

@5150abf: I didn't see one blue gill while fishing around the channels or lake.

I do have a question about catfish bites. Are they usually big bites? We got a lot of single small nibbles but nothing after. The one I did catch I had my pole in my hand. Maybe we had our poles rigged wrong?

So, what's the best catfish rig for water that has some weeds to get caught up in?

 

[dirtdog38]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

iv caught cats 50 pounds here in ohio flatheads.caught more over 10 pound channels than i can recall. my rigs a hook on the end of the line about a foot or 2 up the line put a split shot then a slip sinker. weight depends on the bait dead or stink bait just enough to cast. live bait the bigger the bait the more bait u need iv used suckers over 10'' and gills up to 8 . in the river or strong current u need fixed weight not the slip kind .try to use the bait thats ther they eat all the time.just about anything will catch little guys i even caught them on green apples.guy that taught me held the world record for 10 years it was 72 pounds.

 

[Dennis Wichkoski]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

Maybe it's a bit late to pass this along and if you are back home I hope that you found the magic bait. Once we bought fresh shrimp heads on, after deheading I kept the heads for about a day in frig and took my girls out to some old gravel pits turned into catfish ponds. The channel cats went crazy on just the shrimp heads. Other people around us were using various dough baits and worms, and they were not catching much. So it looks like the juices in the shrimp heads really turned them on. This place charged for the fish you left with and you had to keep what you caught. I didn't think I had enough dough ($$) on me to get out the gate. They would also clean the fish for you for a fee, but I know I didn't have enough cash then...lol. But a great fishing experience for my girls. Now they are crazy about salt water fishing in the Galveston area bays and have even taken up surf fishing.

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

lol, I don't think you actually get off the boat onto the island. I think you just fish around it. Signs said they were there.

@5150abf: I didn't see one blue gill while fishing around the channels or lake.

I do have a question about catfish bites. Are they usually big bites? We got a lot of single small nibbles but nothing after. The one I did catch I had my pole in my hand. Maybe we had our poles rigged wrong?

So, what's the best catfish rig for water that has some weeds to get caught up in?

They will pull and swim up to, line goes slack and tight. Use a spoon sinker to lift above weeds as you reel in.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

normally cats don't mess around, they will hit hard and run, the smaller ones will tap at your line for awhile but normally it is a big hit all at once.

We have alot of gar here so if you are getting hits and bait stolen but don't catch anything it is normally the gar doing it, we will catch one once in awhile, crazy looking fish they are.

Dirtdog, I will go back to tieing my weight on maybe on 1-2 rods and see if they hit more, I always though that with a slider the bait can swim more naturally and cover more water.

 

[ricstoner989]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

#3 Is not a myth i use chicken liver all the time and usually slam the catfish.Usually when nothing else is working chicken liver usually does it,but I really don't know about the whole putting it in whiskey.I always buy mine from the store and let it warm in the sun for an hour or two.

 

[ngt]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

#3 Is not a myth i use chicken liver all the time and usually slam the catfish.Usually when nothing else is working chicken liver usually does it,but I really don't know about the whole putting it in whiskey.I always buy mine from the store and let it warm in the sun for an hour or two.

yeah, nothing came from the whiskey soaked stuff but a need to stay away from whiskey for ever! Shrimp caught the catfish, but next time I'll be sure to try the straight liver in the sun. Thanks!

 

[ricstoner989]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

Off the shrimp i'll have to try that myself an see if I have any luck

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Best Catfish Bait

There are just so many good baits available. We have millions of shad swimming below the powerhouses of our two local dams, however you've got to net them, ice them down immediately and quickly put the shad on trotline hooks or they'll deteriorate to mush.

The large chicken packing plants around her sell large frozen pails of chicken livers for catfish bait, and our grocery stores keep them in their frozen foods.

My neighbor also uses minnows, nightcrawler worms or crickets on three 100 hook trotlines and he's been very successful at putting on Gideon fish fries. These baits are time consuming and hard to hook when water is rough, however.

Commercial fishermen feed a stinky by product coming out of a cheese factory--placed into a trap. They catch lots of little fish in this manner.