Catfish Bait Suggestions

[Sam]

With the hot weather, going bass fishing in central Virginia is very limited and you need to be off the water by noon at the latest.

 

I want to take my friends fishing but they are not bass guys so they don't have a good time going bass fishing with me and watching me catch bass as they do not. Then, add in the high temperatures and you have a very disappointing outing.

 

So I am going to take them catfish fishing in local rivers and need your guidance on what bait I should use.

 

I am thinking of

1) calamari (squid)

2) shrimp

3) small bream caught while on the water

4) chicken in bacon grease

 

Of course we will try our luck at catching bream for bait while our catfish lines are out, but what should I consider using in addition to local bream species?

 

Thanks in advance for your guidance and suggestions.

 

[roadwarrior]

Big fat earthworms are THE BOMB!

 

[Sam]

1 minute ago, roadwarrior said:

Big fat earthworms are THE BOMB!

 

Thanks. I can pick up two or three tubs of Nightcrawlers from Walmart or Green Top.

[N Florida Mike]

Dead shrimp and cut bream are my favorite. 

[DitchPanda]

My buddy was using Turkey livers today at a local lake. Caught 3 or 4 nice channel cats...said they are much tougher than chicken livers.

[mrpao]

For channels, I usually use sonny's stink bait. Both the cheese and the blood flavor work good. It stays on the sponge or worm good and can catch a some good numbers. 

I've also had good luck with shrimp, crickets and berkley gulp minnows. It's just whatever they want that day.

[RoLo]

 

 

Sam, which will be your main target: Channels, Flatheads or Blues?

 

Roger

 

 

[Sam]

1 hour ago, RoLo said:

 

 

Sam, which will be your main target: Channels, Flatheads, Blues?

 

Roger

 

 

Flatheads.

[Tennessee Boy]

I prefer night crawlers in any color.  ?

[mrpao]

If you are chasing flathead, then it's hard to beat a live bluegill.

I've caught some nice flatheads on live and cut bluegills. My biggest flathead was 55 pounds and came on a large bluegill head fished under a float.

[RoLo]

 

I haven't fished for flatheads since we lived in Georgia (Altamaha River). 

The most popular bait by far is live baitfish around 4 to 5 inches.

The type of bait doesn't seem to matter (minnows, shiners, goldfish, kllifish ~).

 

Roger

[Ogandrews]

If your going to be targeting flatheads than it is really hard to beat live bait. My favorite is live bullheads, super tough and one of the main forage of a flathead. Live suckers are really good too, not sure how available they are in your area. Don’t be afraid to use really big bait, there’s not much you can put on a hook that is too big for a flathead.

[Bluebasser86]

For flatheads you really only have 2 options, either livebait or fresh cut bait. You're not going to catch flatheads on the chicken livers or prepared baits used for channel cats.

 

Personally, I'd opt for fresh cutbait and give yourself a good shot at channels, blues, or flatheads.

[heyitskirby]

I always used to start with worms and fish for bream at the same time.  Once I caught a few of those I changed up baits.

 

For flatheads, like everyone said, live bait is best.

 

For blues, I always cut the baitfish into three pieces.  Head, midsection, and tail.  Toss the tail and then figure out whether they are biting on heads or midsections.

 

With all presentations I always cut the dorsal fin off.

 

Your other options are eels (as cutbait, not live) or if you are on the lower James down near Dutch Gap, run a gill net for gizzard shad, which make excellent bait for blues.

[TnRiver46]

Shad !!! Dead or alive 

[soflabasser]

On 7/26/2020 at 6:59 PM, Sam said:

Flatheads.

Flathead catfish prefer live bait so it is best to use live bait for them. You can also catch them on fresh cut bait but live bait is usually better.

[WRB]

My 1st trip to the Ozarks was in 1961 to Bull Shoals, rented a boat and noticed a limb bending over and splashes. Never heard of limb lines or trot lines coming from California.

The limb line had a monster snapping turtle hook onto so I tried to knock the hook out to release the turtle and it clamped into the my hoar. Pulled the turtle into the boat and countinue fishing only to snag a trot line. I pulled up the line to unhook my jig and there were several channel cats on the line the hooks were baited with grapes. Grapes....who knew?

The best channel catfish bait I have used is fresh mackerel chunks.

Tom 

PS, the turtle earned me a free boat rental and dinner.

 

[Heartland]

Goldfish, Crappie, big Shiners, Shad, we typically use some variety of Sunfish, as they are easy to catch and are very hardy.  Shad may work the best but they are hard to keep alive without a quality tank and aerator.

[Bird]

Live in VA also......it's even to hot to catfish. Lol

Flatheads are the apex predators in the catfish family......shiners. 

Channel cats......shrimp.

[Hower08]

Channel cats. Cut or alive creek chubs or shrimp. 

 

Flatheads , it's hard to beat giant chubs, Suckers, giant feeder goldfish and yellow belly bullheads. Bullheads are byfar one of the top baits for flatties

[Bankbeater]

Cut up green sunfish, minnows under a bobber, catfish dough bait, chicken liver, shrimp, and worms. Catfish will eat just about anything.