Favorite catfish bait ...??

[FordNFishinLover]

Live bluegill is the best for big cats.

If you want to be sneaky about the legality of it, you can always use them as cut bait.

For the best chances, make sure you catch bluegill in the body of water you want to fish for cats.

Yep yep yep, a good slice of cut shad for bait also works wonders.

[Mottfia]

Shaky head craw worm.  ;D they dominate! I slipped up and caught three during a bass tournament this weekend. one happened to be 20 lbs. it was sick!

[OK Bass Hunter]

Cut shad, live bluegills and live shiners.

[ZeNoob]

caught one last year on a t-rigged plastic worm. to bad my UL set up with 4lb line couldnt handle it  

[B A S S E R]

How are you guys cutting/ putting the bluegill on the hooks?

[CookieMonst3r]

Fresh Shrimp & yes I'm talking fresh water catfish

x2 This works wonders.

[Busy]

Leave the shell on.  Get it nice and stinky.  

Also, there are a couple posts on using womens nylons.  Nylon can take as many as 40 years to decay and is considered non-biodegradable.  Please think twice before throwing it in your lakes or rivers.

Cheesecloth works just as well

[RoLo]

When living in Georgia we often targeted catfish. It would be hard to specify a favorite bait though,

without pinning down the catfish species. Depending on the target, these would be my favorites:

Channel Catfish

1) Fresh Chicken Livers

2) Fresh Beef Liver (Even less hook-fast than chicken livers and emits less scent)

Blue Catfish

1) 4 to 5 Whole Fresh Fish (shad or herring if available)

2) Fresh Fish Chunks (cut-bait is used with large baitfish)

Flathead Catfish

4 to 5 Live Fish

("Live" and moving is more important than the species of bait.

Baitfish commonly used for flatheads are live shiners, goldfish, shad, redbreast sunfish, suckers & bullheads)

Roger

[mrlitetackle]

Posted by: RoLo      Posted on: Today at 12:15pm

When living in Georgia we often targeted catfish. It would be hard to specify a favorite bait though,

without pinning down the catfish species. Depending on the target, these would be my favorites:

Channel Catfish

1) Fresh Chicken Livers

2) Fresh Beef Liver  (Even less hook-fast than chicken livers and emits less scent)

Blue Catfish

1) 4 to 5 Whole Fresh Fish (shad or herring if available)

2) Fresh Fish Chunks (cut-bait is used with large baitfish)

Flathead Catfish

4 to 5 Live Fish

("Live" and moving is more important than the species of bait.

Baitfish commonly used for flatheads are live shiners, goldfish, shad, redbreast sunfish, suckers & bullheads)

Roger

WOW....... RoLo.......

i must say that this one got pulled up from the depths of the archives to say the least!!!!!!!!!!!!

but, i do love the input!!

as with my time on BR i have found your posts to be among the most knowledgeable around.

so, thank you.... the detailed insight is much appreciated.

[RoLo]

WOW....... RoLo.......

i must say that this one got pulled up from the depths of the archives to say the least!!!!!!!!!!!!

but, i do love the input!!

as with my time on BR i have found your posts to be among the most knowledgeable around.

so, thank you.... the detailed insight is much appreciated.

Thank you kindly....Appreciation makes it all worthwhile

Roger

[Gone_Phishin]

Take what's left after filleting a mess of panfish, and put into a styrofoam cooler. Add corn meal and flour to thicken. Also add anything else that comes to mind to spice-up your mix, like chewing tobacco, cheese, old fishing scent that's been sitting for years, etc.

Cover cooler and wrap in duct tape. Place cooler on roof, away from animals, and let bake in sun for a few days. Mix paste and use on dip worms, or spoon into cheese cloth or the misses' stockings.

Nasty stuff, but it'll work something powerful.

[SmokeRise1]

Roger,  I love your posts/advice as well but I have to disagree with one of your points on this one.  I've used both chicken and beef liver and I find that the beef is tougher than chicken and I think the scent of the beef is actually stronger and bloodier.  I've caught pretty big cats on the beef livers and usually only catch little guys on the chicken.  Maybe I'm just lucky.

[RoLo]

Roger, I love your posts/advice as well but I have to disagree with one of your points on this one. I've used both chicken and beef liver and I find that the beef is tougher than chicken and I think the scent of the beef is actually stronger and bloodier. I've caught pretty big cats on the beef livers and usually only catch little guys on the chicken. Maybe I'm just lucky.

Without differences of opinion, there would be no forum ;-)

As you probably know, some anglers believe that bait that is spoiled and rank is best for catfishing.

Catfish guides disagree on a lot of things, but they all agree that fresh bait will outperform "spoiled" bait.

Now then, when we hold fresh chicken and beef livers up to our noses, there won't be much of a difference in aroma.

In any case, the air-breathing nose of **** sapiens does not simulate the subaqueous barbels of a catfish.

When I lived in Georgia (1992 to 1998), I received the state publication called Georgia Sportsman.

In an article published on catfish baits, the state claimed that chicken livers emit "three times"

the olfactory markers as beef liver (i.e. barbel-receptors). Though I feel that their 3 to 1 ratio may be guilding the lily,

at the least, it has boosted my confidence level in the use of chicken livers over beef liver (who really knows?).

I find it interesting that you've found that beef livers are more hook-fast than chicken livers.

Granted, both are a pain in the butt, in fact, many anglers incorporate mesh to attain a better hook-hold.

In any case, I've worked with beef liver that was only a little better than working with jello.

It may be that the advantage you've experienced has to do with freshness, or water-toughening over time.

All the same, if your confidence level is highest using beef livers, there is no point in changing anything.

In the grand scheme, fresh liver is the best bait for channel cats, no matter who the donor is.

Roger

[SmokeRise1]

Ha!  Good point.  I'll do some research on "barbel-receptors".  As for freshness, I can only go by what the butcher says.  If I could talk to the steer.....

[SuperNewbie]

crawlers hot dogs and if ive done other fishing gills

[Jeremy D.]

Chicken livers

[suenrod]

I will second the shrimp idea. My wife was told this and that's all she uses now. Works really well here in SW Virignia.  Shell on type since the shell helps it hold onto the hook.

I think she microwaves them a bit to help get the fishy smell going.

Luck to ya.

Fresh Shrimp & yes I'm talking fresh water catfish

[heyitskirby]

A little late response here...but as far as cutting up panfish/using em live...

Just filet em like you would any other fish, or even cut straight through their sides across the spine. It really doesn't matter, you're not trying to eat it, just trying to create a nasty, stinky, bloody mess that a cat wants to eat.

Live, again, it doesn't matter. I've caught cats on live fish AND dead fish. So unlike some other types of fish it doesn't matter where you hook them. Just as a matter of ease I've always hooked the panfish around the spine, giving them some time to live, and I just double hook through the side of a minnow(if you're using em).

Catfish just love to eat. I've caught them on spinner baits, spoons, plastics, nightcrawlers, minnows, cut bait(even including bluefish!), panfish, store bought stink baits, etc. Just gotta find the hole and be patient....

Patience, btw...when I was a kid we used to visit a guy my dad worked with who had a home on Buggs Island Lake down near South Hill/South Boston, VA. I used to walk around the cove and fish and not catch a whole lot, but I would always throw a line in with a nightcrawler in the middle and just let it sit. I would only let myself check it about once an hour and normally there'd always be a catfish on it.

There's certainly not a lot of science....just find a hole and get your bait to the bottom.

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

Two words for ya. "live bluegill"

x2,bobber or freeline,and/or cut,preferrably the head. Also like live or cut shiners.In a pinch a ball of minnows will work too.If you can use a cast net then your standard threadfin shads are killer as well.

I stay away from livers and crawlers as they attract too many turtles.Large soft shells with their "ET phone home" neck are no joke to tangle with.

[Mike556]

I head down to the meat store and get the steak that has been sitting a little too long.  It's usually discounted and stays on the hook much better than chicken livers.  Just cut it to size and place on hook.  Cast and reel in catfish.  It's that simple.  I always have luck with it every time that I use it.