Catfish bait recipe

[Larry]

Anybody have a secret sure thing bait recipe they would like to share?  My pickled shad just ran out...and thought I would try a new bait.  Something the big cats just can't resist. ;D  Emphasis on big. 8) 8)

I've been cogitating on this post for a couple of days.  First I thought about putting it in the General board, than Food...it's a recipe ain't it, and finally settled on Outdoor stuff...oh well iffen I'm wrong Furby will set me straight.

[Norm]

I have never had much luck other than for channel cats with prepared bait.

My hands down favorite is bluegills fillets on a single hook, for flatheads I'll use live bluegills or shad. My late fishing buddy would use spoonbill eggs for bait. They were a challenge to keep on the treble hooks but man did the blue cats love it. Now days spoonbill eggs go for big bucks as caviar. Guess maybe this does belong in the food thread. :D

[Lanier_Lurker]

The larger channel cats like live bait too.

A live shad is hard to beat for a blue, flathead, or channel.  Once they die I cut them up and catch smaller blues and channels with them.

Honestly, one of the best prepared baits I have ever used for channels cats are hot dogs.  Easy to handle and cut to the right size, not messy, and very effective.  Sometimes I will dip them into shad juice or a dipbait if I have any available.

But, if you are going for big catfish, live bait is the way to go - even for channels.  Are you fishing a river or lake?

[Tom]

Red wigglers are hard to beat on anything.

I have had good luck on pieces of shrimp too.  Saltwater shrimp are big and easy to handle.  The little hardbacks that you catch in fresh water work good too and you might catch a bream or bass with them too.

[Daren]

I have 2. Go fishing in the morning with a dozen worms, throw the little bluegill you catch in a bucket and use them at night.

My all time "super secret" bait is sun jerkied chicken livers.
Ingredients:
Old tire
window screen in the frame
old storm window
chicken livers
garlic salt---Parmesan cheese.
3-4 hours of sun

Place the screen over the old tire out in the yard. Cut the livers into pieces just bigger than a silver dollar. Lay them out and coat both sides with the garlic salt/Parmesan cheese. Put the old storm window over them to keep the flies off.
 
They get tough as leather(stay on the hook on a long cast, finicky/nibblers or I use them for trot lines). It is like a solar food dehydrator. I originally tried the garlic salt because it seemed to dry them faster. I introduced the Parmesan cheese because it stinks....they both work great. I bring them both with me. I may hit a spot and one day they tear up the salty livers, the next the cheese ones ?
You can make them up and freeze them forever. I make a few pounds at a time and they stay good. I know I have caught more catfish on those 2 baits than everything else I have tried combined. On a 25 hook trot line I have had 15 hooks with cats on. I bank fish too and from a boat, same result.
The biggest cats I have caught have been on bluegill...the most and best tasting ones were on the jerky livers.

[SwampDonkey]

The only catfish I ever saw in the wild was one I caught on the Dungarvin river while fishing salmon. The poor thing was only about 7 inches long and I tossed it back.  It was an interesting encounter when you've never seen one before and your about 12 years old. Peculiar with them whisker like projections I was told can sting. So you can imagine how I handles the fish and why it went back to the brook. I've never seen another catfish again. I see them on TV or pictures, but that don't count.  :-\

[Lanier_Lurker]

The biggest cats I have caught have been on bluegill...the most and best tasting ones were on the jerky livers.

Yep, for the bigguns you mostly need to use live bait.  For numbers, smaller size, and generally better eating, the prepared baits, worms, or cut bait (shad) are best.  I forgot to mention the Berkely GULP stuff.  They make a fake earthworm that works great.

But, the big vs small argument as it relates to table fare quality rarely applies when talking about flathead catfish.  Even the large ones taste great!  Only the obscenely large ones might taste bad (like over 70 pounds).

And Tom is right - shrimp and even chunks of mackerel or bonito (little tunny) work good.  The folks with good catfish water that live near the coast often have these options.  Many of the giant blue cats that are caught in southern California reservoirs are caught on chunks of some sort of Pacific mackerel.

[Larry]

I'm going to try some gills.  There easy to catch and iffen I get a few biguns I'll eat them myself. 8) 8) 8)

Darens recipe sounds good also...I've always had problems keeping fresh chicken livers on the hook but Daren has that problem solved.

LL, I normally fish upstream on Beaver Lake.  Sometimes venturing up the river.

[Daren]

I'm going to try some gills.  There easy to catch and iffen I get a few biguns I'll eat them myself. 8) 8) 8)

As far as eatin fish, I like bluegill better than catfish  digin1. I like to catfish though (and bass, and crappie... ;)) I know a couple ponds around here we take some worms and 2 fishing poles. A little pole for catching bluegill and a bigger pole with a treble and a really big bobber. Catch the gills, hook em up and throw them right back out...and then drag the channel cats out. Throw the catfish back and repeat  :D. I leave the channels and bass to catch again later, but will bring a little bucket of bluegill home for supper.

[limbrat]

Cast net= live shad  hook them just above the black dot on there back above the head and they will stay active for a long time. Put a teaspoon of baking soda in your live well and the shad will live longer they are stressed when they go in the well they will puke and use the bathroom when they get in there so leave the pump running to clean the water. For bigger fish use 5 to 10" bait. For  channel cats go the other way small bait and small hooks like #6-#1. they have a little mouth and will take a small bait easier. Bait a spot with canned catfood or hay bails in still water when you draw in the baitfish the big cats will follow. If you fish a lot save the heads and back bones and stuff in the freezer till you get enough to bait a spot for a couple of days in a row. Not for big cats but big gar 50# cats are great 80# gar are twice the fish and they get air borne. In the spring fish around bream beads for big cats and bass.

[flip]

Who needs bait????

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1892350868

[ADAMINMO]

To keep fresh liver on your hook get a pair of your wifes old panty hose and cut out a section and put the liver inside and then thread your hook through it a couple times to "sew" the ends together then it will stay on.

[Don K]

That works good on stinkbait too.