BEST CATFISH BAITS FOR CATFISH FISHING
February 28, 2010
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Posted by admin
BEST CATFISH BAITS FOR CATFISH FISHING
A common question asked by catfish anglers is what is the best catfish baits for catfish fishing?
A good question, and depending on where you are in your catfish evolution, you will get many answers on what works best.
Surprisingly to some, many veteran catfishermen routinely use many of the below catfish baits:
- catfish bait soaps
- catfish dough baits
- catfish stink baits
- blood baits
- catfish punch baits
- Tons of secret catfish bait recipes made from store bought items
Not every catfish angler is targeting trophy class Blue catfish, Flathead catfish, and Channel Catfish. Many time’s catfish fishermen just want to decompress from a hectic workweek , and feel something tugging on the end of their fishing tackle.
Before we vote on the best catfish bait, lets talk about the major players in the catfish industry. These represent multi-million dollar revenue streams for catfish tackle suppliers.
CATFISH BAIT SOAP:
Its all about the fat content. Older soaps like proctor and gamble were staples for catfish trot lines and were effective. As soap recipes changes over time, perfumes were added and skin conditioners, the attracting properties for catfish dwindled. There are marketers who produce actual catfish bait soap that will be effective and enhance the catfish bait with items such as herring oil, licorice proteins, etc. Cut into small chunks sized for your catfish tackle, and go fishing. Handy for the time pressed catfish fishermen who runs trot lines who doesn’t have time for bait collection.
WEIRD NOTE: In 1999, and once again in 2008, I was told by 2 commercial catfish fishermen that the best bait they use is tinfoil. You heard me, tinfoil. They swear that it worked, and 1 of the 2 guys I believed.
CATFISH PUNCH BAIT:
It’s all about the filler and the cheese in this catfish bait. I have an inside friendship with a punch bait manufacturer that grosses over $100,000+ annually preparing his bait. Extremely popular with catfish anglers and comes in many customized flavors. Punch bait gets its name do to the catfish baits consistency, and the angler having to,”PUNCH” the treble hook or bait holder into the catfish bait. Many of the ingredients are items that just work, cheese, fish oils, blood additives, simple proteins additives, etc. Its not uncommon to hear stories of 20 to 30 pound catfish being caught on this type of catfish bait.
CATFISH DOUGH BAITS:
This catfish bait’s name pretty much explains it. Its all about the consistency. Less stiff than punch baits, catfish dough baits are whipped up in kitchens across the United States. This catfish bait primarily consist of corn meal, flower, anise oil, and any other items readily accessible to a catfish angler.
Once a catfish fishermen knowledge base evolves, and his interest changes, the catfish bait base condenses dramatically. We can break the bait down into two main categories.
LIVE CATFISH BAITS – CUT BAITS
LIVE BAITS:
Live catfish baits are a staple for trophy flathead catfishermen searching for the next record flathead catfish. Although there are times when fresh cut-bait will outperform live bait, outside of the winter over period when a trophy flathead catfish’s metabolism is kicking on all cylinders based on water temperature, live baits are the name of my game.
CUT BAITS:
Skip Jack, Shad gut pockets, eels, you name it. If it is fresh, your chances increase. Many catfish fishermen swear that the head portion of cut baits work the best, although I have found my best catfish from the body portion with the gut opened.
We just scratched the surface, but these are the staples.
What in your opinion is the best catfish bait for a catfish angler short on time, and those catfish baits where the goal is,”GO BIG OR GO HOME”.
Paul Louderback is the President of the United States Catfish Association which has over 30+ thousand members within the ranks. Paul advises numerous businesses within the total sphere of catfishing and volunteers coaching with startup companies.
If you would like to join the private catfish syndicate group go to www.catfish1.com/catfishinsider
Categories: catfishing
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If I was only fishing for small to med cats and short on time,my top choices would be chicken liver,crawlers,and shiners in that order.For the big boys,i,d be using a good lively bait that,s native to the waters i,m fishing in and that,s abundant and relatively easy to catch.My favorite size for the big ones is 5-12″,with the occasional 18-24″ thrown out just because i,m an opptomist!I aint seen no one using soap lately,brings back some memories.Ivory was said to be good.For eater catfish,I don,t think any of the commercial baits are gonna outfish the ones I,ve mentioned by much,if at all.I tried a lot of them over the years,always when the fish were already biting good,never been impressed by any.
i like the more natrual baits. shad for smaller channels and skip jack for the trophy blues!
Cut baits here, shad, skippies, cut asian carp.
Ok one question, “ALUMINUM FOIL” come on? Like putting it on a hook? Is it giving off a scent or a flash factor?
They say its the flash factor, a small strip on the hooks waving in the current.
I am with you bro, but one dude who said it works, you know also.
Jeeesh, now Im going to feel like a real dope tomorrow when I try it out
For trot lines only though.. or its said..
First and most important is ya gotta be where the fish are. If they aren’t there I don’t give a rats ass what ya use.
I target channels cause thats what my river offers. I feel that suspendin your bait off the bottom is key due to the overbite factor.
As far as bait is concerned. Well, if it smells good and they can lock in on it they will take it.
For me its gotta be eel or the gut pocket of any fish. I’m done. LOL!
well first off you said for the fisherman on short time,thats the key here,and also makes the choices easy.in this situation with short time,i’d go with goldfish,no time to catch bait,just buy it.
now for the other two bait fishes,i mean catfish.blues,i don’t know.channels,run to ingles and grab some chicken liver.these are the best QUICK baits,as well as some of the best baits period.
Short on time, if I have some bait in the freezer that’s what I’ll use or stop and buy some nightcrawlers. Over the years I have tried most of the prepared baits on the market for the channels in the local waters and have had only limited success. When using 2 rods, one with prepared bait and the other with natural bait, the natural bait always wins. I don’t know why, but the fish up here (southeast Pa) just don’t seem to like the prepared baits. I have jars, tubs, and bags of all kinds of stuff around the house and I did give them an honest try. Maybe I just didn’t find the right one!
i’ve never had any luck on prepared baits either,mte.
I always use punch baits. I keep a tub of it handy, if short on time, just grab the pail and head to the water. I only fish for channels, and they love it here in OK. waters!!!
I have never had any luck what so ever with prepared baits, I will continue to use live,cut bait and worms.
I learned a log time ago that fish prefer different baits on different lakes on any given day. Sometimes its live or cut baits other times it is prepared baits. Sometimes it cut baits with a bait enhancer added. Personally my first choice is shad guts early and skipjack heads later on. I do carry several brands of dip/dough and punch baits. Sometimes its hard to beat shrimp soaked in garlic. My philosophy is let the fish tell you what they prefer on that trip.
I have used them all..None of them beat fresh natural bait right from where your going to fish..The beginning of every fishing trip should include bait catching..I typically use a cast net.A good dip net always works well too,for catching small minnows and crawfish..I rarely buy bait.I truly believe though that the best all around bait for just about any fish is still the old nightcrawler..I’ve never been fishing with worms or nightcrawlers and gotten skunked..They always seem to catch at least something..And yes foil does work for catching fish..One time I was fishing with a friend catching a mess of bream.We had a box of worms and we were tearing em up..We ran out of worms and I was ready to pack it up and head out.My buddy says “hold on a sec let me show you a lil trick..”He tore the foil out of the inside of a cigarette pack and put it on the hook..Needless to say we continued tearing up the bream with a lil piece of foil from a cigarette pack..Who’da thought..
Channels: I’ve had trips were I literally wore my arms out pulling in 1-5lb channels on Sonny’s with veg oil added until its slurpy.. Gone back the next day and they wouldn’t touch it, but had great luck with cut shad ?? I’ve had great luck with small channels with all the standards (Livers, Shrimp, Crawlers, Crawdads, Shad, plus Sonnys and DK punch bait) ..
Side note, I did pull in a 18lb flathead on a garlic dough ball heh…
Area more important than bait imho. As Big G said, gotta fish where the fish are.
Anymore, I’ll just use Shad and skip the funk. Fish tend to run bigger and plenty of action on it.
Hawg Flatheads: Live hand sized Bluegills (though the dang stripers been killing em last couple years) …
I mostly chanel catfish I have used it all and made some too. You just need to know what works as the season changes. And you will always have nice fish to clean and eat. You just do not use just one bait all year you use what they want at that time of the year. Just try to remember what they like the best for each month. Once you get that down you are set. Each bait has it’s own time that it works best. That way you know what to use at anytime of the year. If you know what they want you have a good chance of getting the big one to bite. I have snapped a of lines now I use 30lb braid so that I have a chance at the big one. Now go catch them.
Docs dip bait at times really rox, for the weekend fisherman. I have had really great success with it.
Also, chicken livers with garlic powder/salt sprinkled on.
Also the nitecrawler.
This year, i hope to go after the big flats…….with breem, sunfish, bluegills, etc.
I have used DK original punch bait with great results before.I prefer this to liver and shrimp on a rod/reel for small channels and blues.I have seen cats taken on juglines with a 1 1/2 inch cutout of a pie pan , so I know it works.Still not sure if it is better than shrimp or shad.I use cut skips for the bigger fish.If I only have a few hours to fish and I am after eater fish here is what I do.This will only work on lakes or rivers with no or little current.Go to a spot you know holds fish , usually a shallow gravel flat with a deeper channel nearby.Throw a couple of handfuls of magic bait , chicken blood out in a 20 foot circle.Throw it out in a shallow area 3-7 foot deep.Bait a couple of rods with the Danny Kings punch bait with a slip cork about one foot from the bottom.The cats will find your bait within 30 minutes.I have had it non stop action for a couple of hours.When it slows down throw another handful of chum out.
i’ve heard people say that the rhino liner is the way to go. can’t wait to see the finished product.
I am a beef spleen user. Stays bloody and has a muscle on it so they can’t strip your hook. Have caught many channels and my first Blue cat on it. And the awesome thing is it is free to get.
My go to catfish bait is fresh cut mackerel. Out here in southern California most of our cat fishing is on drinking water reservoirs, and we have restrictions for live/cut bait. So my fishing buddy and i load up of freezer with mackerel that we catch for free on the local pier. The biggest channels we have caught were in the 15-23lb range, all on mackerel. We use chicken liver and nightcrawlers as well but the mack seems to be the best all round, and free…
live and cut are the way to go. anything of the natural variety is the way to go. the prepared stuff i do not have faith in at all.
my best bait over all is trout. either live,dead,or cut up. the flatheads and channels won’t leave it alone. its like candy to them. used to be a live bait guy through and through but the last 2-3 years i have caught way more fish on cut bait than i would have ever thought.