whats the best bait used for catfish?

[Melanie Vankevich]

whats the best bait used for catfish?

[mike0714]

the grossest nastiest meat you can find from fish heads to beef parts or any other gross stuff that has fat. When i was younger I use to use chunks of raw bacon on a treble hook then use the rest of the bacon to cook with the tails at the end of the day. Another good idea is to go to your butcher and ask what they do with the scraps, trimmings and meat that goes bad. you can put the parts that are too small to leave in the trap or on a hook in a burlap bag and hang it in the trap.

[justonemorefur]

I love to use turkey livers firmer than chicken liver.

[mike0714]

Sorry I thought you said crayfish. but the same idea applies nastier and stinkier the better. Chicken liver, beef tongue/heart, fish chunks soaked in oil garlic vanilla or anise extract and set outside for a day, and stale bred with anise extract drizzled on it.

[mspl8sdcntryboy]

Chicken livers and hot dogs.

[Drover1]

Commercial or home-made stink baits can be good, but I’ve found baits do not need to be rotten or stinky to attract catfish. Fresh cut bait, especially from oily fish such as shad or suckers is good. Or a whole, freshly killed fish such as a shad or sucker of appropriate size, with some slits cut in it to allow blood and odors to diffuse into the water will work. Live bait such as shad or small bluegills can be great at times, and catfish can rarely resist a glob of big juicy nightcrawlers.

[FirstBubba]

Depends on location and conditions.
Cut shad
Perch
Minnows
Worms
There is a vast array of stink baits, punch baits, etc.
I've seen 'em caught on P&G soap
Blood baits
Grasshoppers
Deer liver (any kind of liver)
etc, etc, etc...

[FirstBubba]

Depends on location and conditions.
Cut shad
Perch
Minnows
Worms
There is a vast array of stink baits, punch baits, etc.
I've seen 'em caught on P&G soap
Blood baits
Grasshoppers
Deer liver (any kind of liver)
etc, etc, etc...

[AAM]

My grandfather uses stink bait.

[jay]

I've had the best luck with cut baits like shad, skip jack, bluegills etc. I've caught a few blues over the 50 pound mark, one in my profile pics. Channel catfish seem to like the stink baits and worrms better. I mostly stick with the cut baits because anything else doesn't stay on the hook as well.

[Ncarl]

Bubba is right. It really depends on the time of year. Earlier in the year I use cut bluegill. When the water warms up and the fish are done spawning stink baits work well. People think it just takes a nasty bait to catch fish but its more about fishing in high percentage areas. A catfish will eat just about anything that comes his way. In lakes fish rock piles. If you hit those fish right on the head with a piece of freshly cut crappie or bluegill they will bite. When fishing smaller rivers wade them and look for where the water has washed away the sand to create a hole. Most of the time these holes can be found where the river bends or on the downstream side of structure. Do the same thing I do in lakes , hit them on the head with cut bait. I can't give you advise on larger rivers as I don't fish them.

[Ncarl]

Sorry, should have specified that I'm talking about channel cats.

[santa]

I like to use pork liver trimmings (the tough sinew or tendons that actually connect the liver) because they stay on a hook very well while still putting out the bloody smell. It has not been legal for many years, but when I was a kid, the ultimate bait was live dime store goldfish.

[DakotaMan]

As others have said, catfish aren't real fussy about what they eat. I like channel catfish for best eating quality. One of my top bait for them has been a little sand toad. I often just hook a live one in the lower lip and send him drifting down the current. For bottom fishing, a live chub or cut bait from an oily fish is pretty good too.

On the bottom, chicken livers are quite good as well. I had a commercial fishing license for catfish for a while and had to use a no-nonsense approach to bait to get over 500 catfish a day to my traps. For that I used congealed cow blood obtained from a local butcher shop. Once it is congealed, it is pretty much the consistency of cow liver and you can wrap 1 inch cuttings with thin nylon or cloth. They will last for a day in the water and it is hard to beat since the blood slowly disperses down stream. If I use this I try to fish the same hole for quite a while as fish will follow the scent from miles downstream and it may take them an hour to arrive to your bait.

I've also had good success with crayfish tails. I sein crayfish from small streams with a small sein. Good luck... the important thing with catfish is to get your hook in the water. If fishing for channel cats, remember that they feed in fast water and just as much at the top of the water as on the bottom.

[joel.grudle]

Chicken liver has never steered me wrong