Originally posted by: davesett2000 on 8/15/2005 12:19:22 PM

Hi all... <!--graemlin::)-->

This is a consolidation of several posts made by Members in the "Catfish" Forum concerning Catfish baits...Thanks Guys!


mitchell man Posted July 25, 2005 06:35 AM July 25, 2005 06:35 AM
I was wonderin if any of ya’ll could tell me some of ur favorite catifish bait recipes just out of curiosity? I’ve heard so pretty outrageous ones but most of them worked. So if ya can I’d like to know

Celliach Posted July 25, 2005 11:51 AM July 25, 2005 11:51 AM
Here's a few sites on the internet for dough and stink bait recipes:

http://www.lake-online.com/fishinhole/catfish-bait-recipes.html

http://www.willontheweb.com/fishing/baitrecipes.html

http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/doughballrecipes.html

http://www.whiskerkitty.com/catfish_bait_recipes.html

And here is a link for boilies, dough bait's British cousin:

http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/boilierecipes.html

quote:

Originally posted by Rebel Cat:
Hay dave how's about adding mine to that list?

http://www.rebelcatscatfishingclub.com

We love Catfishing Eric <!--graemlin::)-->

Jeremy Zielensky Posted July 25, 2005 01:15 PM July 25, 2005 01:15 PM I use creek chubs live and as cut bait. It works well were i live good luck

JESSE Posted July 25, 2005 07:41 PM July 25, 2005 07:41 PM
I BUY CHICKEN LIVER 3 DAYS BEFORE I GO ADD A CLOVE OF GARLIC TO IT PUT IN THE REFRIGORATOR LET IT ABSORBED THE GARLIC AND GO FISHING SAT/SUN. GOOD LUCK

mitchell man Posted July 26, 2005 06:28 AM July 26, 2005 06:28 AM
ty bout how long do they usually take to hit it
i know with night crawlers it takes around 15 + minutes for them to. Well I will have to try that.is that for channel blue or flatheads

kel Posted May 19, 2005 04:44 PM
hey guys I have fished for everything else that swims around here but I have no luck with cats in the local river I know they are there it is a medium sized river connected to the red river I have seen pics of cats caught here but I have not fished for them much not sure what to use for bait and how to rig for them I hear they bite best at night I fish sturgeon at night on another river but have never tried for cats at night any help would be great .

Gill. Posted May 19, 2005 10:28 PM
You can't go wrong with blood bate for channel cat's. My favorite way to use it, is to add olive oil and make it very pasty. Now you have 2 choices here, either get some blue gill's or sunfish an soak it in the blood bate for a few days. And Or you can put sponge cubes in the bait for a day or 2 all so. and use that. i would say to put the sponges on a hook all ready lined with a heavy line. use at lest 12lb line for your main.
Depending on how fast the river is moving use a sinker. i put on 2 bates on my cat fish rigs the blood bate on sponge or a piece of gill. got lots of cats this way. night fishing is good for fishin flats for cats. That’s when they come out to play. in the day time in rivers they are hiding in the rocks grass in little rivers running off the main, trees where ther is shade. Also try using shad, hole or cut. I use women’s panty hoes an tie it to my line.
If you never had a big cat on your line, then hold on your in for a ride.

catfishhunter777 Posted May 19, 2005 11:33 PM
You can use Shad guts or Chicken Liver those work best for me, Personally unless you want to I would not use store bought "blood" bait balls use real fish, even small whole shad are great for 10-40 pound channel cats works every time give your pole at the most 30 minutes in the water with blood bait if you don't catch anything then switch locations blood bait can be smelled 100 square feet by Channels so they should bite. Well that is all as far as I know. Great fishing

kel Posted May 20, 2005 07:09 AM
great thanks guys I'll try it out this weekend and post pics of any I catch ,I am excited to catch a cat don't get me wrong I love the big walleye that I usually catch but after a while you just look to expand your abilities and try something new again thanks guys.

Gill. Posted May 20, 2005 11:02 PM
the channel cat is the best fighting of the cats.
They give you a better fight then a blue or a flat head, they are just like draging in a log. A big 10lb cat will on 12lb line will give you a run for your money. an make you think twice about your knots. i just got back form fishing for cats. Nothing to brag about a few 5lbers for eating.

kyle b Posted May 21, 2005 12:43 PM
Have you tried a one ounce sinker and about a 4/0 hook. Frozen chicken livers and shrimp is the baits I use.

holysht1968 Posted May 21, 2005 04:09 PM
get a three way swivel rig a sinker on the bottom with about a foot and a half then tie your hook on the middle at about 6 inches use a 2/0 hook catch some blue gill or some other perch cut the head off hook it through the mouth use the rest of the body as well and hold on if their any where close. i have some tremendous fights with some 7 to 15 pound blues they run straight down river and don’t want to come back. But if you get into some nice channels you cant beat it good luck

ouachitabassangler Posted May 21, 2005 05:30 PM
Jug fishing, if legal there, catches them well. I use a 1 or 2 gallon plastic jug and paint the bottom half white, the top bright yellow. I hook a trot line with supplied barrel swivels and snaps to an old iron window weight and let it out of the boat, putting a hook on the fist swivel about 2 feet above the weight, and more every 8 feet, on every other snap, baiting as I let it out. When the weight hits bottom I snap the line around the jug handle and let it go.
When I return to check on them, I note the depth of fish caught. They will almost always be on a common hook, say the third up from bottom. When rebaiting or taking cats, I remove all hooks except those closest to the catch depth.
When a cat gets on, I pull it in the boat and just unsnap the hook, leaving it in the cat to be removed when dressing it. I re-use the extra hooks to replace the ones taken by cats.

Whatever depth the cats are biting on will be a pattern for a large part of the lake. If the depth changes and the bite falls off, I put hooks back on like the first time and note the new biting depth, then remove all other hooks above and below it. That keeps me from having to handle hooks attached to the line until I reach the cat, and prevents the line from snagging if the cat takes off with the rig. There just isn't anything quite like having a line full of hooks rip through your hands or across your leg, which is why I abandoned trot lines set out classic style across a cove. Only luck has those horizontal lines at the biting depth anyway.
Once you know the biting depth from just one jug rig you can still-fish with a rod at that depth and tie into some real action while watching the jugs. My jugs lose the white bottom when a cat pulls down, and the yellow is easy to spot across the lake.
Stink bait or blood bait for channel cats, and wild bream or goldfish for flatheads.


AS999 Posted May 24, 2005 05:15 AM
Try this link on the club website. It has some helpful articles and links.

http://www.fishingclub.com/Category.asp?cID=110

flatcat Posted May 26, 2005 02:30 AM
One thing to remember when fishing a river for cats. The stronger the current , the shorter the leader. You do not want your bait spinning around in circles , you want it to lay down near the bottom. What is the correct leader length? , Experiment!!!!!! In some cases I don't use a leader , I put the lead right to the hook , in heavy current. Slow to moderate current I use 1 to 2 foot leader. Experiment, Have fun.

mr whiskers Posted May 29, 2005 01:17 PM
One of two rigs i us is slip sinker rig swivel one foot piece of 20lb mono slid sinker on then swivel 8in piece 2/0 hook or a catfish rig i have made for me out of wire leader like a crappie rig with 2/0 hooks and green black or white beads

butes21 Posted June 07, 2005 05:07 PM
I find that the best thing for channel cats is to hook a large creek chub (channels go crazy for em) through the lip and put it on the bottom right in the middle of the channel, especially if there is a bend

big bubba Posted June 19, 2005 01:50 PM
chicken liver works best for me

Gill. Posted July 15, 2005 01:18 PM
Jim, down here in new mexico it is illegal to use gold fish as bate. people have used them for years here an now many lakes are troubled with gold fish. they are dirty fish an just all around bad news, i would say there are the goby problem of new mexico.

Ranger Rick Posted July 18, 2005 07:33 PM
I love catching the 1-5lb channels!
They do fight and usually are willing to bite.
I got a buddy that worships the Blues and turns nose up at channels...its his loss!
I fish the Riprap on our Texas lakes and like to use slip corks with Danny kings Punch bait! It’s a deadly medicine for channels in our part. course Fresh shad is good for all Cats and bream and small bullheads will catch Flatheads!
Even caught Flathead on the punch bait. Guess they didn’t know they ain’t supposed to like that!

ouachitabassangler Posted July 19, 2005 02:09 PM
Gill, I doubt one goldfish would make it a day here with so many stripers around eating everything that moves. The poor things are brilliantly marked so don't stand a chance of hiding and are not fast swimmers.

ouachitabassangler Posted July 19, 2005 02:21 PM
I gave a catfishing customer an off the collar bait that worked, got him what he came here to do, catch some nice cats. He boated all the channels, blues, and flatheads he could handle. I stuffed some 5 or 6 inch hollow super tube worms with dough bait mixed with some ground up bream parts and had him dip that over deep cats. Then the hook goes in to help hold the bait in. I put a 5/8 bullet sinker in front and tied to an 80 pound mono line through a 12 inch steel leader. It was non-stop action for hours! He wore me out just hauling them over the side for him, unhooking, and tossing back, then rebaiting while he used a standby baited rod. My job was more like an ammo private feeding the sarge belts of 50 caliber rounds.
The stuff remains in the tube bait until a cat chomps down and squeezes it, getting a burst of flavor not at all like Wrigleys gum. They won't spit it out like we do when the flavor is gone.

dawsonb Posted July 21, 2005 04:42 PM
I hear that it is illegal here in IL to use them to but everything I read makes no mention of it and I see bait shops with them in MO. So MO doesn't care and I'm with Jim they don't stand a chance of surviving long.

scotteph Posted July 22, 2005 06:57 AM
Just be careful about the regulations on exotic species.

KatKing Posted July 28, 2005 08:16 AM
I've always had my best luck with chicken liver. The fresher the better. If the current is moderate to heavy I use treble hooks and sometimes cheese cloth to help hold the liver on. An 8" to 12" metal leader is always good to use with a 1oz slip sinker. This setup gives the cats play with the bait and it allows the line to freely move through the sinker giving you good indication of a bite. Cats don't like to fight for their food to much so the free play of a leader is good to have. I like to try to cast a little over half way out so the bait settles close rot the middle of the current for better carry of the bait smell. I also recommend a good rod holder setup or a good grip so the rod isn't pulled out to the river by a cat on the move. Have fun and best of luck.

LIPRIPPER Posted July 29, 2005 05:41 PM
kel everything mentioned here does work and there is one other option I haven’t seen mentioned here is cut bait. I'm not sure what kind of bait fish ya'll have up there in the Red River but if it's Ok to do get yourself a throw net and catch the bait fish right out of their own back yard so to speak. Down here in Illinois we catch Shad...Skipjacks.. Asian carp..and last but most of the time best Goldeneyes.. The bigger ones we cut straight across in about 1" to 1 &1/2" strips and go right through the chunks with a 1/0 hook and fish them on the bottom. The smaller fish we just string them on the hook just like a worm. We do real well catching them Channle Cats this way.

LIPRIPPER Posted August 01, 2005 09:00 AM
Ok once again this weekend we caught the channel cats on cut bait shad that we caught from the river. 20 to 25 of them with the biggest one going 8 & 1/2 Lbs. and several of them in the 4 to 6 Lb range so it does work so be sure to give it a try.

dawsonb Posted August 01, 2005 10:37 AM
The bait! I was with LIP on this last adventure and he is 100% correct on the bait. Catching the bait though requires some practice as well. Casting nets work well and work from shore too. The monofilament ones are ok and a good place to start because they are relatively inexpensive and you could probably tear a good one as easy as a cheap one until you have it mastered. I throw mine by grabbing the net in the middle of the mesh and let the weights hang. I put the rope on the edge of the net that the weights are in gently in my teeth, then grab the rope that the weights are on and throw it out like a frisby. This is not necessarily the only way to do it, but here are definate do's and don'ts.
Always make sure that the end of the rope is on your wrist.
The best throw and the objective is to get the net spread completely out when it hits the water. Always leave slack in the rope as it is falling and then draw in the net quickly when it reaches your target depth. Always make sure that your rope will not catch anything when you are throwing.
You can also use drag nets and I recently just started using one myself and this is what I know. You must be going at least 10mph and no more than 25mph. I'm not sure about rope length but I will play with it until I find out what works for me. My first mistake was going to slow you have to get them stirred up so they hit the surface of your wake. While you are moving along and you find a school start making fast circles around them and go from a large radius circle to the tightest you can get. straighten out and pull in the net.
This last weekend with LIP and Joda we used cast nets and that worked well for us. I also had some 2 inch drum that worked quite well for bait.

riverrat-sc Posted August 01, 2005 10:53 AM
Cast netting is tough to learn but well worth the time.

blank Posted August 01, 2005 05:50 PM
Well I haven’t fished channel cat but if you make a night crawler bleed and throw it in you’ll get some I bet but I don’t know because when i do fish cat it is in the evenings not at night

dawsonb Posted August 02, 2005 10:57 AM
We were on the water about 7:30AM and had bait caught by around 8:00AM and then were off the water by 4PM. We moved alot until we found ones biting. I had plenty of marks on the finder but it seemed that they only were biting in spurts it was all or nothing so to speak. At one particular time all the poles were going and we missed a few that hour which was about noon.

dawsonb Posted August 02, 2005 01:08 PM
The one thing I might add is keep your bait iced down and you need to cut the belly's. Some guys remove the heads to. I don't think i matters either way but try both. I put a small slit into the center gut of mine, however I don't slice it all the way out the bottom of the fish. I'm not sure it matters much there either you will catch them if you do something to get a little smell.

LIPRIPPER Posted August 02, 2005 02:24 PM
I was cutting the heads off of mine with good results. Also if you have the bigger shad you cut them straight through in about 1 71/2 in strips and hook them right through the back.
Oh and if you can stand the smell you can in some places from the bait get SHAD GUTS and fish it like you would chicken liver but you better have a good clothes pin on your nose

josh garcia Posted August 02, 2005 03:35 PM
I caught a 52lb cat last night using dough balls and a slip sinker what I use this also works for carp. good luck!

Jeremy Zielensky Posted August 04, 2005 08:27 PM
Try a good old plain hot dog and some cut bait chubs, or shad this seems to work for me

kcs116 Posted June 18, 2005 10:39 PM
alright, this is pretty much a paste of another post i made but I wanna help you, this is a patience bait, so unless you throw it near a cat, you might have to wait a little bit, i usually set up a piece of pvc pipe to hold my rod with this and go bass or panfish fishing while waiting for a bite, but believe me, you will get a bite! what you will need is a pack of chicken gizards, some powder form garlic seasoning, and a sealable container like a ziploc bag, or plastic container

the process is to thaw your gizards, place them in your air proof sealable container and add the garlic powder, mix the powder and gizards with water to liquify the scent attractant, seal the garlic gizards and let sit outside in warmer than indoor temperature(this depends on where you live) after a days worth of sun baking place the smelly baits on some reasonable sized hooks and strong line and cast into a current of some sort, even if you catch a few small ones, the scent will run downstream into the sensors of a preferable big one, have fun and enjoy catfishing

riverrat-sc Posted June 18, 2005 10:43 PM
I watched a guy fish the other day with Kraft Chedder Cheese. He was cutting off small pieces and packing it around the plain shank hook he was using. He did catch a few channels around 3 lbs.

kcs116 Posted June 20, 2005 08:39 PM
yeah, a cat will pretty much eat anything, i caught a channel in my home state of florida over 5lbs. on a bread ball while fishing for bait fish, its just that they like holes and secluded areas, so you have to use their excellent sense smell to lure them out, so stink baits, cheeses, cut baits, as long as it makes scent, it should be effective

catman88 Posted June 23, 2005 01:35 AM
I’m not sure how it will work but i saw where people make dough balls out of flour and use some kind of sent I’m going to use flour and blood im going to get from a deli who knows it might work i hope

ssgbuck Posted June 23, 2005 09:03 AM
Moldy cheese works well. Also a dough ball with peanut butter has worked. Still prefer my failsafe chicken liver. ripened in the sun for a bit.

pikeprincess Posted July 19, 2005 12:58 PM
They LOVE G-A-R-L-I-C !!! I use Lawry's garlic paste that one would normally use to make garlic bread. You can spread it on dough balls, hot dogs, or beef liver and the cats love it!

Joshua18337 Posted July 19, 2005 01:04 PM
based on everyones responses i would say ANYTHING with a strog oder!

Celliach Posted July 19, 2005 04:12 PM
Boillies are usually considered a carp bait, but I've had fairly good luck with boilies fishing for catfish. Here's a website with a few recipes:

http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/boilierecipes.html

Just use your imagination when adding ingredients. I've seen many recipes with mint from England, and I've used garlic, maple syrup, Wheaties and cheese flavored dog biscuits I was thinking this afternoon, that maybe some old nasty ground up chicken liver might be a good ingredient. Worth the try to pick up some cats

miltond Posted July 19, 2005 06:03 PM
Man, those boilie recepies sound great and I like that idea of adding chicken livers. I can tell you from experience, you can never go wrong with chicken livers. I love fishing with plain livers but, they came off the hook too easy for my fancy. Give this one a try. Cut up a regular sponge into pieces , one inch wide and two inches long, however many you want. Now, get your hooks and thread a sponge on each one. Get a brick of cream cheese and heat it slowly on low heat, till it melts and gets soupy. Don't get burned here! Get some bloody chicken livers and mash them to make them bloodier. Pour the Mashed livers into the cream cheese, give a couple stirs and turn off the heat. Don't cook the livers. While it's still hot, put your sponges and hooks into this concoction and using a wooden spoon or a stick keep pushing them down into it until the sponges won't soak up any more. Let these cool a little bit and put them into a ziploc bag. You could sprinkle a little bit of powdered garlic on them if you'd like. Make sure that when these are completely cool, that you put them up away from the family pet or young children because they have the hooks in them. Hope you have lots of luck with this! Here's another little added twist, you can take a can of sardines and put them in a blender and turn them into a slurry and pour that into the cream cheese along with the chicken liver mash. Good fishing. Let me know what you catch.

Celliach Posted July 20, 2005 09:39 AM
Bought a package of chicken liver last night and added a lot of garlic salt and headed out to the Fox River with my nephews. Caught four cats: 3 flatheads and a channel, and a soft shell turtle. Worked real good without having to leave them out in the sun.

ROD TENDER Posted May 03, 2005 02:18 PM
loaf of pumpernickel or rye bread
1 slice of Limburger cheese per sandwish
1 Thinly sliced onions
1 Slice liverwurst or braunschweiger
Horseradish to taste ( only if fishing is slow)

Make a sandwich and press firmly together , then cut the Sandwich into cubes thread it onto your hook cheese side down.
Then Hold on Cats love it
Place the rest of the sandwich into your cooler out of the sun, if fishing is slow eat what’s left LOL
Just in case your wondering if this is a true recipe I was fishing with my grandpa... the sandwiches were our lunch we ran out of bait so I took half of mine and used it as bait

Mason Banta Posted May 04, 2005 08:01 PM
2 Cups flour
1 Cup sugar
Oatmeal and water to make into dough

Mix all ingredients together and roll into little balls boil for 2 minutes in groups of ten will also work for carp

Gill. Posted May 04, 2005 10:29 PM
Take a can of your favorite blood bate, (i.e. Charley’s blood bate A) get some blue gills an filet them.
Get some olive oil an mix in with blood bate. mix it in to a nice paste. Take your blue gill's filet an put in side the blood bate.
leave sit for a few days out side. use the filet an cut it in to chunks an use on the next trip to the river. Make sure you don't for get some plastic gloves, that stuff just stinks all full.
All so, with the blood bate with the olive oil mixed in, use a sponge put it on a treble hook, or a large bate holder hook. get sponge wet an dip in side the blood bate an mesh around with a sick. the sponge works good because you never have to worry about a fish stealing your bate. an the smell stays on for hours under the water.

wahoohunter455 Posted May 05, 2005 06:21 PM
Howdy! Basically, I like my catfish brining recipe which you can view on "How do I catch them?", Which is also in the catfish tips area too. If ya want ta see it, ya just go there or click on wahoohunter455 and go to forum posts and scroll down ta "How do I catch them?". Well, adios and happy fishin!

Andy Brusnahan Posted May 07, 2005 05:24 AM
my recipe is you start with flour and water and baking soda and mix it and if you want it thicker just add more flour. but then add two teaspoons of barbecue sauce, 1 teaspoon of salt,2 teaspoons of vanilla flavoring, and then two teaspoons of garlic for scent. refrigerate it until you go to the lake(etc.).then just make a ball out of it and stick it on the hook. if you don't use alot of flour it makes a great dipbait.

Fishsniper Posted May 07, 2005 06:48 PM
One of my favorites is to take some hotdogs and slice into chunks and soak the chunks in a commercial catfish attractant and/or dipbait for a few days before going fishing. if you don't feel like wasting a hotdog, cut up a sponge and soak it the same way, they will stay on the hook forever.

rodrigo Posted May 07, 2005 08:26 PM
Catch a green sunfish or bluegill, skin it & cut off fins and cut it into chunks. The bait stays on forever, no matter how hard you cast and it seriously increased the size I catch. Learned this trick on this site. It requires a knife and scissors. One 5 inch gill can keep you through the night. Best luck was a 15-4 channel and 17+ flathead in that order on the same piece of bait. It stays on.

Redneck Outdoors Posted May 16, 2005 10:56 PM
Best Catfish Bait Recipe

Go To Lake
Get Cast Net
Catch Shad
Put Them on Ice
Start Fishing and Catch Fish

http://www.txcatfishguide.com

Trapperearl Posted May 23, 2005 05:58 AM
two tubs chicken livers
2 oz. oil of anise
2 oz. oil of peppermint
4 oz. pure garlic
6 oz. pure home rendered fish oil (bluegill)

12 tops of cattails hold for last

mix livers, anise, peppermint, garlic and fish oil in blender till watery, remove from blender to GLASS bowl, add the thistle from the cattails, mix really good and cover with cheese cloth, set in sun for two days, let cool and cover, store in fridge, will thicken as it cools.
use 3/0 treble hooks on 18 inch leaders with large hole sponge squares about 1 inch square on shank of hook, place in mix and let stand, have several made up and switch hooks at time to rebait, put used hook back in bait mix to stand and soak up bait again. rebait about every 20 to 30 min.

want2fishmore Posted June 11, 2005 02:30 PM
When I was young we used fresh mackerel for catching catfish at a pay pond. Later I remembered that and tried it again .It still works good. I found out it's really good to salt it down a little, this keeps the meat from turning mushy. You keep a sharp knife with you, this is to cut the old bait off when it's time to go home. It won't fall off. It's really cheap to buy when you can find it in the store. One mac.will last several trips.

cut-the-line Posted June 12, 2005 05:25 AM
For channels I take chicken livers, spread them out on a large shallow baking sheet(may line it with aluminum foil if wife protests). pour any excess blood in with it. Be sure livers are not touching. Next sprinkle a little brown sugar over them. Lay the pan outside in the sun for a couple hours(length of time depends on heat and humidity), then turn livers over and let cure again. This process give the a nice tough skin on them so they really hold to the hook.
This seems like it takes a lot of time, but you can do it in advance and once they're dried they keep quite awhile. Livers should end up rubbery, not hard.
You can experiment with recipe too. Try adding garlic, anise or what ever other flavors you like.

big bubba Posted June 17, 2005 09:04 PM
i use chicken liver

kcs116 Posted June 18, 2005 10:14 PM
dont use livers! use gizards, there is no difference in price, they absorb the at the same consistency of livers, but the main difference is the are tough, a gizard will outlast a liver on its worst day, my preferred scent attractant is garlic powder with water that has sat for a day absorbing into the gizards, eat your wheaties and be prepared to fight!!!!!

Storey Teller Posted June 19, 2005 06:42 AM
This recipe is simple
1/2 pound pork rind cut into strips ( fresh not smoked)
1 cup cod liver oil
Marinate pork rind in oil for at least a day the longer the better. place pork rind and remaining oil is small jars. This bait will last a long time and My uncle used to use this all the time always kept a rod in his truck and a jar of this bait. He'd fish where ever he saw water that might hold a cat.

Ban_t Posted June 19, 2005 07:03 PM
quote:
Originally posted by big bubba: chicken liver!
Try mixing it up bubba Livers is not the only bait. Sometimes you have too try more.

loucarisma Posted June 28, 2005 07:00 PM
Use turkey livers they’re tougher than the chicken livers they stay on the hook better. also try fresh shrimp (cats think their crawdads) don’t buy the frozen ones use fresh you can also put garlic powder on them and let them sit in the fridge over night then go fishin good luck guys

dawsonb Posted June 28, 2005 07:21 PM
My number one bait live bait fish I caught in the same waters. my number two bait deer meat I use the scraps off a deer and get them good and bloody and freeze them. I take the bait frozen to fish and cut off frozen pieces and sink them as it thaw (it does so in 10 minutes) it leave a little chum line. I would make my third bait my first bait if it was more readily available to me and that is Bonita. Several years ago on an offshore trip we caught a bunch of Bonita and the Captain took the belly meat and made bait and it was pretty good bait. When he went to get rid of the rest of the fish I said no lets fillet them and I will take them home. He said they were nasty and I said hey I try a few things and see if I can make it taste good=. Nope ain't happening Bonita is bait and it works great for catfish. As far as home made dough baits and such I never had much luck keeping it on the hook and kind of gave up, but I will read the article and give it another chance so post agood one for me Thanks!

lumberjack1909 Posted July 01, 2005 03:57 PM
-1 package Pillsbury crescent roll dough
-1 package of pre sliced american or cheddar cheese left in cool place for a few days
-tiny pieces of fresh shad
-roll cheese and shad in to dough
-place small pieces of concoction into Tupperware container
-add a tiny pit of water to container
-poke small holes in container and place fridge for 1.5-2 weeks

Will Edgar Posted July 04, 2005 08:06 AM
Here's my favorite for shad(or other baitfish) doughbait:

1/2 cup whole milk
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup white flour
1 cup ground shad or other baitfish

Mix ingredients together. Add flour in order to achieve desired consistency. You can also try other flavors than baitfish, such as liver, bloodbait, shrimp, crawfish, nightcrawlers, and my favorite for channels, catalpa worms.

Ban_t Posted June 12, 2005 08:26 AM
Here is a way I sometimes will bait a hole for future use.
5 1gal buckets
10lbs cheap horse feed
fill the buckets up with the feed and then fill with water. Let sit for a few days covered in the sun. Or until it spoils. Uncover and place about 5' of rope in mixture. Put in Freezer allowing some of the rope too freeze in bucket.

Then take too your favorite fishing spot hang from side of boat or tie too tree etc. to keep in place.
As it Melts it will attract all kinds fish too you. I have found that they will last up too 2 hours pending water temp. So a few buckets works very well. Or you can simply ladle unfrozen contents into lake or river and do not freeze.
Tight line and have fun

Ban_t Posted June 12, 2005 08:40 AM
Here is a recipe for a sthink bait that works very well for me and my son.
Please ensure your wife is not present when you do this. Unless you have your blender. Best results in Garage.

1lb chicken livers
1 doz crawdads (soft if avail)
2 cups bread flower
1 egg
1 tsp yeast

Toss livers and whole craws in blender chop and mix until smooth
Put mixture in bowl add flower, egg and yeast mix until you have a nice dough the thicker the better. You have too add more flower to get there or a little water.
Place in air tight container let sit in sun for a couple days burging contain as dough ferments.
Please use nose plugs, plastic gloves and the proper safety Equip. While handing KEEP AWAY FROM WIVES AND SMALL CHILDREN.

Once mixture dough is complete wrap dough on treble hook or use small pcs. of panty hose cut into 2x2 squares and rubber band to hold dough on hook.
Good luck and yes it does work

Ban_t Posted June 13, 2005 05:13 PM
After a couple Flea markets and my Garage I have my own Lab for making my mixtures.
Which keeps in the good graces of my wife.
good Luck who dare to make their own cat fishing experiments.

Ban_t Posted June 13, 2005 05:22 PM
Hey papa_d
You may know this too, but a good way too bait a panfish spot is too take a milk jug and drill 1/4 holes in it and then place a couple small fish in it or any left over bait that you may have.
Tie it over spot on a river, lake or pond. Wait a couple days and the flys will lay their egss. Thus hatching their little buddies (maggots). Which in turn fall into said pcs. of water creating a spot for feeding the blue gills and others.
I little something my Grandpa taught me as a young-one

Rick C Posted June 15, 2005 04:25 PM
I have an idea if anyone is interested.
I fish Lake Conroe in TX, and I use Papa Johns Pizza dough for bait. It is kind of hard to get, but if you ask for it some store managers will sell it to you. If you can get some to try here are some tips.

1. Get the overproofed dough that they will throw away, and make sure that it doesn't have any dry flour on it.
2.Refrigerate it.
3.when you use it, make it about the size of a ping pong ball or a little smaller.
4. Roll it into a tight ball on your pants leg, hook it through the middle and double back on a kahle hook.
5. Fish it on top or bottom, and keep some liver around to see what they hit better.

The dough usually gets more action than the liver!
Warning: Do not leave this stuff in the refrigerator! Your wife will kill you! the yeast ferments after a while and it stinks real bad.

Hope I helped someone.

Stonecrusher Posted July 22, 2005 06:00 AM
Dough balls are the original homemade bait, usually used for carp and catfish. The soft Berkley baits, or Uncle Josh, are nearly the same thing, though more paste bait than dough ball. There are literally thousands of recipes for them, depending on where in the US you live and what you fish for. You start with water and flour, move on to adding other stuff, and in most doughball recipes add a package of gelatin (usually but not always strawberry) so it holds together on the hook. Try a Google search for "carp +baits +doughball" for some actual recipes you could try without having to run to the store for anything special. It's a lot like making polenta, actually, now that I think of it. You could add any sort of liquid flavor to it so you can use them for things other than carp, of course.

okuma500 Posted July 22, 2005 09:45 PM
When I was a younger man and fished the Ohio River outside Weirton, W.V. and Stubenville, Oh. my aunt showed me how she made it. Start with Cheesecloth, chicken livers, flour, egg, and corn meal. Grind up the chicken livers to mush, add a little flour, add egg, and two cups corn meal. Mix together in a bowl and form into a ball. Wrap the ball with the cheesecloth tightly and secure the top with string. Bring a pot of water to a boil add salt to water then place your cheesecloth bait ball into the boiling water and let it boil for at least 45min. take it out let it cool and drain and refrigerate over night. Alot of work and you can add all kinds of scents, and oils, and attractants, before boiling. But it is worth the effort. Made some up last week to use on the Nanticoke river today and did fine 7 cats

quote:

Originally posted by Rebel Cat:
brother I bet you do , you just gotta be where they are or know where they are! learn there habitats , what they feed on , and whats works in rat's or my area , may not work in yours. I use strickly live or cut bait where targeting hawgs , but , thats not to say that you will not catch a big fish with one of the other baits. I about crapped in my britches when I saw my first 8# channel cat caught on preperration H! ( No Joke! ) You just have to try what works! I bet in that nice lake you fish in , some cattracker dip bait would work PERFECT! Mr Spam himself has a saop bait that would also work very well in slck water! I refuse to put his link up , but theres aall kinds of baits that will work really well. But , for blues , skip jack , gills and so forth seem to be the "go To bait" Hope this helps. I will say this though , rat is one of the most consistant blue hunter's I know!

quote:

Originally posted by roadkill_ray:
My son's and I went catfishing the only thing was we did not have any chicken liver, so my son's may a sugestion. Hey dad we have that deer liver in the freezer, lets try that, so I did. We semi-thawed it and I sliced it in thin slivers, as it thawed it look like a leech and it stayed on the hook better and we caught several fish, including sun fish and bass, the catfish measuer from 18 to 26 inches. So who needs chicken liver when you have deer liver. So all you hunters that fish,next time you go hunting, save the deer liver and try it, you will be surprise of the results.It will also save you money in chicken liver plus, you get more.So If you use this sugestion please, let us know your opinion and the success you may have. My e-mai; is, roadkill_ray@yahoo.com. Hope to hear from you. Good luck and be safe on the water. Roadkillray. Boyers, Pa. Life Member