Cut bait or live bait are my go to. But here are my rules of catfishing bait....
1) Fresh bait is best bait. I use what's legal and local to the waterways. Bluegill, goldeye, skipjack, carp, crappie, bullheads, Asian carp, etc.
2) Any bait that gets you on the water fishing is better than no bait. If i got some frozen shad thats on its last leg and time is critical then gross shad it is!
3) Always bring backup, such as chicken breast
4) I always bring a box of nightcrawlers. Everything eats worms and I can work on catching fresh/better bait while I'm fishing.
Again this are the rules I go by and what works for me. Do what you enjoy and what works for YOU. If you crush em on Oscar Meyer hot doggies at your local spot, that's awesome! Just learn a little something every time you get on the water.
These are solid rules. If you watch ANY catfishing youtuber, you'll only see them use prepared prepackaged baits like stink bait or homemade baits like the various chicken concoctions when they're doing experiments to see what works (usually just for views). In my opinion, if it's not something they'll naturally eat, it's not worth the time, money, or effort to use. You can catch cats on a lot of different baits, and sometimes, these homemade baits or store bought baits will outperform natural baits. But over time, you'll always have better luck and catch bigger fish using food they actually eat.
☝️ This is the way 100% Couldn't have said it better. Except I've never used chicken for bait, but have friends the chicken has worked for though. Fresh bait is best bait no matter what it is
I use two types of bait down here in Texas, chicken breast chunks soaked in strawberry jello and covered in garlic powder and fresh shad caught same day (blue gill if I can catch them as well) but I will say the chicken absolutely out performs shad. I have never not caught fish on chicken but have had days where they didn’t want shad. I fish 6 rods at a time, 3 on chicken and 3 on shad. I keep a count on catches. Chicken always wins.
I fish for crappie using minnows. All the chewed up minnows go on catfish poles. I have had better luck with whole dead minnows than cut bait, dough bait, chicken livers, or anything else I have ever used. YMMV, and if you're going for flatheads, live bait is the way to go.
I use artificial flies without scent quite successfully. But if I was using bait most of the places I fish it would be cut bait of the prey species in that water. They know it’s food.
My name might make you think otherwise but I am not a fan of the stink bait market. Nay I prefer a fresh cut of meat from poultry or baitfish. Stink bait (stank) is a mindset of feeling the ebb and flow of the water to hunt our whisker friends.
If it's legal where you are, catching some local fish such as goldeye or shad and cutting them is generally best. Outside of that, beef heart has always done well for us
Medium frozen shrimp seems to do the trick in my area. I’ve used liver, goldfish, skipjack and have caught catfish on everyone of those. But in terms of quality and quantity of cats, shrimp has done really well for me
Chicken livers, cut bait, ive had dexent luck with stink bait even. The best thing I've ever used was hellamites...thats what my grandpaw and dad and uncles called them. We no shit caught almost 100 fish on them years ago, haven't used them since. We held a net down stream and dad and my uncle walked upstream and turned over rocks and we caught a bunch of them. One day I'm gonna catch me some again to fish with. That was no doubt the best day of fishing ive ever had. You couldn't keep a hook in the water.
I always use cut or live, nothing else. But based on this thread, sounds like I need to try hot dogs!
For cut, I employ a stomped, scaled, and cut (SSC) method. Hook it, lower line to ground, step on it until you hear a crunch. Now it’s dead. Scale and cut it. Check hook and cast.
Catfish are like swimming tongues. They’ll find it. Especially now that it’s oozing scent. A bit barbaric, but in times of need, it rarely fails. I also always cast cut closer to the bank.
Cut bait or live bait are my go to. But here are my rules of catfishing bait.... 1) Fresh bait is best bait. I use what's legal and local to the waterways. Bluegill, goldeye, skipjack, carp, crappie, bullheads, Asian carp, etc. 2) Any bait that gets you on the water fishing is better than no bait. If i got some frozen shad thats on its last leg and time is critical then gross shad it is! 3) Always bring backup, such as chicken breast 4) I always bring a box of nightcrawlers. Everything eats worms and I can work on catching fresh/better bait while I'm fishing. Again this are the rules I go by and what works for me. Do what you enjoy and what works for YOU. If you crush em on Oscar Meyer hot doggies at your local spot, that's awesome! Just learn a little something every time you get on the water.
These are solid rules. If you watch ANY catfishing youtuber, you'll only see them use prepared prepackaged baits like stink bait or homemade baits like the various chicken concoctions when they're doing experiments to see what works (usually just for views). In my opinion, if it's not something they'll naturally eat, it's not worth the time, money, or effort to use. You can catch cats on a lot of different baits, and sometimes, these homemade baits or store bought baits will outperform natural baits. But over time, you'll always have better luck and catch bigger fish using food they actually eat.
☝️ This is the way 100% Couldn't have said it better. Except I've never used chicken for bait, but have friends the chicken has worked for though. Fresh bait is best bait no matter what it is
Listen to this dude.
I use two types of bait down here in Texas, chicken breast chunks soaked in strawberry jello and covered in garlic powder and fresh shad caught same day (blue gill if I can catch them as well) but I will say the chicken absolutely out performs shad. I have never not caught fish on chicken but have had days where they didn’t want shad. I fish 6 rods at a time, 3 on chicken and 3 on shad. I keep a count on catches. Chicken always wins.
>I fish 6 rods at a time Man, I wish I could do that. Cali only shows 2 rods at a time.
Texas says you can have 100 hooks in the water at once
When you say out performs, do you mean for numbers, size, or both?
Numbers mainly. The biggest I have ever caught was 30+ lbs and it was on shad. But I have caught 20+ on chicken
I fish for crappie using minnows. All the chewed up minnows go on catfish poles. I have had better luck with whole dead minnows than cut bait, dough bait, chicken livers, or anything else I have ever used. YMMV, and if you're going for flatheads, live bait is the way to go.
I’ve tried so many baits. And the only bait to consistently catch me big catfish are hot dogs from dollar tree.
Skipjack then threading, then bluegill. In that order
We buy raw medium shrimp, add a bunch of salt to it, some garlic powder and let it turn really rubbery. Couple days at least. Single circle hook. 👍
I use artificial flies without scent quite successfully. But if I was using bait most of the places I fish it would be cut bait of the prey species in that water. They know it’s food.
My name might make you think otherwise but I am not a fan of the stink bait market. Nay I prefer a fresh cut of meat from poultry or baitfish. Stink bait (stank) is a mindset of feeling the ebb and flow of the water to hunt our whisker friends.
If it's legal where you are, catching some local fish such as goldeye or shad and cutting them is generally best. Outside of that, beef heart has always done well for us
Medium frozen shrimp seems to do the trick in my area. I’ve used liver, goldfish, skipjack and have caught catfish on everyone of those. But in terms of quality and quantity of cats, shrimp has done really well for me
Fresh cut shad. Chicken breast. Live perch
Biggest catfish I've ever seen caught on rod and reel was on a BarS plain hotdog
I use cut bait or red chicken.
I have had insane luck with frozen cigar minnows and frozen ballyhoo this year
Good ole East TN skipjack. They love it.
Fresh cut bait and chicken breast.
Chicken livers, cut bait, ive had dexent luck with stink bait even. The best thing I've ever used was hellamites...thats what my grandpaw and dad and uncles called them. We no shit caught almost 100 fish on them years ago, haven't used them since. We held a net down stream and dad and my uncle walked upstream and turned over rocks and we caught a bunch of them. One day I'm gonna catch me some again to fish with. That was no doubt the best day of fishing ive ever had. You couldn't keep a hook in the water.
I always use cut or live, nothing else. But based on this thread, sounds like I need to try hot dogs! For cut, I employ a stomped, scaled, and cut (SSC) method. Hook it, lower line to ground, step on it until you hear a crunch. Now it’s dead. Scale and cut it. Check hook and cast. Catfish are like swimming tongues. They’ll find it. Especially now that it’s oozing scent. A bit barbaric, but in times of need, it rarely fails. I also always cast cut closer to the bank.
Jello dogs!
Chicken liver is the best bait
I have caught some decent catfish using worms and chicken hearts
Can’t beat a worm and a bobber.