What's your favorite catfish bait?

[RandySki]

My favorite catfish bait is shrimp that's been left out in the sun for a couple of days so it gets really stinky. Throw it on a size 1 or 2 hook with a sliding sinker and kick back until they bite. What's your favorite bait for catfishing?

 

[Cappy]

We love using chicken livers. They leave a blood trail down stream and Catfish love it.

 

[Hikenhunter]

We like chicken livers too, but just about anything left in the sunn for a couple hrs. works for me.

 

[ChadTower]

Yep, pretty much any nasty scrap meat that makes you want to avoid opening the bag to get some.

 

[Cappy]

Any thing that leaves a scent trail in the water works. A trick we do on the boat is pop little pieces of sausage or spam in the microwave for a few seconds. This releases some of the juices and that improves our catch. Course this time o year all ya gotta do is set the spam on a plate in the sun and it will be fryin in no time.

 

[CozInCowtown]

Teenage boys looking at my teenage daughter.....just saying.

 

[jason]

Teenage boys looking at my teenage daughter.....just saying.

Works better for gators and shark around here.

 

[dinosaur]

I like beef liver sprayed with a little WD40. This works well for tight lining. The beef liver stays on the hook much better than chicken livers especially in moving waters. But my favorite catfish bait is a bass lure. Catfish are major predators and they're very fast. A noisy lure is great catfish bait. Or a simple nightcrawler harness moved slowly across the bottom will get those 4 to 12 pounders to grab it.

 

[JeepThrills]

I can't quite remember what we use to use, but I think it was called "blood bait." They were stinky round balls that felt like play-doh. You got them warm by rolling them in your hands and then put them on the hook. I haven't seen them in a while, but we always caught fish with them.

 

[Cappy]

When trot lining, we use what ever we can catch in a dip net. usually small fish, crawfish, or big bull frog tadpoles, etc. When at work we use what we got. sausage, cheese bacon, left over food, most anything including cut fish from the ones that jump on da boat. I aint a braggin fisherman so just let me tell yall there aint never a time in 30 years of owwning this house there aint been fish in the freezer. :tinysmile_fatgrin_t

 

[Esperahol]

Smaller fish and or skirt from whatever we managed to shoot earlier in the day. It should be bloody and capable of some sort of movement. If you're using dead bait then it works better with some rot to it.

 

[shaun]

My favorite bait for catfish fishing is fermented shrimp paste with an anchovy wrapped around the lump of fish paste. Fermented fish paste has a really strong fishy smell. I have caught some huge catfish using this bait.

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

For Blue or Channel Catfish my bait of choice if fresh caught Shad on a number 3/0-6/0 circle hook depending on the size of the bait. For Flatheads its hard to be a sunfish on an appropriate sized circle hook. I keep a cast net handy for catching them.

 

[briansnat]

I've always had good luck using a night crawler or two on a slip sinker.

The people who catfish on the lakes in this area swear by hot dogs.

 

[ppine]

I have been fishing for catfish recently in Idaho in Hell's Cyn with some friends. I quickly realized it is not for me, but enjoyed staying up late drinking beer watching people enjoy catching them.

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

Here in North Texas the number one bait is Shad, preferably live but dead fresh Shad works almost as well. Its so effective I rarely bother with anything else for bait!

 

[HardyC]

I use a couple of different baits to catch catfish since their preference seems to vary. The first bait I use, which I seem to have the best luck with, is chicken livers. I also bring along large night crawlers and crawfish, then I stick with whatever works best for that day.

 

[Cappy]

Caught this one on a hand line with spam for bait.

 

[Wehan]

In Grand Haven Mi. I use my casting net to get a bunch of Chad, cut them and use pieces to bring almost non stop catfish action. All it takes is one 10+ pounder for family dinner, the rest is catch and release.

 

[TDale]

I had good results lately with Gulp nightcrawlers.