Catfish Baits – Can You Rely On The Best?
If you have been catfish fishing as long as I have you will know that of all the catfish baits available there is one bait everyone can agree on, chicken liver. And why not? It is blood bait that slowly seeps into the water providing plenty of scent for the catfish to track down. But is it really the best?
I will admit it is one of the most consistent. But anyone that loves to catfish will have at least one and probably several catfish baits that they believe are the best of all baits. You can also bet that they are homemade catfish baits. You may be wondering how there can be so many different baits that attract catfish. Let me explain.
Catfish hunt for their food by smell. All lakes, rivers and ponds are different. There are many factors that contribute to this difference. Water level, depth, pollutants, and vegetation all combine to make each body of water unique. All contribute to how the scent of the bait attracts catfish. The most successful fishermen have tried a large variety of catfish baits and through a process of elimination have settled on four or five baits that they are confident will catch catfish in the water they are fishing.
The most successful will always take a variety of proven baits with them. They do so because they know that even with good bait there are days that the cats just don’t find it interesting. A good arsenal of catfish baits for me includes some of the below:
Chicken Liver
Live Baits: worms, leeches, shad
Dough Baits: the varieties here are infinite but I prefer the ones that are cereal based.
If I am fishing the same water a lot, given time, I do much better with the dough baits than I do with anything else for catching channel catfish. There are just so many of them that you can make at home and with a little experimentation you can find the ones that work for you.
With a little trial and error you will find the best catfish bait for your waters. Good luck on your next outing. Visit Catfish Bait Recipes to get more great baits. For catfish fishing tips visit CatfishAngling.com.
Best Catfish Bait Depends on What Cat You Are After
Deciding what the best catfish bait is really depends on what kind of catfish you are fishing for. There are three main types of catfish here in North America. The Channel Catfish, the Blue catfish and the Flathead catfish are the predominant species. And yes there are others but these three are the most sought after for various reasons.
Lets start with Flathead Catfish since they are the monsters of North American catfish. And with these cats you better check your rig before you worry about the bait. A days outing could easily get you a 50 lb. cat and the record catch on fishing line is 124 lbs. The best catfish bait for these monsters is “live bait”. Bluegill where legal, shad, and even other species of catfish make great catfish baits. Bullhead Catfish seem to really get them biting due to the territorial nature of the flathead. Cut bait also works particularly well below dams.
Blue Catfish can be as large as Flathead but where as Flathead can be found just about anywhere there is a large body of water Blues are primarily found in rivers. As far as baits go they are very similar. The difference is a Flathead Catfish prefers live bait from infancy. A Blue Catfish starts out with a diet similar to Channel Catfish and will eat just about anything. As they grow they begin to eat more and more live bait until at about 20 lbs. live bait is all they will touch.
Channel Catfish grace the dinner tables of many Americans every day and are my personal choice when fishing for food for the table. What is the best catfish bait for these cats? That’s going to depend a lot on the water your in. I will tell you that if you are trying to get a large Channel, over 10lbs, cut bait is the best way to go but you won’t catch many. If you are trying for table fare, 1 to 10 pounds, then you will have to do some experimenting. Chicken liver, dough bait and dip bait are the standard for cats but they will eat about anything and I always take several baits with me. Just don’t know what they are going to like today.
With a little trial and error you will find the best catfish bait for your waters. Good luck on your next outing. Visit Catfish Bait Recipes to get more great baits. For catfish fishing tips visit CatfishAngling.com.
What is the Best Bait for Blue Catfish
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I am going to make this plain and simple; your best bait for Blue catfish is cut bait. That is if you want the big ones, the trophy cat. They can and have been caught with other baits but nothing will perform as well as cut baits for the trophy size blues.
When they are young Blue catfish are very similar to channel catfish. They are not finicky eaters and can be caught on anything you would normally use to fish for channel catfish. Earthworms, shrimp, chicken livers, hot dogs, cheese baits, blood bats and many other varieties of homemade baits all make good choices. You may even catch a few good size blues with these baits.
If you are trying to get that trophy catfish your chances of catching a big blue are slim with the above baits. As blue catfish grow and get older they get more selective in their eating habits. They become much more of a predator and much less of a scavenger. Cut bait and live bait both work but the fluids seeping from the cut bait make for powerful attractants.
If you don’t know what cut bait is the simple definition is a live fish that has been cut into pieces. The size of the catfish you want helps determine the size of the pieces you make. To give you and idea I will cut a bluegill the size of my hand into three pieces not counting the tail fin as I will discard that. My favorite piece is the head. I will put a 6/0 hook though the top part of the fishes mouth and out through the bottom of the head.
Any cut bait will work but the best is from fish native to the waters you are angling in. Also be sure it is legal to do so. I know that in some states you can not use bluegill for bait.
Good luck on your next outing. Visit Catfish Bait Recipes to get more great homemade catfish baits.
