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.