Favorite catfish bait

[SC Living Outdoors]

We wear them out here. Cut bait (herring or shad). Bream where its legal, its not legal everywhere here. Also, chicken livers work well and usually get more bites, but usually those catch smaller fish.

 

[Gr8bawana]

When I was a kid we always used raw shrimp but now we usually use anchovies.

 

[88man]

Chicken Liver with a nightcrawler on the hook also. You can pump a little air in the nightcrawler if you like

 

[WildWill]

Dip bait/punch bait hands down consistently catches the most channel cats for me here in Oklahoma. It's messy you need special hooks and is generally a pain to use but it just plain catches the fish. Another one I haven't seen mentioned is beef liver bit easier to keep in the hook over chicken.

 

[Kaitum]

For everyone who uses chicken liver, what hooks are you using to keep it on the hook? The few times I tried it the liver seems to pull off the hook easily. At least while fishing in current..

 

[Nick87]

Half a blue gill.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

For everyone who uses chicken liver, what hooks are you using to keep it on the hook? The few times I tried it the liver seems to pull off the hook easily. At least while fishing in current..

Regular hook. Just run it through a few
times and lob it out there. Don’t launch it like you’re trying to hit the moon.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

I agree with the comments about fresh cut bait. Where i use to fish them a lot (Red River, Manitoba) fresh caught goldeye cut into 2-3 inch chunks was hard to beat. also did really well most days with suckers cut into 2-3 inch chunks. I'd freeze the suckers that were caught earlier in the year and use them throughout the summer. even though they were frozen, they worked really well.

I stockpile bait in the freezer also. As long as I use it the same year it works fine.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

Frozen shrimp or hot dogs

 

[44hunter45]

Try chicken livers.

Don't put them in the refrigerator. The closer you are to vomiting when you bait your hook, the better.

 

[Tikka06]

I’ve caught them on live bream, cut bait, night crawlers, shrimp, hotdogs, livers, all of the above. When they won’t bite one, switch it up and they will usually bite one of the others. Shrimp is usually the least nasty and works the best for us around here. That and crawlers.

 

[Scott85]

For blue cats I used eels either live or cut.

 

[howl]

Never got chicken livers for free. Never understood buying food to catch food. Just eat the food. I have caught a bucket full of cats on deer liver more than once.

I do remember taking a catfishing trip with my brothers a long time ago. We got into an argument over which pantyhose to buy for tying livers onto our hooks. They thought we should each buy a pack of different kinds to try. I made the point that we should all pitch in on one pack of the Queen-size because we'd get more for our money. The didn't want to be seen buying queen-sized panty hose. I was young enough I didn't catch on, but I did get nominated to make the purchase while they waited outside.

 

[88man]

Never got chicken livers for free. Never understood buying food to catch food. Just eat the food. I have caught a bucket full of cats on deer liver more than once.

I do remember taking a catfishing trip with my brothers a long time ago. We got into an argument over which pantyhose to buy for tying livers onto our hooks. They thought we should each buy a pack of different kinds to try. I made the point that we should all pitch in on one pack of the Queen-size because we'd get more for our money. The didn't want to be seen buying queen-sized panty hose. I was young enough I didn't catch on, but I did get nominated to make the purchase while they waited outside.

Deer livers cooked/nuked in the microwave make excellent dog treats

 

[Gut Shot]

#1 for me is night crawlers.
#2 is cut bait, specifically, I like using carp.
I've also caught them on cocktail shrimp, hot dogs, shad, minnows, leeches...hell, I think their may be a longer list of what they don't eat than what they do.

Oddly, I've never had luck with stink bait.

 

[schmalts]

For me it is the biggest leech I can find. I poke a few holes in it with the hook and toss it out there. I sat on a rock in the river with some stink bait for an hour and nothing.... put the leech on and got 2 fish back to back. all I needed to see

 

[JimQ]

For everyone who uses chicken liver, what hooks are you using to keep it on the hook? The few times I tried it the liver seems to pull off the hook easily. At least while fishing in current..

Treble hook and make little pouches out of the toes of your wifes old panty hose to tie the livers up on the hooks.

 

[Mallardsx2]

I have tried about everything.

If I can't use Strawberry Kool-Aid chicken hearts/gizzards, I'm not wasting my time fishing.

Trust me on this one. lol

 

[Sheltowee]

For everyone who uses chicken liver, what hooks are you using to keep it on the hook? The few times I tried it the liver seems to pull off the hook easily. At least while fishing in current..

You can use a little cheesecloth or snip pieces of dollar store pantyhose to wrap the liver in... if your masculinity will tolerate walking to the counter in the DG with an armload of Leggs.

 

[Redman]

As you can see depends on what they want. I have caught them on jigs while fishing for crappie. Take an assessment. Also I keep seeing garlic chicken but I do the same with the cheapest nasty hot dogs you can find. Lips and a holes with garlic powder and a pack of cherry Kool-aid or equivalent. No sugar needed. Take an assortment of baits and rigs. Bottom with a weight or float with a bobber. Mix it up until you find what they want. I always use cut bait, live fish, and some kind of homage bait when we go.