bait attractors.

[gooch]

I recently read on a post by Moose that they guy he just went fishing with had a bait attractor on the end of his dock to draw bait fish. He said it was some kind of bucket with holes in it and antother bucket inside it with the bait in it. My qestion is what is a bait attractor? And what do you put in it to draw the bait. I now have 11 Jerry Blake brush piles ready to go for a swim this weekend and was thinking about setting up a bait attractor by one of them to keep bait in the area. Does anyone know what they are and do they really hold bait arround them?
I obviously know how to run fish from an area. Two weeks ago the Arkansas game and fish commision officers came close to pulling up to our boat to check us. When they saw me and recconised me they just started laughing and left. The know from past few stops I am in no danger from being over limit. Just thought a bait attractor would help out a brushpile get started. Any thoughts boys. Oops and girls.

[mikey0715]

get a five gallon bucket,with lid. Drill holes in it all over,top,bottom sides.1/4 in holes will be good. Put a brick in the bottom,and fill it up with hog pellets,you can get them at any COOP,or feedstore. Tie it off to you fishing dock or whereever you will be fishing. You really need to put it out a few days before you are going to fish. I just leave it out all the time and refill it when its empty. It works.. :D

[duane]

wonder if cottonseed cake would work. I worked for a feed company several years ago and bought several large cottonseed cakes for running trot lines. It is so hard we had to cut it with a table saw to cube it to use.

[Ranger375]

I do something similar using dog food. To avoid others knowing my spot (don't have personal dock) I use old nylon stockings. Place some gravel in the bottom and then fill up with dog food and tie off the top. Some others on this board have found some of my chum spots by accident. Periodically I'll place additional chum on the spot.

[speediib]

another way is to get couple cans of cheap dog oor cat food punch holes in the can all over and chunkem in a good spot

[BRITT]

Beware of baiting your holes with dogfood or grain. That is if your crappie fishing. I have ruined some of my better holes that were active with crappie. The channell catfish took it over completely. I had fun catching them for several weeks, but the crappie left. I have found that if a brush pile is placed in the right spot, and position, it will not require baiting. I set mine all on the 15 to 18 foot slope of a near by creek channel. The baitsih will move into it for cover. Also know that the food chain, starts with the black slime that is on the brush. Which usually takes up to a year on newly planted brush before it is effective. the black stuff you see is Zooplankton. The photoplankton feed off it and the minnows and bait fish feed off of the Photoplankton. Once this starts, the crappie move into the area for feeding. Beleive me , they know where the piles are that hold the minnows and shad. The problem with baiting is the catfish come in to eat the feed your putting out, not the baitsih. Crappie stricly like the baitfish. How many crappie have you ever cleaned with grain in its belly??? Just beware of baiting, unless your catfishing.

[gooch]

Yeah I dont want to bait the fish I want to bait the bait. Thats why I want something that draws the minnows only. Again a previous post indicated there was something like that available

[Crapbie]

I use chicken laying mash to feed my worms and minnows. I don't know if cats are attracted but you get the stuff at feed stores too. Maybe you could go collect up the zooplankton slime and throw it in the area?

[shadow]

I recently read on a post by Moose that they guy he just went fishing with had a bait attractor on the end of his dock to draw bait fish. He said it was some kind of bucket with holes in it and antother bucket inside it with the bait in it. My qestion is what is a bait attractor? And what do you put in it to draw the bait. I now have 11 Jerry Blake brush piles ready to go for a swim this weekend and was thinking about setting up a bait attractor by one of them to keep bait in the area. Does anyone know what they are and do they really hold bait arround them?
I obviously know how to run fish from an area. Two weeks ago the Arkansas game and fish commision officers came close to pulling up to our boat to check us. When they saw me and recconised me they just started laughing and left. The know from past few stops I am in no danger from being over limit. Just thought a bait attractor would help out a brushpile get started. Any thoughts boys. Oops and girls.

Hey Gooch, when I fish Toledo bend I set up (attractors) with cottenseed cake and this usually works well for me. For attractors I put the c.cake in a pair of pantyhose with a brick or some kind of heavy weight and tie it off to a stump or a tree I plan to fish. It usually takes less than a day to have bait around the area. Another good attractor is to use a bail of alfalfa hay but it is a lot harder to sink but will last a lot longer (3-4 weeks). You can get both the c.cake and alfalfa hay at a feed store. Good Luck
Shadow

[unknown 5]

It sounds like some of you are chumming for cats to me. You won't have any crappie around if you attract some big cats.
The zooplankton eat the phytoplankton, not the other way around.