Thread: Onion as Catfish Bait?

Iv heard of it but never tried it. I think its a myth but who knows. Swamp People or some show on Discovery did it on an episode but I don't recall they caught anything. Guess its worth a try.

I saw the show you are talking about where they used the onion and for what its worth it did work on the show. I personally did try it. Didn't catch anything but had I have had a trotline out I could better judge the results. I only had one reel baited with it and cast out of the rear of my boat. I am willing to try it again.

It was on the TV show "Swamp'd" on animal planet. It worked on the show, but I have doubts in real life. Also saw them use wasp larvae. I don't want to catch catfish enough to mess with the wasps.

Heard of folks using in bait traps. Catfish will eat weird things. I have seen them full of green persimmons in the fall in flood water! Bet their arse puckered up eating those!

If it's edible and you can get it on a hook, it probably has cat-catching potential. Never heard of using it as a primary bait though. I guess all you can do is string a trot line full of onion out and see what happens!

One of the more succesful trot line fisherman at Santee Cooper uses small chucks of Ivory soap. I saw a big bag of what looked like tiny white marbles in his boat and asked what it was. Ivory soap he said, works better than anything else he's tried.

Originally Posted by SeaRay

One of the more succesful trot line fisherman at Santee Cooper uses small chucks of Ivory soap. I saw a big bag of what looked like tiny white marbles in his boat and asked what it was. Ivory soap he said, works better than anything else he's tried.

I've heard about this too from a buddy down in LA. He pulls some bigguns out of the Bayou on goldfish/Lava soap.

I wouldn't be surprised. I think a better list would be what WON'T catfish eat. :D