Thread: Catfish help

Thanks everyone

Originally Posted by doggone

At certain times catfish will key in on a certain bait...so it always helps to experiment some. I usually always use a couple different baits on different rods to help find what they want. And if I am not getting bit pretty quickly I will switch up and try something else. Now days I usually am going to use shad or asian carp cutbait.The section you use...how fresh it is...how its rigged can all make a difference. If you can cast net or sabiki rig,or jig fish up some gizzard shad,threadfin shad,herring,or mooneye....I would start with that.Gizzard shad gut is a delicacy for the smaller cats.
Here are some baits I have used to catch catfish over the last 45 to fifty years in all the major river systems....in no particular order
Worms...nightcrawlers and red wigglers and catalpa worms, grubs from different insects
Chicken ,rabbit,turkey,rooster,beef and pork liver (rooster livers preferred I think)other gut parts of animals
Stink bait concoctions of all kinds
cheese baits
Whole kernel corn
hot dogs
Minnows of all kinds and types...bought,seined or trap caught
Shrimp
leeches
Grasshoppers,crickets
Small sunfish and cut parts off of them
Crawdads
frogs
goldfish

And some more stuff but I will stop there.

Keep all your bait in a cooler to keep it fresh...except of course live bait that swims and needs to be in a minnow bucket or livewell.Or live grasshoppers or such.

Start learning how to catch baitfish and use them. Take you some bait shrimp along and if you have trouble catching bait use it so you can stop and fish if you have trouble catching bait.Once you learn how to catch bait good that's about all you need. Freeze some and take it along for days you have trouble catching bait.But always use fresh if you can get it.

I'm telling you the fish will get in a mood and will really key in on bait at times.So keep an open mind and if they ain't biting show em something else or fish somewhere else.Don't sit soaking bait for hours on end...figure em out. Sometimes certain conditions will put them off the bite for a while and it can git tough...but fish year round.

Catalpa worms are the crown jewel of catfish bait imo.

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I like cut carp. I freeze and thaw set in sun not quite as good as bream but runs a close 2nd.

This a two part story. All happened on the Wabash River in Illinois.

Part 1: My grandmother used to work for a rural nursing home. At a certain date, food had to be disposed of. She would bring home very large tubs of cheese for grandpa to fish with after being in the sun for a few days.

Part 2: Grandpa would be ready to go catfishing and start looking for "chum". To him chum was a very bloated road kill coon, possum, etc. He would tie it to a branch over the river in a known catfish hole. He then anchored the boat upstream within casting distance. With his .22 he shot the road kill. IT explodes and the maggots go flying. He then casts the sun flavored cheese up under the tree branch.

Believe it or not it worked with consistency. I remember times dressing 30-40 head of channel, blues, and flat-head from just one tree branch. Keep in mind my grandfather was very very very , lets say rural. The way of life from his view was way different than flat land city people.