Whats everyone's recomendations as to the most effective bait for Catfish?

I usually just use chicken livers. If you have trouble with them coming off the hook, put them in a  stocking (panty hose). They will stay together and still disperse scent.

Live nightcrawlers!

I haven't fished for catfish in a couple years but when I use to atleast twice a week I would always use a middle sized bluegill head.  Just cut its head off right past the gills.  The best part about this bait is it will last forever.  I never had a catfish actually make the head fall off.  Just put the hook through the bluegill's eye sockets and the skull should keep it from going anywhere.  

I haven't fished for catfish in a couple years but when I use to atleast twice a week I would always use a middle sized bluegill head. Just cut its head off right past the gills. The best part about this bait is it will last forever. I never had a catfish actually make the head fall off. Just put the hook through the bluegill's eye sockets and the skull should keep it from going anywhere.

This is a great bait. I have had trouble with hook set tho.

Recently a fella out at the river while we were snaggin told us to STOMP on the heads. Said it made em crazy

HE WAS RIGHT!

Now we stomp em 2-3 times till juices are lterally oozing out. ( If yout in the boat, an old pliers works as well )

String em on the hook like a night crawler.

They bait easy and do stay on.

And using them this way allows you to use larger 'MORSELS" ;D

We have like tripled our hooksets and catches.

Our catches now are CONSIDERABLY bigger then ever before.

Just 2 weeks back my fishin partner took a 46" Flathead out of Baldwin Lake.

That after myself taking 5 fish with a combined weight of 33lbs > One was a 14lb Bluecat. And this at Coffeen so it works in many lakes as we have found.

Something about smashing them...releases enzymes or some such I guess.

All I do know is IT WORKS!

Give it a try > You'll be glad ya did!

When I was younger I used bacon.  It stays on the hook and puts out an nice scent trail.

We use chicken livers, shrimp, unthawed dead minnows work around here as well.  Have heard hot dogs do too but haven't tried those.

I lioke to use raw shrimp. Peel off the shell, and put it on a nice big catfish hook.. Tight line it on the bottom, and slowly drag it infront of a big catfish's nose...

Good luck!

I know of a guy & his wife from another forum that literally kills them almost each time out and he uses small homemade jigs with Carp meat...

In addition he also catches Perch, Wipers and Trout with this same method

mine would be hot dogs...but cast gently, or else the hotdog might fall off. just set it on the bottom and wa la.

IMNSHO the best catfish bait is some sort of fresh baitfish you caught (or netted) out of the body of water you are fishing.

Depending on the size of the baitfish and the size of the catfish you are targetting you can use it live (maybe making a couple slices to release juices but not kill), chunked, filleted, cut in half, or whole (but dead). An all of these cases except for live you can also step on them to release more juices.

A couple of exceptions to this:

Sometimes you will find a lake where the channel cats prefer "stink-bait" or "soured" versions of the above baits.

Flathead catfish usually prefer live bait.

i swear by shrimp....i dont peel them because i beleive the shell doesnt hurt anything......a pound of shrimp will last a long time & the older the shrimp the better....

I once caught a catfish on Carne Assada meat. I also have caught them on bread, bacon, cheese, worms, and practically any kind of meat. Iv even caught one on a rattletrap while fishing for bass and another on a spinnerbait fishing for bass.

I used a Rebel Crawdad one day and I caught three as soon as the lure hit the water the fish took the lure, the next day I caught one with a rapala minnow while I was cranking it in.

I was not really catfishing I was bass fishing and I caught cats!!!! I never caught any bass.

That stopped working, so I tried bacon, it workes great for me I have caught about 15 catfish now with no problem at all, takes a bit of time but its good to watch the lines get tight and the tip of the rod bouncing, I am hooked.

I have just started Cat fishing, I have used several baits, stink, gulp links,, chicken livers, bread, prepacked shad, porkchop cokked meat and shrimp, all of this amounted to a few nibbles and a couple of turtles.

I also use bait fish head, that has caught me one catfish, I was shocked that the fish was fairly small and it swallowed the whole head of a good sized perch, I was trying to get bigger catfish on by haveing larger bait that the smaller catfish could not get in there mouths, I guess I am going to have to use bigger bait chunks.

This was one of six I caught a couple of days agao in a pond.

Check out Sure Shot Bait for Catfish Post for more suggestions.