Hi everybody,

Is there any "fool proof" bait for channel catfish of a decent size? My regular baits are fresh liver, fresh squid, or fresh sardines. I regularly get catfish in the 10-15" range, but I need to catch a few bigger ones. (I really mean the word "need"!!!). Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks.

P.S. The targeted reservoir is quite small (right now around 90 acres in area) with large numbers of channel catfish up to 20lb, although the vast majority is in the 0.5lb to 2lb range. It also accepts quite a bit of fishing pressure.

P.S.2 (To Vyron: No, it's not the official request you are aware :)

Use a live Roach, Carp, Tench or any other baitfish 10-15cm long fished on the bottom.

spinnerbait  

Home made stink baits work great if you can stomach the smell....

PM me if you'd like my version of my great uncle's recipe....

For the larger cats, the secret is the same as targetting larger bass:

Bigger baits mean bigger fish.

And don't be afraid of getting skunked.

Also, the bigger channel cats "usually" prefer baitfish (cut or whole) from the same body of water.

I usually use live baitfish from the same waters (usually bluegill or green sunfish for the lakes, shad for the rivers). On the lakes I tend to catch some really good bass while catfishing too.

I dont cat fish but my friend does his pb is 32lbs and he fishes early in the am and late in the pm.

Catalpa worms if you can find them.

Get a bag of 'Cheap' shrimp from your local market. Cheap because they're usually not as covered in the 'anti-stink' oil most non-fresh shrimp is, and the smell is what you really want to catch the cats. Seems to work very well

i dont catfish at all but my friend says WD-40 is like magic. however i question the environmental issues with this on my bait. he also says that ivory soap works well. this sounds like a pile of $hit to me but he says is works........................................

I've met a lot of people who swear by ivory soap as catfish bait.

I'll stick to chicken livers, catalpa worms, and live redeyes.

i dont catfish at all but my friend says WD-40 is like magic. however i question the environmental issues with this on my bait. he also says that ivory soap works well. this sounds like a pile of $hit to me but he says is works........................................

WD-40 does work (for all types of fish) but it's like dumping oil in the lake. Please don't kill the environment that way.

Soap also works well, but it is slow. The scent from the soap is slow to disperse in the water. However, for trotlines that isn't an issue and it works great.

A big, fat ball of giant nightcrawlers seems to work best here.

i used live perch 1 to 4inch long to catch enough catfish for a church fish fry (150 people) i caught on average 3 to 10 lb ive done this four years in a row using same bait only talks about 4 months to catch enough fish

The bait for catfish that works best for me is big suckers that have been sitting in the sun for about 2 days. I cut em in half and put them on a treble hook and the cats just go crazy. When I am using this bait I have usually been unable to fish 2 poles because the bites come so fast. I have also had some great luck lately with sonnys dip bait. It is IMO the best there is for dip bait.

In the James River where you can catch them up to 50 pounds (average is in the 20 pound range) we use either 1) cut up mullet or bait fish; 2) live bluegills or bream; 3) any fish meat cut up into chunks and basted overnight, or for a week, in a salt mixture to make it stink.

Remember, a catfish is a large tounge.  It can smell with its entier body so you need something to attract it to your bait.

They also like salt.  So, you can take chunks of cut up fish and layer it with salt...fish then salt then fish then salt then fish then salt.  Regular table salt is great but Kosher salt can be better.

Give it a try along with the receipe you were offered in an earlier post.

Sam, get your hands on some catalpa worms.

The cats in the James love them.

I have heard of Shrimp being very good catfish bait.  I have not tried it personally but have a buddy of mine who has claimed to have caught many catfish with it.

The best thing that I have found up to now is live bluegill or other sunfish. You hookem in the back and let'em swim around out there. You will probably catch fewer cats but you should definitely catch bigger anyway.

for large cats you will have the most success with fresh cut fish and live fish from that body of water.  End of story.

oscar meyer hot dawgs... didn't believe it till I tried it.......... WOW

85 pounder I saw at Lower Otay was caught on cut Mackeral. I don't know if it was a small piece or the whole fish (trade secret??). The guy who caught it is famous around this area for consistantly catching BIG CATS. The cat sure was big enough to have eaten a whole one!