one heck of a catfish bait

[Simple Man]

An old friend of mine shared a great catfish bait with me a while back and it has got to be the best bait I have ever used so I figured I would share it with my friends here at GB.

go to the local grocery store and buy some of them shrimp in the deli (the fresh ones you buy by the pound) and soak them in a tub of chicken livers outside for a couple of days until they get really stinky. BAM, you now have one heck of a catfish bait.  :grin:

[squirrel]

Haven't heard of soaking them in the chicken liver but sounds like a good idea. A guy from work showed me the shrimp trick a couple years ago, I thought yeah right...until he was pulling in a cat about every 5 minutes at the dam and nobody else was even getting a bite. Works awesome for channels but haven't had any luck with flatheads using shrimp.

[field989]

what would the shrimp best be used for?

[John]

I use shrimp in the spring when I fish for channels during their spawn. I used to buy the bait shrimp, but it's usually very poor quality and the heads fly off on the first cast...why pay for something that's just gonna fly off?

I started buying the better stuff, the stuff for human consumption. I keep it on ice, keep it clean, and if there's any left I can boil it and eat it for supper.

Shrimp works for channel cat and small blues. Flatheads like live bait.

[jtrew]

Ok, if shrimp that smells like chicken liver works, chicken liver that smells like shrimp should also work, right?  Why not try using shrimp flavoring powder from ramen noodles instead of garlic powder along with salt when curing chicken livers?

[Questor]

Just the thought of it triggered my gag reflex. Therefore, it would probably be a good bait for eating sized cats.

[R.W.Dale]

Just the thought of it triggered my gag reflex. Therefore, it would probably be a good bait for eating sized cats.

 I agree with you 100%. Just reading the post made me want to yack up my lunch so it MUST be a good catfish bait.

[.308sniper]

Sound like an expinseve baits!!!

[prairiedog555]

I know cats love shrimp.  When I lived in Louisiana used to get the small ones from my trawler neighbor.  But now here in the midwest I use crawfish.  They seem to like them too.  And I can catch just about anything on a trot line with them.

[Lost Okie]

Cost, if you watch the local Super Wally World you can get the small shrimp for as little as 2.50 a lb.  Compared to bait shrimp, thats cheap.  I have had excellent luck with shrimp catching up to 11 lbs channels.  Usually put brown sugar on my chicken liver but I tried pork liver, deer liver, cut shad, cut brim, canned stink baits, homemade stink baits and have done better on shrimp. 

Best home made I have run across is as follows (when the ole lady is out shopping).  Put 30 shiners, 1/4 lb of strong chedder, 4 chicken livers and a tablespoon of garlic powder in your blender (see note about ole lady shopping).  Hit high, add 6 heaping tablespoons of flour, put in mason jar, DO NOT tighten lid, place in back of pickup truck in Oklahoma in July, give it 15 days and your ready to fish.  Usually have to use sponge baits to hold it on......thats my story and I am sticking to it.   So now, to keep peace in the family, I use shrimp.

[Casull]

Never did like to use that rotten stuff (never really needed it either).  Fresh frozen chicken livers work for all cats, but particularly the smaller ones.  If you want the bigger cats (talking channels here) nothing I've found beats fresh cut bait (especially bluegills).  Doesn't draw dogs trying to roll on you either.   

[jtrew]

Lost Okie, when you use the brown sugar on the chicken livers, do you also use salt?

[uncowboy]

I think you guys are overthinking the problem. I use hotdogs. YEP plain old hotdogs. No cat can resist . They hold the hook prety good. If you want to get fancy cut hotdogs into 1" peices and leave dry a few hours in the sun to tighten the skin. Then take the peices and put in a jar with blood-Chicken, deer pork it doesnt matter. The hotdogs will suck up the blood and leave a great sent trail. Plain hotdogs work in lakes or tide water. J.Michael

[dpe.ahoy]

What ever happened to rotten, I mean aged chicken guts?  That's all we used back home in Iowa for channel cat and yellow bellys, worked great.  DP

[JBlk]

When I was a youngster we helped cut some young pigs.We brought the testicles home in a glass fruit jar and forgot and left them outside on a pinic table.We had a hot summer and in about three days you could smell them right through the jar lid.We decided to use them as bait and took them and some dew worms to the swiming hole.That was the best bull head bait that I have ever used.Just about as fast as the bait hit the water you had a bite.The poles baited with worms just sat there.I expect that it would work just as good on big cats.

[prairiedog555]

speaking of bull heads, the farmer on whose land I fish told me to use grasshoppers.  He was right.  Have not tried them on cats but why not?

[lrs]

Bullheads make a great bait for large blues and flatheads.

[hunt-m-up]

What ever happened to rotten, I mean aged chicken guts?  That's all we used back home in Iowa for channel cat and yellow bellys, worked great.  DP

Must be an Iowa thing...I used to get chicken guts frozen when people cleaned chickens on the farm, haven't done that in a long time, I think the corn in them was the big attractant,
but we used them fresh.
We've used shrimp on the Red in ND with good success, they like frogs and cut Goldeye up there.

[mechanic]

If any of ya'll go fishing in Ga. don't let them catch you with any cut up bream.  Can't use game fish for bait.  When I go fishing in Fla. I usually buy cut bait there, and buy enough to freeze and bring home.  Squid and other stuff I don't recognize.  The cats love it.  The big channel cats here like live bait.  Chicken livers work ok too, but that cut bait works better!