your favorite bait for big cats

[sissysue]

:eek: We always buy Tyson's frozen chicken livers and take them in a cooler and then set out in the sun for about an hour until they start thawing then we put them on a treble hook  with the eye going up thru the middle of the liver and they stay on most of the time for us. Why not try this and see what happens. I hope it works for you guys.

[Swamprat]

For big Opelousas (flatheads for anyone not in Louisiana) a carp from 1/2 to 3/4 lb is one of the best baits.  Put them on a limb line or on a 6/0 to 7/0 hook on your favortie heavy action rod and drift them up against a log jam in the bend of the river.  Hang on or have a good rod holder, I lost a heavy action Ugly Stick and a 7500 Garcia to an inferior PVC type rod holder.  Biggest Op so far is 39 ponds 10 ounces.

For channel cats on a trotline ivory soap (cut in chunks and baked at 250 for 1 hour) or minnows.  

For a real twist save all the minnows you have left after a fishing trip and put them in a bucket (with an air tight lid) with 1/2 inch of rock salt under them and cover them in at least 1/2 rock salt.  Add minnows each time you have some left over, then put them on a limb line or trot line after they have been dessicated (salt dried).  Excellant for channels and blues.

Any commnents? First time on the site and wondering what people elsewhere use for bait.  Carp rules in slow flowing streams.

[earschplitinloudenboomer]

whiiiiiine... I can't catch catfish on chicken liver...whine, I've let it age...whine...used it fresh from a chicken...whine....tried it frozen...whine, whine...put it below an egg sinker...whine...drop shot it WHINE!!!!

...but seriously folks, have tried all the above, over a number of years, day time, night time, set a couple of poles for hours. I have never gotten the first bite on chicken livers. I know they work, I have friends who have good success with them but I also have one friend who, like me, has never gotten a bite on them.

[shb]

Fresh cut bait, and big lively live baits.  These are the the baits to start with. If these dont work then try the livers, and commercial baits but start with what the cats are naturally looking for. I never caught very many cats, or one over ten pounds until I started trying  cut bait and live baits. That was four years ago, now I have a photo album full  of big channels and flatheads.

[James B]

Fresh cut suckers and big frogs and toads.

[hillbill]

swamprat! i been useing yur salting method on shad here in mo. for last year or so. works great, the shad never really freeze if yu got enough salt on them so they dont get all mushy. i use the cheep noniodized table salt from wal mart on them. as far as my fav bait it would have to be the big swamp or river worms we have here, yu can dig them in the river bottoms in certain places. they explode with juice when yu hook them and are much larger than any of the candian crawlers yu can buy. basically if they aint biteing on swamp worms they aint biteing at all. for the biguns here black perch or more correctly known as green sunfish i believe about 3 to 5 in in length are top bait.