Alternate catfish bait

[HTHM]

I was wondering if pickled herring would work as a substitute for cut shad as a catfish bait? I won't be able to try it until next week at the earliest, but I thought it would be an interesting alternative. Heck you've got a built in snack on board while fishing too.

[wallyboss]

Stop at any grocery store and pick up a bag of large uncooked shrimps still in their shells. For about 7.00 dollars you'll get about 65-70 shrimps. Catfish love them.

[Steve]

many different baits "can" catch catfish...

 

the best bait will remain fresh cut sucker....but if you can't get it....nothing wrong with trying...well...anything else.

[Woodsman]

Chicken livers. Let ripen a few days in the sun.

Sure wouldn't want to eat them though.

[Old Ironmaker]

Shrimp has been the go to bait for us for years. Did the rotting chicken guts sitting in the sun for a few days and Fishmasters secret bait is rotten any medium sized fish such as shad, sucker, mooneye, herring etc. My boat stunk for a month a few years ago when a bag of that stuff Steve sells fell on the carpet and the juice spilled out, man that is disgusting stuff . That will never see the inside of my boat again.

 

What ever larger baitfish that can be caught in Dunnville is what he will use as far as I'm told by a Dunnville insider. No need to get hung up about shad vs. herring vs. sucker debate. Any solid skin fish that won't break down after the rotting process will do the trick. Pickled Herring isn't something that makes my mouth drool. I like a bait like shrimp as I can eat it after it has a meeting with my Zippo.

 

By the way the frozen shrimp out fished the Fishmasters stuff. Nothing caught on Steve's roadkill that day.

 

A Dunnville joke, Ran into a gal from Dunnville, she has 7 teeth and 4 were in her purse.

 

Strange thing is the shrimp doesn't smell much at all but to the big cats it sure must.

[Shloim]

I've never fished for them in Dunville but had super luck elsewhere with gulp minnows. Was targeting other fish and the cats wouldn't leave it alone, forced me to switch baits there

[Fisherpete]

I have tried cooked shrimp, had no luck on it. Would be willing to try raw though, should have more scent.

 

Steve's cutbait is not rotten - unless you got a bag that sat in his outside fridge for too long - it is fresh sucker that has soaked in a special brine he makes. I use fresh suckers myself, because I can catch them pretty easily around my place, but have had pretty much the same success rate with both fresh and Steve's brined bait. He also scales his, which makes it a bit easier to hook and in theory for the cats to get in their mouth. I just leave the scales on mine.

 

Have also considered the gulp minnows... will probably try it on a day when they are biting well.

 

I can't see why other baitfish cutbait wouldn't work either and would be willing to try it out.

[Fishwilly]

+1 on the shrimp.....thought that was my little secret. Up in Ottawa that's all we use for large cats.Cought some huge bass down 30 ft and also walleye. Super bait, just make sure it's the grey uncooked shrimp. Leave the tails and shell on.

[Lunkerhunter]

X2 on Steve's bait not being rotten. We have boated plenty of cats on his bait.

 

Pete's fresh sucker is where it's at though. Haha

[Rich]

I've caught them on expired stewing beef cubes.

 

If its meat that stays on your hook they will eat it.

 

Guy caught a 18lber last spring on a chicken Weiner. I was there to witness! Lol

[aplumma]

When catfish as a species gets larger they rarely feed on store prepared /stink baits. Fresh blood be it chicken,beef,fish and the amino acids associated with these products are what the fish feel are food. Stink baits can bring them in but it is the fresh that seals the deal.

 

 

Art

[Steve Piggott]

When catfish as a species gets larger they rarely feed on store prepared /stink baits. Fresh blood be it chicken,beef,fish and the amino acids associated with these products are what the fish feel are food. Stink baits can bring them in but it is the fresh that seals the deal.

 

 

Art

I have fished the grand for cats about 10 year and fresh is best .Sucker ,gizzad shad, sheephead alive when i get to the river cut up fresh.I have tried everything nothing beats fresh. Big chunks for big fish.I will even chum with the sucker i cut up in the morning and grab a fresh sucker from the live well for the afternoon bite.Good luck and enjoy big cat are fun to catch.

[Old Ironmaker]

Art, don't forget this is in Canada, a 15 pound cat is small. Don't tell a Texan but northern Ontario is bigger than Texas, that's only the part of northern Ontario not yet mapped, we really don't know how big it really is.

 

I've caught cats on the Grand with the precooked shrimp if we can't find uncooked.

 

Rich you must have an unlimited supply of off stewing beef. That's the stuff you sell there on sale isn't it?

 

The kid that worked for Steve probably did sell us the rotten stuff. At first he said they were all out of cut bait so we went to the store and bought some shrimp, when we got back we saw him give a guy a bag of the stuff and called him on it. I guess they were out of it after all. I would have thought it would have worked even better. Will give the good stuff a go this year, if it doesn't stink to high heaven.

[aplumma]

I personally find the channel cats a pain in the butt here unless I am going for a fish fry then the 3-5 lbs are my target fish. I am lucky to have the blue catfish in my area and the current Maryland record is 81 lbs and the Virginia one is 104 lbs. I fish in the Maryland waters and the boat record is 65lbs a fish we call Fluffy due to a scar she has on her side she is easily identified. We may have lost her though she has not been caught in 2 years. The average rig we use is 4/0 circle hooks with 6-12 oz of fresh cut shad on 6 oz of lead on a 3 way. I can legally run up to 10 lines but usually run 5 in case a nest of them swarms the baits. The shad we catch are caught using a 100ft gill net that a resident can purchase a license for 10 dollars per year. I so far have taken few fish over 15lbs using prepared bait.

 

 

Art