Catfish Bait
So What’s for Breakfast Catfish?
The trouble with catfish is that they are not generally known as discerning eaters, they are really scavengers by nature. This makes it difficult when choosing the best bait for catfishing as they will eat almost anything they can fit into their mouths. What we try to do is second guess their favorite food and where they look for it. You should certainly take into consideration the diet of the particular species of catfish you are fishing for and the technique that you are using. For example the blue catfish will eat anything organic, dead or alive. As well as feeding on organic debris in the water, they feed on insects, smaller fish, and shellfish. They will also feed on small mammals such as mice.
Dead or Alive
When choosing what bait to use, bare in mind that live bait is considered more effective especially if you are limblining. As catfish have a very keen sense of smell, smelly baits are used to a great extent. Generally the most popular baits used are, crawfish, shad, perch, worms, minnows, grasshoppers, chicken liver, small frogs, night crawlers and even marshmallows.
Preparation
If you use shrimp or small prawns as bait, you can use them whole or cut them in half, it is a good idea to remove the shells. Dip them in fish oil for a few minutes to increase their odour.
Home Made and Home Grown Recipes
Worms are a popular catfish bait. They are easy to find, just dig them up in the garden. The strangest bait we’ve come across is unscented ivory soap. My chums say it works really well, but I must confess I haven’t tried it yet.
You can use homemade recipes for bait. Try this recipe; add a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter to crushed cornflakes and mix it altogether. The oils from this recipe are released slowly into the water and attract the fish. You can also try using sweetcorn wrapped in bread or even try cheese.
Experiment and seek advice from a Biologist
It is well worth experimenting with different kinds of fish bait. You could even consult a local biologist to find out what the catfish feed on in your area and base your bait on that information. So there are no hard and fast rules to finding the best bait, after all fishing for catfish is as much an art as a science!
Choosing the best catfishing bait is only part of the problem, picking the right spot to lure your catfish is even more important and then there’s the tackle. You must set up your catfishing rigs to match the bait you are using.
Happy fishing!
Hank
Oh by the way if you’d like to find out more about catfishing, why not try my free mini-course. Click Here to start learning now
