catfish baits

[wny angler]

WHAT BAITS DO YOU  USE FOR CATS ?

for channel cats iv'e had the best luck fishing live 4 inch shiners on the bottom using a slip sinker rig..
never had any luck with commercial stink baits.

for bullheads-i like leaches

[Bronzeback]

For channel Cats I use chicken livers or cutbait (like creek chubs or shiners chunked up w/ guts hanging), never tried a live shiner, maybe I will this spring.

Bronzeback

[Trophy Hunter639]

I live in Manitoba and our huge mamas love cut bait I have caught my biggest ones the largest was 41'' using goldeye. Suckers cut into 3'' thick steaks on a three-way rig . I tie a 3foot leader of 20lb iron silk line to a 5/0 or 6/0 octupus style hook i use the same line for my main line as well .I also use lighter line out to my weight just in case it gets snagged it will break first and the fish will still be hooked.Change baits frequently to get more scent out in the water. BIG BAITS = BIG FISH                 

[rgfixit]

Trophy Hunter, Sounds like a great time!

I catch a lot of Cats with live redfins on a slip bobber rig while targeting big Browns in the late spring.
RG

[mike692]

My favorite bait for channel cats is FRESH chicken liver. I also like a large sucker freshly killed and strung up on a steel leader with a triple hook.

[suskymusky]

I like to use chicken livers if  I don't have time to catch cutbait.Chubs make the best cutbait, but crappie and bluegill work almost as good.

[susquayuga fisher]

In the Susquehanna, my best bait by far is cut bait, preferably suckers or large minnows caught from the same water you're fishing. Just cut a slice, guts and all, and put it on a large circle hook, with an egg sinker set to slide above the hook. Nothing beats anchoring the boat, casting out cut bait, with the bail set light to click, and a cold beer or six! Spring can't get here soon enough!!

[rgfixit]

Susquayuga,
How's the catfishing on Cayuga or the Seneca River/canal?
RG

[Coldfeet]

For Channels cut bait or chicken livers Or even night crawlers.
For bullhead Tadpoles, Crayfish,minnows.
ColdFeet

[raleigh]

I try to stick with chicken livers or 3 to 4 large night crawlers on my hook. Does anyone use thoes little (cheese, garlic, blood) flavored nuggets by power bait and actuley have success catching cats ?

[BuckShotJon]

Baits for catfish.

Standard worm
Cut bait (save all my dead shiners from icefishing)
Chicken liver
Shrimp
And my favorite whole fresh chicken wings after they cook in the sun for a day.

My Dad uses live blue gills under a pike bobber and does well on large bass and catfish.

Jon

[grumpymoe]

goldeye belly, large prawns, and occasionally, large shiners. i get stubborn with prawns and if i have an off day, i usually blame the poor wind conditions. fishing the red, i have found that with fresh inflow that you get after a heavy thunderstorm, combined with a strong north wind from lake winnipeg brings in the large lakers (cats) that are very sandy colored. this is when the bite gets hot. you can easily tell the difference between river cats and lake cats. grump

[crappieloo]

I know that sucessfull catfish baits are lake-river specific for years of experience. We spent 5 years targeting cats on a certain water way with very poor results. The hours spent were mostly from 7 pm to 1 am, with a few allnighters. We tried everything(what we thought), chicken livers, cut carp, cut shad, nightcrawelers,calamari, store bought smelt, crawfish, tuna fish, comercial stink bait, hamburg and homemade stink bait. Nothing seemed to work, till we seen a young guy come in around midnight with a load of slob cats.Of coarse we asked him what he was using and he said the bait shops minnows(locally seined from that water) for $1 for aprox.3dozen, and pinch the minnow belly before dropping it down
Bingo!
Finally catching big cats, on the most common of all things.
crappieloo

[jigerjim]

I use both chicken liver and live Blue gill's. My bigest cat's were cought on live Blue gill. I think I cought as many catties on liver as I did on gill's, but with out a doubt the bigger  one's were on gill's under a bobber. The bigest I ever cought was about 45"+ with a head about the size of a basketball, I guessed it to be about 25 maybe 30 lb's. I just cut the line.  The gill's also work good on Muskie's.  I only ever cought cattie's in one lake on those catfish nugget's, I dont know why but they never worked any were else. 

[TroutFishingBear]

I like to use lures like rattling crank baits and stuff too.