Catfish Bait

[JR924]

Fishing a stocked lake that is overrun with channel cats that are suppressing the bass and bream population. Using fish traps and poles. May try a trot line. Chicken livers too messy and would like to avoid using them. Having moderate success with commercial dough baits and better luck with the hotdog/garlic/cherry Koolaid mixture. The hotdog mixture has worked good in the small pyramid traps for small catfish rather than using the dough baits. Don't want to use worms or other life bait as the bluegill take them and we want to thin the catfish herd.

Questions are do you know of another durable bait (maybe a little bit less messy than the hotdog) that would work well and more importantly, is there baits and methods that will favor catching the big catfish (2-10lbs) over the small ones while using a fishing pole. We cannot seem to catch the big catfish with our fishing poles by any means.. The big ones are the fish that are eating the bream and bass fingerlings and they need to go. Hard to find small bass and bream in that lake. We are having some success removing the catfish but seeking better performance. We are adding more traps. Thank you for any replies.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Fishing a stocked lake that is overrun with channel cats that are suppressing the bass and bream population. Using fish traps and poles. May try a trot line. Chicken livers too messy and would like to avoid using them. Having moderate success with commercial dough baits and better luck with the hotdog/garlic/cherry Koolaid mixture. The hotdog mixture has worked good in the small pyramid traps for small catfish rather than using the dough baits. Don't want to use worms or other life bait as the bluegill take them and we want to thin the catfish herd.

Questions are do you know of another durable bait (maybe a little bit less messy than the hotdog) that would work well and more importantly, is there baits and methods that will favor catching the big catfish (2-10lbs) over the small ones while using a fishing pole. We cannot seem to catch the big catfish with our fishing poles by any means.. The big ones are the fish that are eating the bream and bass fingerlings and they need to go. Hard to find small bass and bream in that lake. We are having some success removing the catfish but seeking better performance. We are adding more traps. Thank you for any replies.

Fresh cut fish for hook and line is hard to beat. That's all we ever use for rod and reel or jugs, catch lots of them. Cheese is your friend to bait traps. We buy it by the five-gallon bucket to bait catfish baskets to catch squealers in the wintertime.

 

[bigchiefchoctaw]

May consider electroshocking removal. If possible a sain net. Gonna take a long time with a fishing pole and won’t be as effective.

 

[across the river]

It isn’t as cheap as it used to be but at times it is hard to be raw chicken. The sliced breast cutlets they sell at Walmart are the right thickness to just slice up with no mess. They stay on the hook well and aren’t messy like livers. A lot of times when they approach the date the grocery stores will mark them way down. You can use the cheap thighs, legs, frozen, etc….., they are just more of a pain to cut up, thaw out etc…. You can catch decent ones on chicken, but if you want large fish I would go with cut bait or even try a live bream or two.

 

[JR924]

Thanks for the replies. I will try cheese, chicken breast and cut bait. Let you know how it works. When his fish feeder goes off, you see this dark mass form on the lake and start to move into the floating fish food. The dark mass had a bunch of small catfish mouths gaping at the surface as they move toward the fish bait. The owner bought a cast net and has had some success casting it over this mass of small catfish. However the catfish seem not to be massing enough and seem to see him waiting. A net pulled thru the water will be caught on the artificial structures he added to the lake. He is not in favor of electoshock. Tried it twice with just small numbers of catfish, a lot of Bream and some bass stunned. I am sure it was not done right but he is not willing to spend the money again. Now trying 3 different traps with a 4th coming in April. The triangular trap has worked the best catching small catfish. The big cylinder trap the worse. Last time overnight, just 2 bream and no catfish. Last overnight use of the triangular trap with the hot dog bait caught 20 small catfish. The owner of the lake was ecstatic. Anyway I am on his squad of catfish eradicators and could not be happier. Hope the problem never goes away and the catfish keep getting bigger. He has been seeing some small bream so he thinks the situation is getting better. He should open a pay lake.

 

[bigchiefchoctaw]

Man he is really trying all means to get them out.. I guess now it’s just keep doing what has worked the best.

 

[across the river]

The first thing he needs to do is cut the feeder off. It becomes a lot more difficult to catch them if they are conditioned to hanging out waiting for the feeder to go off. I understand he is likely trying to feed the bream as well, but now that it is cold he doesn’t need to feed them anyway. Turning it off will no doubt help you catch rate, especially with the bigger fish. They are far more prone to eat when they are hungry.

 

[specialk]

May consider electroshocking removal. If possible a sain net. Gonna take a long time with a fishing pole and won’t be as effective.

this right here....seine net is the ticket, the shocking is the easy route though....

 

[GeorgiaGlockMan]

I would think that on a stocked lake "overrun with the channel cats" they will bite anything.

Dry some liver out for a week.

It will stay on the hook and won't get sticky till it gets wet.

Try some big chunk chewy dog food.

If you can find them, I bet they will top feed with some stung floating fish food...throw a floating bass lure with trebles in the middle of that.

Take pics.

 

[TurkeyH90]

Mullet gizzards

 

[TJay]

If there's a large processor close by they should have beef melt on hand that should work and it's cheap. We used to use it in crawfish nets and I can't imagine catfish not liking it too.

 

[Shadow11]

If this was public, it would be fished out in a month. Maybe get ahold of some good ole boys?

 

[littlejon]

Seems like if they are depleting the bream and young bass, you already know what they want to eat.

 

[Crakajak]

Soft dog food kibble because they are use to the size and texture.
Also Google 5 gallon catfish trap for the spring/summer.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

I don’t know how big of a lake you’re fishing, but you’re not gonna put a dent in the population with a fishing rod or 2. But you can have a lot of fun. If you use Team Catfish secret 7 dip bait, it will catch about every channel cat close. They love it, it’s the only store bought bait that I’ve ever had luck with. Get you a pool noodle and cut you some chunks about 2 inches long and about 1 inch square. Run a hook thru it twice and then take a stick and push it down in the dip bait. It’s thick not runny. The noodle floats it off the bottom a little. I use a Carolina rig like this and slay the channel cats. You can buy it at Academy or on line.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

You can also cut strips from a scotch brite pad, they are very porous and hold the bait/scent. But they won’t float up off the bottom.

 

[Ruger#3]

Use the search feature and look fo SultanofSlime. He runs a catfish charter business and has posted the recipe for his catfish nuggets a couple times.

 

[flatwoods]

This must be a big lake. I never had any problems keeping the channels under control in mine.
They didn't reproduce in mine either. Not enough current.

 

[bany]

Use common thread to tie liver on the hook. Or shrimp, but they’ll swallow some hooks.

 

[JR924]

Pulled the 4' long cylinder net trap, not catching anything and it is a $200 trap. I think I need to make the net openings partially open. Yesterday, put in trot line with sections baited with dough bait, cheese, chicken livers. garlic/koolaid hotdogs and chicken breast strips. Also put in a pyramid trap and a hexagon trap with entries in the side (put in all of the above bait and some chum). Running from 30 F to 55 F so cold. Today, the lake owner was too tired but asked me to check the traps and trot line to make sure no bass was caught. The pyramid trap (in about 30" of water) has a single 3-4 lb channel cat. The hexagon trap (in 6' of water) had about 25 small channel cats. The trot line has a lot of empty hooks. On one side, I saw a 1 lb channel hooked but on the other side a fish had pulled the trot line into a fish habitat structure. Not sure how many cats we have on it but a lot of empty hooks. Going to pull the traps and trot line tomorrow and count our catch. Let you know how each bait did. Also I like the idea of previous posters to tie on the bait. Anyway for cold weather, we think we did good. Thanks for all the advice.