Hot Baits that Catch Catfish!

When heading out to catch catfish, always make sure you have some kind of bait with you before you arrive. To many times have I arrived at the lake or river deciding to catch fresh bait, only to have it take an hour or more sometimes to catch some bait. That is an hour or two that I could have been fishing. Generally in the warmer months bait is not hard to catch, take a small rod and some type of live worms and catch some bream,perch,crappie, or small catfish. Any of these will catch catfish. Cut the fish into different size fillets, sometimes cats will hit a smaller piece of bait faster than a larger piece, so make sure you have a selection. Generally I scale the fish before I fillet them so the scales won't get on the hook point. Set a fresh head out also for blues or flatheads.

Herring (skipjack and blueback herring) are always a great choice if they are available to you. For herring I typically cut them four different ways. I will fillet a side of of the herring and try it, I will also use just the herring head, or cut the herring in chunks, and my favorite way to rig herring is to buTterfly fillet it. BuTterfly fillet is when you fillet one side from tail to just behind the head, then run your hook from the side you did not fillet, anf fold the fillet side up and run the point of the hook through it. This technique exposes the entrails and allows a lot of scent to escape and is great to catch catfish!

Shad is another hot bait for all types of catfish. When fishing with shad use the same techniques as above, and if you can find Gizzard Shad you have found a gold mine for catfish.

Never overlook prepared baits also. Stink baits as they are commonly called are in my opinion the best for catching channel cats. You can buy different types of stink baits in the stores or make your own at home. Many common grocery store items are used in stink baits and can provide hours of fun for the whole family.