Catfish Bait

[Panfisher]

I have a question about catfish bait.

I was down by Victoria Island last Monday with some stinky rotten chicken gizzards. I couldn't get livers.

I thought that would do the trick, having read about using stink baits and rotten chicken livers. I don't think I even got a nimble.

A fellow fisherman named Joseph lent me some shrimp. I put a couple of those on and the river came alive! I almost landed a good size one (my fault, bad knot) and had enough nimbles to keep me amused.

So are the Ottawa cats above stinky chicken guts? Are gizzards the wrong choice? Would chicken livers work?

I am going to go out this weekend. Hopefully there will be more action.

[Walker]

Was it beer-batter shrimp. I know that would get me to bite.

[Mr.J.]

Cats?

Without a doubt go to Loblaws and get yourself some 6 - 8 inch frozen sardines, let them thaw out over night then chop into bite size pieces and hold on.

I have tried most thnings suggested for cats and the frozen sardines have always out fished everything else sometimes 10:1

[joco]

hi boatless


let me tell you cats at victoria last week,,,,,,,,was very very hook shy... .the bit was extremely slow....dont no if the guy did good last night but hey..

any bait is good down there............some night,,the worm was the way to go,,,other night it was shrimps(big)...other night,,i got succes on maquerel parts..pther night people ad success on chiken liver(marinated)..some did have sucess on beef......even hot dog sausage are good....

cats are not picky.....if they are there and they want to bite.....

mabe those bacteria affect there eathing habit,,,,,,,,,

hope the guy did good last night there....

good luck in your cats hunting..........

could become a new member off............


joco

[Pints]

I agree with joco, you never know what the hot bait will be at the island. Everything has worked at sometime or other down there. The bite picked up slightly from the last week. I caught one and lost two using beef strips. Wallyboss got 4 or 5 using worms, and our friend on the bicycle got a drum and a couple of cats using shrimp. The cats were biting slow and picked at your bait for a while before taking it. The ones we caught fought hard and there were no signs of bacteria on them. All looked and felt clean and healthy. All the cats were on the malller size though.

[Panfisher]

Thanks, Guys.

I'll give the chicken guts a try again on Sunday. I'll also bring a couple of other options along.

The beer battered shrimp I'll keep for myself!!

[Pints]

Here is a link for some catfish bait recipes:

http://www.lake-online.com/fishinhole/c ... cipes.html

[eddie43]

Hey Pints,

Very interesting link....Every try making that "stinkiest stink" stuff.....Sounds disguesting....would probably work well if you didn't gag at the smell...

[Pints]

Eddie43, I haven't tried any of them yet. Some are very interesting, others just disgusting.

[Eli]

I find nightcrawlers work very well at Victoria Island, most nights.

The biggest cats I caught there this year (~4-6lb) were all on dead minnows. I like to cut the head off the minnow to get its scent to disperse better in the water.

[SALMON]

I like using cut bait,,creek chubs work well in chunks.

[Tonyb]

Little cats , use chicken liver.

But if you want BIG cats, use dead minows, the bigger the better. 4" - 6" and you will attract big cats, 10+ pounders . time of day makes a huge difference as well. Best time is from about 7.00 p.m. until as late as you can go. Bring flashlights, lifejackets and have a blast.

Tony

[Eli]

Just out of curiosity, how big do the Victoria Island cats get? I've heard rumours of 15lb+ fish being caught there every once in a while. Is it true?


p.s. the great thing about cut bait is that you have a decent chance of hooking a sturgeon!