Fish-Hawk.Net

I generally use stink bait or some other forms of commercially bought dough bait of God aweful smell. And my successes have thrilled me for the last few years. I manage to catch good cats of a few pounds pretty much all warmwater season long with only minor adjsutments to location along the Ottawa. I recently read a book from In-Fisherman called Channel Catfish Fever (I highly recommend it) and it said that for the most part “sour baits” especially commercial ones only attract small fish or the odd curious medium sized one. The lunkers prefer natural bait. IE – live shiners, cut bait, or something the like. And it got me thinking that maybe the reason my fish never get past roughly 5 pounds is the bait?? I have a good digital scale so this is not an estimation. Worms were also frowned upon by the book. Having limited use under only certain circumstances for small to medium fish.

Now that catching small bait fish is sort of difficult in this icy water I got to thinking of alternatives. I was just wondering if anyone has had success with grocery store baits like liver, chicken hearts, shrimp, what have you???

Any luck with store bought fish cutbait or sardines or something??

I would consider my self an aspiring cat man who intends to keep this as a lifelong pursuit. I was recently shocked to learn that maybe after all my success I am a rank amateur catching only the little guys.

Here's what I've been told by a catfish expert on this subject:

Experiments at the University of Mississippi have proven that channel cats can detect fish blood at a rate about 7 times better than terrestrial blood.

This means that proponents of chicken or beef liver or any bait not made from fish are using baits that are far less effective than cut fish.

Logic dictates that catfish evolved for eons before men started fishing for them. Their survival depended on their ability to locate food. There is always more fish and dead fish in water than there are terrestrial animals. Catfish with superior sense to find food were successful and their genetics were passed down to become the present day catfish.

In other words, forget about the liver and chicken. Makes sense to me.

CCB

How many chickens do you see swimming across the river?

I have had a bucket of minnows in my garage (in a sealed container) since my Ice trip to north bay back in January. I assure you that these wee ones out smell any commercial bait....

Look forward to using them, not handling them

dead minnows, chicken livers and good ol' eat worms are my favorites. Caught my biggest cat to date , a 17 pounder on a 1/4 oz jighead and worm

I've seen a big cat (15+) taken opening day (evening) of pickeral season on a small live minnow.

Some good tips there for catfish bait. I'm gonna try a few of these baits this week.

I have had varying degrees of success with worms, chicken livers, chicken hearts, shrimp, pork, beef, sardines (frozen) as well as canned. Cats have ranged from under a pound to about 5 lbs. My largest was caught on a piece of beef dipped in garlic oil. Shrimp, raw, shell on, medium size, plain or dipped in garlic oil have been the most consistent producers. The largest cat I've seen come out of the Ottawa (12 lbs) was caught on shrimp. Worms produced my greatest in quantity (32 one evening) but not overly large, the largest being in the 2 to 2.5 lb range. I've had limited success with the frozen sardines, they are soft, and hard to stay on the hook. The canned ones, I tied up in cheese cloth bags, in a manageable size. I have yet to try fresh fish or minnows, and I have never used stink baits or any kind of commercial bait.

Raw shrimps still in the shell have been my best producer for 2-3 years now, and now I give them a squirt of garlic lunker sauce.

Was with the wife on tuesday off Alymer Island,
We had 15 Cats in the boat. 4-5lbs being the biggest.
Was using chicken liver from farm boy.
Have tryed the Gulp Catfish bait and worms but find liver out fishes it.
rt

taylor wrote:Some good tips there for catfish bait. I'm gonna try a few of these baits this week.

Do you even fish Taylor? it seems to me like you have nothing better to do than disrupt a peacful flow here on the site.

Oh, and you also won top award for being the biggest jerk on Fish-Hawk......ever!

Congrats, you got what you wanted.

Tip-up, please don't be disruptive.

Tip-up wrote:

taylor wrote:Some good tips there for catfish bait. I'm gonna try a few of these baits this week.

Do you even fish Taylor? it seems to me like you have nothing better to do than disrupt a peacful flow here on the site.

Oh, and you also won top award for being the biggest jerk on Fish-Hawk......ever!

Congrats, you got what you wanted.

I completely agree with you Tipup!

Ive never seen 1 report from Taylor, why not go fishing for once, if you have any fishing gear, and maybe posting a report?

Than maybe we will start respecting you more.

taylor wrote:Tip-up, please don't be disruptive.

Taylor
I'd like to congratulate you on your advanced knowledge, expertise and general usage of a technique known as Gamesmanship.
This technique is well known in the UK and popularised in the 80's by television shows on various subjects such as Gamesmanship in Cricket. We now have a new chapter, Gamesmanship in Bulletin Board Posting.

Google Gamesmanship for more info.

Rico24 wrote:
Ive never seen 1 report from Taylor, why not go fishing for once, if you have any fishing gear, and maybe posting a report?

Than maybe we will start respecting you more.

Suave, here's a quote from the top.

Fish-Hawk.Net wrote:These forums have been created for you to share information, make new friends, and improve your Angling abilities.

I missd the part about manditory reports.

And make no mistake, my life doesn't require respect from children.

On a final note, please try to be less disruptive and stay on topic. Maybe Andy can clean this personal abuse up. It's not needed on FH.Net. Everyone doesn't need to get along, but if they don't ike something, then please just close the thread. No need for hateful off topic comments.

Thanks.