Drifting Blood

[Nate4097]

I was wondering if anyone could give me a good recipie and any tips on drifting blood bait. I tried the store bought stuff w/ no bites, but they were hitting my cut bait. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[kingneck76]

Personally Nate I don't care for blood unless all your after is eater channels. If you really want to know how here goes. get a half gallon of beef blood, and put it in a one gallon ice cream container. Get it from a butcher. I haven't tried to get it up here, but thats where i got it back home in Arkansas. Put it in the fridge for a week. Every other day scoop off the gunk that rises to the top. Then take it out,and cut it into 1 inch square chunks. Put these on cookie sheets make sure they are not touching. Sprinkle some salt all over them. Give them a day or two then flip, and re sprinkle. let sit a couple more days then freeze till ready to use. Use them on treble hooks. I haven't made this since I was a kid. So I may have forgot something. Let me know how this works for ya.

[Nate4097]

I've been pulling in 2-10 pounders drifting cut bait in some of the smaller lakes around here. Do ya think I have a better chance pulling in bigger fish w/ cut bait or blood?

[odtimr]

Nate
First welcome to the BOC the greatest catfish site in the world. Now the beef blood thing, I have never used it mostly because of the inconvenience of the thing. I do use occasionally a prepared packaged blood bait available from Walmart. I have found it ok but not on a par with fresh liver, or shrimp. I find these type of baits ok for eating size channels, but for anything else I much prefer a live or cut bait from the area I am fishing. Luck

[Nate4097]

Thankyou all for the warm welcome and the suggestions. I feel lucky to have found this site.

[suddawg]

I've heard if you're drifting blood bait it can produce some big cats. I've been trying to con my friends step-dad into showing me his "secret" recipe for blood bait.

If memory serves I was reading about a team of tournament catfish anglers from Nebraska that destroyed all of the other teams at some tournaments in the southern states using beef blood bait.

Could be worth a try.

SudDawg

[grillking]

welcome to the BOC nate. I hope you find this site an excellent resource for catfishing. I know I have. there is a place up in blair, ne that sells beef blood ready to go. I'll find out where. good luck :0a25::0a23:

[kingneck76]

The gas station on hwy 75 just north on the Platte has coagulated beef blood. Its comes in 5 containers with hooks, and sponges. just rig up with a snap swivel on the end of your line. I think it was 3 something for the 5. Plus if you use trebles you get to keep those.

[suddawg]

The gas station on hwy 75 just north on the Platte has coagulated beef blood. Its comes in 5 containers with hooks, and sponges. just rig up with a snap swivel on the end of your line. I think it was 3 something for the 5. Plus if you use trebles you get to keep those.

Is that the Shell gas station? The same one that has live bait?

SudDawg

[kingneck76]

Not sure what brand it is. I think it is a shell station though. Its at the light just north of the platte where you turn to get to la platte road, and hanson lakes. Yes it has the minnows, worms, and liver also. My buddy bought it there about a month ago. Cant remember where it was in that fridge they had it hid though.

[suddawg]

Thanks,
I'm going to check it out.

SudDawg

[kingneck76]

Well shane hope you have better luck than my buddy. he got a few bumps on it, but no takers.

[suddawg]

I'll be trying it out probably at the Offutt Base lake probably sometime in the next couple weeks. I'll let ya know how it goes. Thanks again

Suds

[pappy3]

I was told this by an old catfisherman and I WILL SHARE IT WITH YALL! You get a 5 gal bucket of beef ,or chicken blood from processing plants and mix in 2 different buckets enough sugar until it begins to gel and pour it out on a sheet of plywood to let set and gel in the sun. After it is poured out pour more sugar on it till it is completely covered, let it set over night. the next day cut it up in bait size pieces and turn them over and recover with sugar completely, it takes a lot of sugar to do this but you will have enough bait to last for a while. the bait will be like firm jello that stays on the hook and gradually melts away much like a candy would! You could cut the procedure down if you wish with less blood for a smaller batch. Once this process is over place in a freezer until you are ready to use, the night before remove and place in fridge to thaw, but you might want to get the little moma's permission first:wink:

[jtrew]

I've heard of a similar recipe, but using brown sugar.

[huskermike]

Wow! You guys have strange (to me at least!) ways of curing blood. I've only seen one way to do it, and it's worked outstandingly well for me...when the conditions are right. You have to have a very very light breeze and a lake with very few snags on the bottom for drifting blood to work correctly. Anyways...here's my method.

Have a local butcher shop catch a five gallon bucket of beef blood for you when they slaughter a cow. Big shops won't do this for legal reasons, but most small town shops still will. After picking up your blood let it sit some place cool for 24 hours...not in the sun!! Tip the bucket to pour off the liquid portion of the blood...but do this gently! You will be left with about a foot high, extremely fragile, cake of blood the diameter of the bucket. Leave this cake in the bottom of the bucket for now, and use a long sharp knife (I use an old fillet knife) to cut the blood into strips about the size of a Red Bull can. (I guess that would be about 1.5x5" or so...) Now put those strips into a smaller, ice cream sized, bucket. If you have any of the liquid blood left over feel free to poor this over the top. At this point some people like to add garlic, anise, salt, whatever. Me, personally, I've never seen any difference in results. Now if you aren't going to use the blood immediately---freeze it! Rule number one in fishing blood is NEVER EVER let it get hot. The warmer it gets the harder it will be to keep it on the hook. Thaw it out before using it, but make sure it always stays chilled...on ice....in the garage fridge...whatever.

Now on to how to fish it. Tie a snap swivel with a 3/4-1oz sinker onto the end of your line. Before heading out make up about a dozen two foot long leaders out of heavy cord or heavy braided line with medium sized treble hooks. (I'll explain why the heavy cord later). Also make up a few bait needles. I usually make mine out of about a foot of fine wire, with a very very small hook bent into one end. To bait the rig, I highly suggest that you wear rubber gloves. I've seen some nasty infections result from the beef blood getting into cuts on hands. Anyways, gently cradle one of the blood strips and run the bait needle lengthwise through the strip. Use the small hook at the end of the needle to pull the loop of one of the leaders you made up earlier through the blood. This takes some patience, but when done right your line will go lengthwise through the strip and the treble hook will be buried in the bottom of the strip. If you made your strips long enough you should have quite a bit of excess line sticking out the top, and to ensure that the blood stays on as well as it can it is best to tie a half-hitch around the top end of the blood strip. Your leader, now baited, can be clipped to the snap swivel. Now for Rule Two of blood fishing....DO NOT TRY TO CAST IT! The blood is far to fragile for that....set it gently over the side of the boat into the water and let out line till you have ~100 feet out. Now drift slowly and wait. I usually run 4 rods off a 20' boat but you can run more or less as you see fit.

Tips: Use a more limber rod than you normally would for catfishing. For drifting I like a slow action trolling rod. Stiff rods will pop your blood right off the hook when they briefly snag up. Also, use drift socks if the wind is blowing hard enough that it is hard to keep the blood on your hooks.

As for results, when the conditions are right (slight breeze, late summer, good lakes) I have never seen a more effective way to catch channel cats. Contrary to what the previous poster said, I usually see averages of 6 pounds with the biggest on blood I've seen a 17lb channel. My personal best night with blood was a 22 fish stringer that averaged 8lbs from Lewis and Clark last fall. Keep your eye out for a picture in the Omaha World Herald of my cousins Kalee and Brittany who caught an 11 fish 78lb stringer drifting blood this summer! Anyways, good luck. Give it a try and fight through the pain in the @$$ that all the preparation is and you will probably see some very pleasant results. If you have any questions shoot me a message! Happy fishing!

[suddawg]

Thanks huskermike. Rep to you my friend. That was great info

SudDawg

[jdstraka]

Outstanding reply Michael!!! Thank You Sir. J.D.:big_smile:

[jdstraka]

Dang I Almost Forgot. A Big Ol Iowa Welcome to the BOC Michael.J.D.:wink:

[fishhunter44]

Drifting blood DOES produce big channels. If you're only catching eaters, that's because you're in a spot where only the eaters are. You may have to fish that area out of the eaters and hope a big one happens by, or try a place adjacent to that one. We fish Elwood with blood and trust me, there are some line breakers in there. Our first fish last Sat night was a 15 pounder, and we lost 3 others.

[bigredcatfish]

Nate,

The only way to catch large blues and channels after the spawn is using blood drifting the lakes around here. You can get blood at any butcher shop, you just have to call around.

[777]

Good info on this thread,i'll have to give this a try.

[MealsOnReels]

I'll keep this in mind also.
Thanks

[rodenberg]

I noticed alot of the guys using blood at the cabelas classic. it was new to me so I ask a few of the about it. they basicly gave the same recipe as posted earlyer. they however acted like the blood produce big blues. If I remember correctly one of them wieghed in a blue in the 30# range that was caught on blood

[huskermike]

Thanks for the replies guys. Here's a picture of my cousins with the 11 channels we caught in two hours at Lewis and Clark last fall. Blood seems to always produce big channels for us.

http://photos-018.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v80/168/56/165300018/n165300018_30039883_9856.jpg (http://methodistcollege.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30042706&id=165300018)

[bownero]

WELCOME TO THE BOC NATE!:0a25::0a22::0a23:

[NebraskaWalleye]

Wow! You guys have strange (to me at least!) ways of curing blood. I've only seen one way to do it, and it's worked outstandingly well for me...when the conditions are right. You have to have a very very light breeze and a lake with very few snags on the bottom for drifting blood to work correctly. Anyways...here's my method.

Have a local butcher shop catch a five gallon bucket of beef blood for you when they slaughter a cow. Big shops won't do this for legal reasons, but most small town shops still will. After picking up your blood let it sit some place cool for 24 hours...not in the sun!! Tip the bucket to pour off the liquid portion of the blood...but do this gently! You will be left with about a foot high, extremely fragile, cake of blood the diameter of the bucket. Leave this cake in the bottom of the bucket for now, and use a long sharp knife (I use an old fillet knife) to cut the blood into strips about the size of a Red Bull can. (I guess that would be about 1.5x5" or so...) Now put those strips into a smaller, ice cream sized, bucket. If you have any of the liquid blood left over feel free to poor this over the top. At this point some people like to add garlic, anise, salt, whatever. Me, personally, I've never seen any difference in results. Now if you aren't going to use the blood immediately---freeze it! Rule number one in fishing blood is NEVER EVER let it get hot. The warmer it gets the harder it will be to keep it on the hook. Thaw it out before using it, but make sure it always stays chilled...on ice....in the garage fridge...whatever.

Now on to how to fish it. Tie a snap swivel with a 3/4-1oz sinker onto the end of your line. Before heading out make up about a dozen two foot long leaders out of heavy cord or heavy braided line with medium sized treble hooks. (I'll explain why the heavy cord later). Also make up a few bait needles. I usually make mine out of about a foot of fine wire, with a very very small hook bent into one end. To bait the rig, I highly suggest that you wear rubber gloves. I've seen some nasty infections result from the beef blood getting into cuts on hands. Anyways, gently cradle one of the blood strips and run the bait needle lengthwise through the strip. Use the small hook at the end of the needle to pull the loop of one of the leaders you made up earlier through the blood. This takes some patience, but when done right your line will go lengthwise through the strip and the treble hook will be buried in the bottom of the strip. If you made your strips long enough you should have quite a bit of excess line sticking out the top, and to ensure that the blood stays on as well as it can it is best to tie a half-hitch around the top end of the blood strip. Your leader, now baited, can be clipped to the snap swivel. Now for Rule Two of blood fishing....DO NOT TRY TO CAST IT! The blood is far to fragile for that....set it gently over the side of the boat into the water and let out line till you have ~100 feet out. Now drift slowly and wait. I usually run 4 rods off a 20' boat but you can run more or less as you see fit.

Tips: Use a more limber rod than you normally would for catfishing. For drifting I like a slow action trolling rod. Stiff rods will pop your blood right off the hook when they briefly snag up. Also, use drift socks if the wind is blowing hard enough that it is hard to keep the blood on your hooks.

As for results, when the conditions are right (slight breeze, late summer, good lakes) I have never seen a more effective way to catch channel cats. Contrary to what the previous poster said, I usually see averages of 6 pounds with the biggest on blood I've seen a 17lb channel. My personal best night with blood was a 22 fish stringer that averaged 8lbs from Lewis and Clark last fall. Keep your eye out for a picture in the Omaha World Herald of my cousins Kalee and Brittany who caught an 11 fish 78lb stringer drifting blood this summer! Anyways, good luck. Give it a try and fight through the pain in the @$$ that all the preparation is and you will probably see some very pleasant results. If you have any questions shoot me a message! Happy fishing!


This is the exact same method me and partner used in 07 and 08 for tournaments on the Central Nebraska Catfish, only difference is I put out about 100yds worth of line and no weight I hada fraction less hook up but I rarely lost my blood. and every once in a great while you will get a batch that is called rubber blood this batch you can cast lol. which are batches i kept back for bank fishing. when I did use weight i never went over 1/4 oz. this is the same thing we sued for our 130lb plus stringer 8 fish on Calamus.

[NebraskaWalleye]

I noticed alot of the guys using blood at the cabelas classic. it was new to me so I ask a few of the about it. they basicly gave the same recipe as posted earlyer. they however acted like the blood produce big blues. If I remember correctly one of them wieghed in a blue in the 30# range that was caught on blood


It does not seem to produce as many big blues as it does big channels but blues do hit this, I still think live bait/cut bait/mussell meat works best for blues.

[NebraskaWalleye]

Another thing I forgot to add as well is Fly cord seems to do better then anything cause it is already bouyant which keeps your bait off the bottom and away from the immediate snags and as it thaws the blood acts as a natural bait, and another is to not use heavy test line and use mono not super braids super braids have no stretch which bounces the blood around more and cuts it the thicker the leader you use the better think of cutting a stick of butter with the blade of a knife now flip it sideways same reason here on your leaders. I used 14-17lb mono 17 lb max which is more then enough on a boat if your not fishing in heavy timber and if your fishing heavy timber your not drifting anyways. hope this helps you all out a little more then what was already posted which is great information. thanks mike.

[fmb]

hey walleye how did you pull up this old post????

[playin4funami]

Frank if you go into your usercp, then from the list select edit options,then at the bottom of the page you can set the cut off time for your veiw so it will show threads from futher back,then of course if you make a new post it should drag it to the top of the board.

[NebraskaWalleye]

Sorry bout that if you dont want me pulling them up I wont do it anymore I know some boards dont like it I just had some info I could share that i know helps this out.

[fmb]

Sorry bout that if you dont want me pulling them up I wont do it anymore I know some boards dont like it I just had some info I could share that i know helps this out.

no thats not what I mean at all....I'm not a thread nazi :smile2:...I just didn't know they went that far back....mine only went back 1 year...

you blew my effing mind man!!!!!!!

don thanks for the tips now mine is set right

[NebraskaWalleye]

There is a lot of good info on here there is some stuff left out on some post so i might just add some finer points that even myself would of left out when typing. Its easier to see it from the outside then in. I am sure I even left out more info on even this subject that will help out a lot just have to think.

And I am glad I can still blow someones mind getting harder and harder to do that for my wife, lol.

[NebraskaWalleye]

Another thing I forgot to add as well is Fly cord seems to do better then anything as a leader cause it is already bouyant which keeps your bait off the bottom and away from the immediate snags and as it thaws the blood acts as a natural weight, and another is to not use heavy test line and use mono not super braids, super braids have no stretch which bounces the blood around more and cuts it the thicker the leader you use the better think of cutting a stick of butter with the blade of a knife now flip it sideways same reason here on your leaders. I used 14-17lb mono 17 lb max which is more then enough on a boat if your not fishing in heavy timber and if your fishing heavy timber your not drifting anyways. hope this helps you all out a little more then what was already posted which is great information. thanks mike.


I re-quoted this and fixed my errors cause i had no edit button on this posting.

[playin4funami]

Nebraskawalleye,have you ever tried setting up the blood in layers of old newsprint? An old timer showed me that trick and it's nothing but blood and newspaper and any extra flavors you want to add,it gives the blood a real firm jell and doesn't come off the hook very easy. Pretty much what you do is find or build a frame out of wood and staple some heavy duty window screen to one side,then lay it across a couple of sawhorses,with the screen side down,put down a layer of newspaper,pour on some blood and swipe it around till covered,then put down another layer of newsprint,more blood,more newsprint,etc,etc. when its about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches thick stop and let it set for a while then you can flip the mess over after its set up , onto a peice of plywood and cut it into the sizes you want. it's tough enough to use on a single hook if you are carefull and don't try to throw it a mile,work good too. your way sounds good too I would just get frustrated with it falling off the hook so easy.

[NebraskaWalleye]

The way your talking about doing it looses too many of the chemicals cause its not done cold you loose a lot of the folic acid, which is what attracts the cats in the blood in the first place, it does work dont get me wrong but the way I have explained to drift it works awesome we rarely went threw a ice cream bucket a night and our hook up percentage was about 90% we just figured the other ones were to small to get the hook in their mouths and we got some smaller ones on it too at BO like 1 and half pounders. I dont have the box that my Trebles came in or id tell you the exact size i used bout as big around as a golf ball though. if you use this blood just sitting over structure you dont have to use light line or even mono if your in a boat. if your bank fishing and tossing it and i mean tossing by holding the weight and blood in your hand with the bail open and tossing it under handed i still suggest you stick with mono so it dont cut the blood so easy. I have tried A lot of ways, to do it while it is not cold and my results just are not there like they are with cold blood. and I found out why after doing some heavy research. and if you look at 80% of the #1 -#5 places in most nebraska catfish tournaments they are using the ice cream bucket blood 95% of the time. Every tournament I went to over 2 years but one the top 4 places were ice cream bucket blood. the one time it wasnt was on elwood res and that went to shad gizzards.

[playin4funami]

I see,I only tried it once myself, I just have never been real big on blood baits,and usually prefer large live bait or cut bait. My grandfather loved his blood bait but I have no idea how he prepared it, I do know when I was little he used to take me fishing when we visited down in Kansas,30 minutes and we were done,he caught them bam bam bam,every time,mostly all channels and about 4 lbs each,I never saw the man catch a dink or a giant,but he only fished for the table and as soon as a meals worth was caught he was done and headed home. Anyway back on track,I did have a question for you,is any catfish clubs still holding tourneys in the summer around here or did they all quit? I think it was central catfish or something but their website hasn't been updated since like 2001.

[NebraskaWalleye]

the website hasnt been updated for a while ill see if i can find craig's phone number he was the guy that headed CNC >Central Nebraska Catfish< I dont have his card anymore gave it to a buddy of mine in Eustis and it was my only one never got it replaced and im on my 4th phone since then.

[primitivefrn]

Good read & info, a lot more to learn, thats the fun of it.
Thanks
Jim

[jrgriffhusker]

the website hasnt been updated for a while ill see if i can find craig's phone number he was the guy that headed CNC >Central Nebraska Catfish< I dont have his card anymore gave it to a buddy of mine in Eustis and it was my only one never got it replaced and im on my 4th phone since then.

You can find Craig's phone number if you go to the Cabela's King Kat Trail site and find the CNCA info. It's in there

[NebraskaWalleye]

You can find Craig's phone number if you go to the Cabela's King Kat Trail site and find the CNCA info. It's in there
Thanks got it and talked him made a thread about me and his convo.

[NebraskaWalleye]

one thing I need to add about this entrie thread is once cold water kicks in start using your cut baits and live baits, preferably something more oily so cut bait works better like trout=). the folic acid in the blood doesnt disperse as well or something in cold water and besides that cats switch over to feeding on winter kill this point in time of the year anyways. I have caught cats threw ice on cut bait. and its a blast trust me.

[jrgriffhusker]

one thing I need to add about this entrie thread is once cold water kicks in start using your cut baits and live baits, preferably something more oily so cut bait works better like trout=). the folic acid in the blood doesnt disperse as well or something in cold water and besides that cats switch over to feeding on winter kill this point in time of the year anyways. I have caught cats threw ice on cut bait. and its a blast trust me.

I've got the ice huts, ice auger and I'm ready to try that.

[doublehaul]

Nebraska Walleye-
This is a very informative post. I drew some images of what I think you are talking about. Tell me if I am at all wrong in what I have drawn...I will take photos of my step by step and post this afternoon. I have never actually tried drifting blood, but from what I have researched many of the tournament winners in nebraska among many other states use this method. Thanks for all the great info.

[doublehaul]

Is this kinda what you're talking about? correct me if my illustrations are different than what you have in mind.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd148/doublehaul406/IMG_0038.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd148/doublehaul406/IMG_0039.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd148/doublehaul406/IMG_0040.jpg

[flathead_hunter]

I have caught cats threw ice on cut bait. and its a blast trust me.

yeah it always fun trying to pull a 10lb channel threw a little hole.... we were caching them with shad last year... 1 after another

[Catfishboy1995]

Thankyou all for the warm welcome and the suggestions. I feel lucky to have found this site.
Where in ne are you...Im in Council Bluffs Ia...we have a bait shop call woods sporting goods it is a little joint.that has the best blood cubes!!!

[NebraskaWalleye]

Is this kinda what you're talking about? correct me if my illustrations are different than what you have in mind.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd148/doublehaul406/IMG_0038.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd148/doublehaul406/IMG_0039.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd148/doublehaul406/IMG_0040.jpg

Pretty much right on the money the only difference is We used square buckets that way you dont have any that is off set, if they are not even all the way around you get more drag on one side which will pull the blood off itself. I had a pre welded cuter made specifically for my type of bucket.

[jrgriffhusker]

very cool. now i see