anything that you think might catch catfish. there are so many diffrent recipes for homemade bait that people make, its amazing what people use. there is one guy on here that uses taco bell soft tacos. others use bacon. others take hot dogs and soak them in Big Red soda, or cherry jello. there are various combinations that you can catch them one. the most consistant (i think) is to take chicken livers or chickn breast and soak them in garlic. i dont use garlic salt, cause the cats dont like iodized salt, so i use garlic powder. it works pretty good. alot of other guys soak shrimp in garlic and it works for them.
Is there really a difference between the two, in terms of the cats preference? I really need to know, because I am fishing in a place where the biting is not so great, so I need all the odds/tricks I can get. My last two trips I used: chicken livers cured in the AZ sun for 24 hours with garlic salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Wrapped the bait around the top section of a circle hook with a small piece of pantyhose and a rubber band. Got nothing.:embarassed:
i have had good luck with cured liver on the colorado river as well as up in nor cal. never tried the peper thing. i use plain garlic powder and plain salt. once it is cured it stays on the hook justfine.
USMARINE, out here in yuma, i have found that the kitties dont really like the garlic livers. i get more on regular livers and cut/live bluegill than anything else.
don't use pepper or cinamon instead try the chicken livers with garlic powder not garlic salt. Catfish don't like iodized salt and that is what is in garlic salt. and then wrap bacon around it. take the bacon and heat it up just a little to get the grease started coming out of it first tho. good luck
Can't speak for anywhere else, but PA kitties love this recipe: I take chicken liver (or chicken hearts) and add garlic powder. Then I take a can of sardines and dump them in with the livers. I also add anchovie paste which you can find at the grocery store right next to the tuna cans(apparently yuppies put this foul smellin stuff on crackers and toast). Finally, I spray the whole thing down with WD-40. Ya cant put the sardines on a hook, but they do make good chum (they flake apart almost instantly when you throw them in the current). Or what I do is take a piece of cheesecloth and make the same contraption alot of guys do using pantyhose. I take a piece of the liver concotion and half of a sardine and put both in the cheesecloth bag. The cheesecloth has bigger holes than pantyhose so when your bait is down there the sardine is constantly breaking up little piece by little piece. This along with the oil from the fish and the WD-40 along with the garlic make a great scent cone. Try it out and let me know if it works where your at (in case I take a road trip some time)
I tried the hot dog thing but instead of cherry jello I soaked them in a mixture of garlic powder and extract of anise. It worked pretty good.
I havent had that much luck with dip bait. Chanels like it but big blues and flatties go for the live and cut bait. For chanels I use butter milk biscet dough they seem to eat it up here in alot of the small ponds and lakes.
Cheap and easy recipe... buy the cheap hot dogs and cut them into chunks and cover them with garlic powder. Stir in real good. Then take two packs of the cherry red sugarless kool aid and pour that in and mix it real good. Let set overnight in the fridge. The hot dogs will soak up the koolaid and the garlic powder. Next morning your ready to go fishing.
