As long as we are talking about Catfishing, I thought I would throw out some information on the best catfishing baits for catching catfish. You may want to take these suggestions and head on down to the Sacramento area, where you will find big and plentiful catfishing spots where you can catch Channel Catfish, Bullhead Catfish and White Catfish. Here is a web site all about fishing in that area.
Now let’s talk about the Best Catfishing Baits
Like all fishing trips, half the battle is finding the right bait that the catfish are biting on in the pond or river where you are fishing. If you have the bait of choice, you are near a catfish, it is a time of day when they are out feeding you’re your bait is still, you will get a bite.
Some basic rules for bait is that the bait is as stinky as possible, since the smellier baits create a scent trail for the catfish to find, and they have a great sense of smell. Having a few different kinds of baits when you go will give you some baiting options. And, at least one of those baits should be something that is close to the food they would find in their natural environment, like frogs, crawfish or a local fish.
So what are some of the best catfishing baits that you can try in your local pond to see what the catfish are biting on?
Natural Habitat Options
Since catfish are scavengers they often eat dead things in the water like dead fish, dead shrimp or dead crawdads found at the bottom of the lake or river. So, it is easy to replicate these dining options by using frogs, shrimp, crawdads or bait fish to bait your catfish.
Bait From A Bait Shop
The smaller catfish are easier to bait, so if you are fishing for channel catfish, as an example, you can pick up nightcrawlers at your local bait shop or dig up some garden worms to use as bait.
Food From The Grocery Store
There are an assortment of options at your local grocery store to bait catfish as well. You can use any type of smelly cheese, thawed shrimp or prawns, sardines, hot dogs, peanut butter or marshmallows.
Another really popular bait is raw chicken livers.
For the bigger catfish, you will want to stick with raw fish like fresh mackerel, sunfish or shad.
Smelly Additions
You want to make sure that your bait is as smelly as possible. Some things I have used and that I have heard others use to enhance the smell of their bait are garlic powder, juice from raw fish and adding a little fish oil to your bait.
Homemade Bait
Avid catfishermen love to make their own bait. Usually this begins by finding a big bucket with a lid. Next they throw in a whole bunch of catfish favorites, stir the mixture, secure the lid and set it out in the sun for a week or so. It is really easy to tell when the bait is ready because you can smell it all the way down your street.
To make a successful homemade bait, you will need the basics – like chicken livers or raw fish, add in some smelly cheese or peanut butter, add a bonding agent like bread or cornflakes so that the bait will stay on your hook, throw in smell enhancers like fish oil, raw fish juice or garlic salt, mix it together and you’ve got yourself a mighty fine bait.
And those are my tips for the best catfishing baits.
