[epic]

Every post I've read by Koni she mentions catfish, and has me kind of excited to go catfishing once the tempatures get warmer.  So I was interested in what everyone uses for catfish bait and if they have any "secret" recipes that they'd like to share. 
Think maybe I'll see if I can catch a state record flathead this year since the state record of 2lbs 9 ounces is pitiful.
Here is one of my many favorite bait recipes for catfish.  Take shrimp and soak them in vanilla extract over night in the fridge in a small container able to hold about 1/2 lb of shrimp.  Thats it! one of the easiest catfish bait recipes. 
Once the water tempatures get above 55 degrees I'm going to be hitting up them catfish too this year. 

 

[koni]

I have never made a catfish bait myself. I did make this dough ball stuff out of frozen pillsbury biscut dough, and mixed some crushed garlic into it and tried that. I usually just use a variety of baits that i take with me, like chicken liver, shrimp, leeches, worms, crawdads, dead shinners and muscles. I'll have to try that shrimp and vanilla recipe of yours. Someone told me also to take shrimp and put a little water on it in a pastic bowl with a lid, set it out in the hot sun for about 24 hours to make a good stink bait. I think my son uses suckers and blue gill, and cut up carp when he fishes for flattheads.

 

[NeWcS]

Here is one I came up with and did catch a cat on it and alot of BIG carp:

Nuke Bait
  Submitted By Jay, Aurora, Colorado

  Ingredients:

    * 2 cups cornmeal
    * 1 1/2 cups flour
    * 1 cup oatmeal
    * 3 tsp maple syrup
    * 1/2 tsp salt
    * 1 pkg gelatin(strawberry,cherry,grape-Any flavor)
    * 1 tsp vanilla
    * 2 cups h2o
    * 1 bag of small flavored marshmallows 

  Preparation:

    1. Pour all ingredients except flour into pot, mix together
    2. On medium-low heat, stir all ingredient together till all marshmallows are gone
    3. Add 1/2 cup flour and stir till there is no flour left.
    4. Add another 1/2 cup flour and stir till there is no flour left
    5. And once again add another 1/2 cup flour and stir till there is no flour left
    6. Keep stiring till its like dough or till your wrist is broken, what ever comes first :-)
    7. Put in a old butter tub and place in fridge till ready to use
    8. When at the water, roll into good sized ball around hook.

 

[NeWcS]

Check this site out for more:

http://www.willontheweb.com/fishing/baitrecipes.html

-Jay

 

[epic]

Nice bait recipe site!

 

[Nawanda]

Jay, thanks. I printed out all 17 pages of recipes.

When will the catfish start feeding? Anyone know? Appreciate it.

 

[epic]

Usually catfish really start feeding when water tempatures are between 55-80 degrees. You can still catch them when its colder and warmer but its alot harder as they dont feed as much when the water is too cold like most fish trying to save energy, and when its too hot there is less oxygen in the water and thus they try to preserve energy by moving less then too.

 

[Nawanda]

ePic, thanks. You know what sad about having to know the water temperature? I've lost every fishing thermometer I've ever bought, about 2 per year for the past 5!

 

[epic]

I have this bait recipe saved on my comp that i didnt see on that website. I dont remember where I got this from.

For years, I have watched a good old friend of mine, I'll call him Robert, sit and catch channelcat left and right while I was sitting patiently nearby, waiting for the Flatheads to bite.

Well I finally coaxed that old time recipe from him, and now I will share it with you, this stuff works great, stays on a regular hook, and wont stink ya up to bad! this recipe makes about 3 gallons of the stuff, so if ya want, cut it in half!

4 Large Bananas
1 Gallon Maple Syrup
12 1/2 Pounds Flour
4 Pounds Cottonseed Meal
1/2 Gallon Cheddar Cheese ( like ya use on nachos )
( optional ) Small Tub Of Catfish Charlie
Mix and mash all this together in a 5 gallon bucket, then divide up into smaller fishin containers with lids and refrigerate until ya need it, I promise folks this stuff works great!

IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT A LOT OF YOU WANTING TO USE THIS BAIT CAN NOT FIND THE COTTONSEED MEAL!

COTTONSEED MEAL CAN BE FOUND AT ALMOST ANY LIVESTOCK FEED MILL OR YOUR LOCAL FEED STORE OR LOCAL FLOWER NURSERY, THIS IS ABOUT THE ONLY PLACES TO FIND IT, SINCE THIS IS A MAIN PART OF THIS RECIPE, IT SHOULD NOT BE SUBSTITUTED.

THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT ON THIS MATTER!

 

[djur]

Catfish bait... I've made a few batches with mixed results... If you make it be sure to include lots of stinky stuff, anise oil is an important ingredient...

The best catfish baits are crayfish and shrimp (raw).
If the water is very murky chicken liver can do well, it's terrible to work with and hard to keep on the hook, get a dough bait hook (springed treble) and make a lot of wraps with the tendons, it'll eventually stay, but it waters down easy.

Beware of putting chicken livers in a blender if you decide to make the dough bait... You will probably burn up your blender.

 

[denverbassman]

hit the big dry creek between wadsworth and sheridan, use small hooks and one pice of sweet corn, before u know it, u will have a whole buket full of creek chubs,then drive west to standley lake, hit the inlet and cast those things as far as possible, then wait! if u get a bite u will know right away, make sure u have your pole withen arms length,because they have a tendencie to disapear out there!!!!!!good luck, and nothing beats live bait for monster cats!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Walking Eagle]

my favorite recipe is when i grab a bucket, and poop in it. then i throw some rotting, 3 week old steak in it, and some apple cider vinegar, and maybe some cut out scent glands from a skunk...... and for awesome measure, i would get some concentrated cabbage extract.... and let my batch of supercharged catfish bait just sit outside for 2 weeks in the summer sunshine, particuarly in a empty field outside of pueblo since pueblo IS the hottest part of CO.

then i fish with it, with a radiation suit..... and voila, the catfish just jump out of the water onto shore for a piece of my catfish cocaine.

Catfish cocaine, my a##.....
I think you have just re-invented the recipe for Kim Chee....

 

[koldkut]

1 bar ivory soap
1 pound cut carp or sucker
1/2 pound livers
1/2 pound shrimp

Bland and add flour to stiffen the mixture.

 

[denverbassman]

hit the big dry creek between wadsworth and sheridan, use small hooks and one pice of sweet corn, before u know it, u will have a whole buket full of creek chubs,then drive west to standley lake, hit the inlet and cast those things as far as possible, then wait! if u get a bite u will know right away, make sure u have your pole withen arms length,because they have a tendencie to disapear out there!!!!!!good luck, and nothing beats live bait for monster cats!!!!!!!!!!

yep u have to walk , but it is only 1/2 mile my three year old has made that walk over 100 times in snow, rain, and lightning, after kippling take your first left into the housing area and park on the side of the road, its a pretty easy walk!!!!!!!

ok, one question brother.



i went out to standley lake with the wife on saturday, tried to get to the inlet and couldnt because there was no place to park. with it being rainy/snowy that day and my wife having her monthly pal... there was NO way in hell that i was going to ask her to help me haul the gear down there if she was gonna have to walk because i couldn't handle that level of nagging. so i decided to opt for lake arbor and get skunked.

where is some parking that isn't too terribly far away? or do you have to hike down there? if it's a hike, then ill hit it up myself when it warms up a bit.

 

[fishchaser]

i tried a recipe off the internet that said to put 12 or so dead minows into a jar and leave it in the hot sun for a couple of weeks, when i went to finish the rest of the recipe i ended up throwing up on my dog who was trying to eat it. talk about rank.

 

[fish fetish]

That`s hilarious, Fishchaser, LMFAO! The stinkier, the better! That was the best story I`ve heard all day, thanx for sharing. I gag pretty hard on nightcrawlers that have been in the sun for 2 days. Reminder- don`t leave bait in the car!

 

[mogul buster]

Yeah...I left 2 dozen nightcrawlers in my fishin backpack last summer and I can still smell the hot wormy smell of death when I go fishing!