To land more catfish,
use the right fishing bait
Some avid catfish anglers might disagree with me on this, but I
believe there isn’t a lot to catching this kind of fish. It all comes
down to using the right fishing bait. Now, I live along one of the
best catfish lakes in Texas, so maybe I’m biased, but I’ve seen
fishermen haul up some real monsters using a simple cane pole or cheap
rod and reel set. However, while the tackle might be anything handy,
the real science to catching cats is the fishing bait you use.
To entice catfish,
the stinkier and uglier the fishing bait, the better!
That’s right. It’s not rocket science, but there is a method to
catching catfish that takes some planning and a strong stomach. The
ingredients will vary widely, but the key is to concoct fishing bait
that these fish will go bonkers over. And that means you gotta get
nasty.
If you keep in mind that catfish are bottom dwelling fish that
scavenge, you begin to get the idea here. When creating fishing bait
for them, think about the kind of materials that sink to the bottom of
your lake. Dead animals of all kinds; dead plant materials; discarded
human waste.
One of the best catfish lures I’ve ever seen was a truly disgusting
concoction a very successful angler around these parts came up with.
His fishing bait is a closely guarded secret (I’m not kidding!), but
it does include the following: chopped up earthworms, fish guts,
bologna, horseradish sauce, and corn meal. Works like you wouldn’t
believe.
You can haul in catfish using much simpler fishing baits, of course.
I watched a kid pull up a monster blue cat that was longer than his
arm last year, about 10 feet off our retaining wall. When I
asked him what he was using, he just smiled and said, “a worm.”
