Tips for Homemade Catfish Bait
So you are tired of paying a lot of money for catfish bait, or perhaps you just want to try making your own. Often you can have great success with your own recipe of homemade catfish bait. So I will share a few tips I have picked up about how to make your own catfish bait.
First some people thing a catfish will hit anything that stinks. Well if that was the case I would catch thousands on my son’s dirty socks! Cats do hunt mostly by smell but it has to be an attractive scent to them. I like to try to provide a natural smelling bait when I can. If it’s something the fish finds in his habitat, he is more likely to try to eat it. Though of course many things in the various bait concoctions are not natural to the lake or river. They seldom encounter a chicken liver in the water naturally, but they sure like to suck em up when they are on a hook.
Make your own Chum Baits
Chum is used as an attractant to get the fish to the hole you are fishing. You can make a little or a huge amount. I usually go to a small amount as I am a bank fisherman and don’t want to haul a huge drum to a bank spot.
What I do is put a mixture into a several milk jugs. I like to use some juice off of chicken livers and also put a couple of the livers in as well. If I can get hold of some animal blood (from a butcher) I poor some in as well. I throw in a few pinches of garlic, some beer and water. Let it sit a few days and it’s ready to pour in the lake..
You can also take a 55 gallon barrel or even a 5 gallon bucket, as long as you can put a lid on it. Put in grain, you can use wheat, feed corn, chicken scratch or whatever. Mix it with a lot of water. Add some beer to help it ferment. Store it downwind and as far from the house as you can. You need to open it up from time to time to avoid building up a lot of pressure. Keep it a week or two then pour it in your favorite fishing hole. Please make sure you check local fishing regulations before using any kind of chum bait.
Make your own dipbait
If you don’t know what dipbait is, here is an explanation. It is what it sounds like, it’s a sticky bait that you put on a dipworm. The smell attracts the catfish and he hits the dipworm. Now I do mostly use store bought dips but I have had some success from my own version.
Tips for Homemade Catfish Bait
Here is what I usually make for my dipbait. Take 5 to 10 bluegills (bream) and or shad and take their guts and put them in. Put in a few pinches of garlic, about a cup of buttermilk and about a cup of flour. Use a blender not the same one you make your food in. Mix it up till it looks like a dough type substance. Put it in a good sized jar and keep in the fridge till needed. If it don’ t get thick enough, keep adding flour.
Chicken Liver Tip
Ok I know chicken liver isn’t homemade but I will throw in a tip. The biggest problem with using liver is keeping it on the hook. Take some old panty hose (or buy new ones) and wrap a small piece around the liver. Put it on a treble hook and fish it that way. The fish will smell the liver and hit the hook even with the pantyhose on there. Also I am told that cheese cloth works, but I have not tried that myself.
