I like to keep and eat "rough fish" just as much as game fish like drum, bream, bullheads, etc. I have been keeping the fillets them then cutting up the ribs, fin area, spine, the leftovers to use for catfish bait to save the time of finding shad since I'm on the bank. I've done this twice now with minimal success, though not on any other baits either these two times. Anyone have thoughts on this? Am I decreasing my bite rate by using pieces that are part bone and wasting my time with that, or does it not matter that much?

Thanks

Eric

When you use cut bait, you want the meat. The meat is where the scent comes from and it also has blood in it. That is where the most scent comes from, the blood. The fresher the bait, the better. If you use the bones from the fillets, soak them in water with a good amount of garlic powder. You can freeze them like this and the garlic smell will infuse into the bait.

I have been told you can only use non game fish for your cut bait. My favorite cut bait is carp.

Bream heads make a good bait.

I like carp as soon as I catch um beat the hell out of um with a billy club

Dang opus that don't make it sound like you like them too much!
lol!

Opus likes his carp tenderized!

Tenderized & bruised from end to end the bloodier the better

nothing like doubling the fun BEFORE the cats LOL

To answer your question, any part of the fish can work. That being said, the fillets and heads tend to outperform everything else since they emit more scent.

Carp are pretty easy pickings right now. Find any bowfishermen and they can get you more than you would ever want. I have a couple gallons of "tenderized" carp fillets in the freezer.

Shad haven't exactly been hard to come by either.

I tried using a bluegill win not much luck.
When I switched to a double rig with a shad dipbait plus bluegill, I got hits on the dip bait but nothing on the bluegill.
Lookedd like the size of hooks/cutbait was the problem so I downsized... I think by then my luck ran out... chuming would have probably helped big time with the cut bait though.

+1

While using noodles the heads seem to be more productive for me!