I would like to learn of some new ways to get gret catfish other than the old fashioned nightcrawler, dough bait, or stink bait techniques. I am to old fashioned and need an update. I know there are other better ways to catch those monster cats. Help me out a little.

Fresh cut pieces of non-game fish. Mostly perch and shad. The best baits out there.

Thanks. You have been first to answer a few of my questions and i thank you for that. You really know fishing well to have advice on all the stuff i have asked about. I think i need to spend more time reading posts and learning about the lures and baits i need to use, because i don't have any idea what to do half the time.

i still think the old nightcrawler will outfish anything but you catch alot of dinks, and at 3.50 a dz they are pretty expensive. if you plan on running trot or jug lines get yourself a perch trap (about $30) to catch perch or a cast net for shad. once the trap/net is payed for all your bait will be free, and you will catch bigger fish

personally, i usually throw out a dozen jugs with live perch, then find a hole to R & R fish with nightcrawlers and cut perch.

oh, one more thing, go to your local feed store and pick up a bag of range cubes (about $7). when you find a good spot to fish, throw out a few handfulls of range cubes as chum.

Does anyone know if bluegills are useful for bait? There is a pond near me where I can catch blue gills all day but not so many perch. (Unless I am misunderstanding the idea of perch and those are bluegills)

Neil

Kolban, okies and texicans call bluegill, any sunfish "perch" and they're not actually a perch. the perch family is a totally different kind of fish and texas don't have all that many perch but fish included in the perch family are walleye, sauger, yellow perch(from up north) etc etc. so when you hear an okie or a texan saying perch they're really talking about any sunfish. such as, bluegill, green sunfish, punkin seed, creek and river bluegill, warmouth etc etc.

I am 66 years old and have used every (and I do mean EVERY) kind of bait you can think of. I got my records out yesterday and added them all up and I have caught over 400 blues and channels since Jan. 1, this year. I do not count the ones I catch when I go with my buddy Gary. (check out Early Morning Cats in this fourm). There is nothing wrong with "old fashioned". I have been using the same bait for the last 25 years and even though I sometimes try something different, it doesn't take long till I open up my
Bill Roger Cheesebait (this is a "punch"bait made with cheese, dried minnows/shad, and other stuff) and go back to catching fish.

Comming from Michigan, this took me a while to figure out. Didnt know why people would use yellow perch for bait.

So yeah, like tiny said, use the blue gill you are catching.

Thanks Tiny and Ishootspoonies ... that's the info I needed.

Neil

I thank you all for the information. I just wanted something I had not tried and I got an idea of what to get. I used to use the old nightcrawler, but I guess I will try some cut-up sunfish and I might try this cheesebait. Where can I get the cheesebait? This is the first I have heard of such a thing.

you can get it feom walmart and acadmey and walmart has some chep cast nets that work good and thay got the treble hooks with the spring on them for the cheese bait

The same goes for people who lives in kansas also.

This evening I accidently discovered a bait that works great for catfish. I bought some Berkley Gulp! Maggots (Natural White) intending to do some sunfishing. I rigged up a bobber and proceeded to catch one catfish after another.

There was a family fishing next to me with chicken livers and hotdogs with no luck. I had a blast and fed a family of four at the same time.

~PW

ps. I was fishing North Lake Park in Denton, North Pond.

Big Marves cheese bait,danny kings punchbait,and cutbait,Big Marves has given me the best luck.Then D.K