I was wondering... I've got this last 40 lb. bag of deer corn and I was thinking it might work to bait a catfish hole. Should I put it in a bucket with some water and let it ferment for awhile or just pour it in the hole? What do you think?
Panfish Paladin

Carp guys soak it for 24 hrs then boil it for 1 hr to soften then add a flavoring.........some of them catch more catfish by accident than we do on purpose........

this is what i'd do i'd just sink the entire bag with little cuts in the sack and that way water gets in and it doesnt get eaten up in one day

we used to bait our dock out with it and if you put to much out it will hurt your fishing more than help it, because everything you catch will be stuffed full with it.

3-4in PVC capped on one end and a threaded cap on the other with a bunch of tiny holes work great to get the stink out but not let them eat it

ferment that smell brings um in from a pretty good ways

Id probably ferment it first.

what type of flavoring do you use?

water sugar yeast

well if the hole you wanna bait is close enough and you got the time i would go there once a dayand throw in a couple handlefuls worth of food try and do that about the same time each day you wll then have the fish coming top that spot for food at that time of day after about a week. Iknow this from experiance i have baited a honey hole for cats back homein ohio for a long time with dog food it also helped em pack on th pounds.

how exactly do you ferment the stuff?

My neighbor puts it in a bucket with a lid then puts the corn, a few cups of sugar, and water in. Then he mixes and lets it sit in the sun for a week.

ive also heard of people doing what I said in my last post then boiling the corn for an hour or so with some other flavors like garlic or vanilla. I have never fond this myself so I cant tell you how effective or not it is.

Carp guys will use koolaid or jello mix......strawberry, cherry, grape, orange......

Yep

If you want to bait it and fish it the day you bait it ferment it. If you want to establish a baited hole long term boil it and put it in the same spot two or three times a week preferably around the same time and on the same days. Short term smell will draw in fish that are already in a mood to feed and within range. Long term you will modify fish behavior to check said spot regularly for food without the need of fermentation, plus long term you will be able to get a little bit larger fish I think because they will frequent the area just like the smaller ones. We are not talking about trophies here, more like maybe a decent # of 16-20" instead of a lot of small fish. This works for channels and smaller blue catfish. If you want bigger blues and or flatheads you can fish these areas with live or cut bait hoping that a blue or flatty will come trough looking to eat the smaller fish feeding on your grain. As a general rule larger catfish would rather have fresh cut or live bait.

I boil mine and add flavoring. You can add sugar and yeast during this process to help it ferment. Don't whiskey makers boil or heat their mash to start the fermenting process? I have a bucket of 1 year old boiled corn that smells like a whiskey bottle.

Bubba we need to break that bucket open one of these weekends?

There might be, a little dust on the bucket, but it's one of those things...

water sugar and a silver bullet

I use soured up deer corn all the time on Fork catch a bunch of channels everytime no joke

Buck

if i have a 50 gallon drum, how much corn would fill it and how much water?

Save the corn for the deer. Use milo, wheat or scratch grain.

+1 maybe add a pack of blood bait chum in the mix

I've been using corn right now because our feed store can't get wheat yet. For some reason, when it smells like Jack Daniels, the cats will tear up the water. I usually put mine in gallon jugs with holes drilled in them. I put out about 3 jugs per spot. I try to keep the area with scent in it. When I go to fish, I just toss out a scoup and wait for about 20 to 30 minutes. If they are at home, it will set them off to feeding. If not, I go to another spot. Tuesday, I caught 7 cats in one spot. They went over 10 lbs a piece. honestly, they are usually around the 16" to 24" size. Good eaters. Tuesday, I think the good Lord wanted me to have those big ones.

Does it make a difference what grain you use?
Panfish

Yea it does. Wheat is your best choice. Then milo, cotton seed cake and deer corn. I think the cats like a sweeter smell. That's why I feel the corn smelling like Jack Daniels brings them in better. When it passes that scent, it just don't seem to produce as much. Where the other baits, they hold the scent better longer. Don't forget range cubes, they are another good attractant. I will use corn, until the local feed store gets wheat. Now, I have been at the cleaning station on our lake and have had to wash down the corn that came out of the cats. So it does work, but there is better. Just my thoughts. There is alot of good experienced guys and gals on this site. Some of them may have better thoughts. Good luck and good fishing!

we'll see soon. I have both corn and milo fermenting in 5 gallon buckets in the back yard. I'm planning a trip next weekend for some big cats. I'll report which one works best for me. I'm not sure what lake i'm headed to but my choices are calaveras lake, canyon lake, belton/stillhouse, and navarro mills. decisions, decisions.....

How long do you let it ferment? How does the outside air temperature effect fermentation time? Thanks for all the input. Panfish

Right now with the temp. being cool, it takes a little longer. I figure up to 7 days in the winter months. During the spring and summer, it will sour faster. You can add a can of beer to help speed up the process. Some people us yeast or sugar. Now if your just taking it out and dropping it in the lake without any souring, it will take even longer. The average lake temps right now are in the 50's. Their is alot of ways to sour up faster, I just let mother nature taker of mine.

Hey Big Zee, when you fish these baited spots, do you use minnows or punch bait or what?
Thanks, Panfish

So are the range cubes a good choice to bring them in or are they not so great?

I usually use a punchbait. I like to fish them under slip cork about a foot off the bottom. Those cats are feeding off the scent, and the punch bait, it's just floating around with the grain. Some do use minnows, I would cast them out just a little further, the big one's might be out there. I would use the large minnows or if you can get your hands on some shad, they work great for the big cats in that area.
range cubes is a good choice to bring them in. I use range cubes when I'm searching for new hot spots. The cubes helps me to determine if this would be a good spot to bait out. Usually, if you catch a few cats there, I will bait out the hole and fish it the next day or so.

Thanks

Another post advised baiting spots shallow but he didn't say what he thinks is shallow. Do you pick spots of different depths or just in one range( for example 10 to 20 ft.) ? Sorry to ask so many questions and thanks for the details Panfish

No problem with the questions, glad to help. I usually bait a hole in the 4 ft to 12 ft range. This is year around. I look for areas with shallow water and deep water close by. Right now, I'm catching in a average of 6'to 8' of water. The water temp is 54 degrees. I'm mainly catching blue cats right now in the 6'to 8'water. Now in the 9' to 12' range, I'm catching channel cats. It's like this, when you bait a hole, it's like building a catfish restaurant. You pick a spot where they want to come and eat. Crappie guy's build motels with their brushpiles. The crappie come in, stay for a while then move on. Then they come back. Your building a restaurant for cats. The baited hole is your cafe sign, the chum is the buffet. Once you get that hole set up you will have a good spot.

We've "chummed" the bottom using milo and corn in a burlap sack tied to the dock. Works great.

Put it in 2 ltr bottles. Half full with corn. Fill with water. Leave in the sun with no lid. After a few weeks they are ready. Put on lid and poke holes in it with a knife. Anchor with a couple bricks. Toss in your honey hole. If this seems like too much work, but a bag of range cubes. Toss a few handfuls in several spots. Return to fish them in the order you tossed them out.
Heck, try a combo!

Thanks good info

I had to go fishing so bad on saturday i took the abuse of 20+ mph wind gusts. All in all on a 4 hour trip we managed to land 5 nice size cats. 3 in the 5 lb range and 2 that were 2/3 pounds. If i had more shad i probably could have caught several more. I was using 6-8 inch shad cut in half. We used the MILO only mix and it seemed to ok. We didnt catch huge numbers but we got some nice quality.