I have not posted or fished much in a couple of years. Life happens but I’m back fishing again.
So catching up I’ve been watching YouTube and reading this forum.
Catfish Dave did a comparison of Skipjack vs chicken, he was a skeptic. He boated two 40+ lb a 20 and I think a 10 lb and a 5th whatever.
Chicken 5, skipjack 0.
I tried today for the first time on Lake Waco .....chicken breast from the grocery store.
Baited 3 rods with chicken, 3 rods with fresh gizzard shad and 3 rods with fresh carp.
My first fish was a blue 42 lbs 8 OZS. on chicken. It was the biggest of the day but all the rest were on chicken except one on shad. Probably not news to you guys but as a doubter myself I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t think it’s the end all but at least it’s a readily available bait I can use when fresh bait is scarce or in short supply. Knowing it actually works means more fishing possibilities.
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Nice fish on anyone's bait.

Don't need to convince me, I'm a fan of having it in the boat as well as other baits. There are some though, that will not even give it a try, and will claim that shad is the end all be all. And giving it a try, does not mean using it once, and giving up on it. Just like proving to yourself that it is effective, doesn't mean going out one time, and having good luck with it. All through 2020, I fished chicken, side by side with shad and bluegill, and even shrimp a few times. In my case, chicken was every bit as effective as shad. There were days when everything came on shad or bluegill. there were also days when everything came on chicken. There were also days that bait choice didn't really seem to matter. But, there was never a pattern of it being not effective.

Now shrimp? I caught one fish on shrimp, all year long. So that one is staying out of my bait cooler.

I've tried chicken but on days when the bite was slow. I caught a few small fish but nothing to write home about. I think if you throw chicken when the fish are actively feeding, they will eat it as aggressively as they do anything else. The surprising thing to me is that they skip over the fresh shad for the chicken. I too like having an option when I don't have time to catch shad. If you can use an alternative with confidence so much the better...

Congrats on the 42 by the way. Great fish...

Do y'all doctor the chicken up?

Strawberry Jello ala Dieter Melhorn...

I like original recipe myself

I didn’t doctor, honestly it was a half hearted attempt to prove what I thought I knew.
My thread was to not debate but was admission that I was wrong.
Like I said it’s not the end all bait but it will become part of my bait box.
I learned that YES you can catch big cats with chicken. I will always seek and cast for shad or use cut carp etc.
Fish are moody at best and the game is to figure out that day what’s working. It changes daily sometimes more than once during he day etc. and locations are different. It’s a challenge I enjoy, the bad days make the good days better.
I enjoy the hunt and learning new things. This is what fishing is all about and I know I will never know it all.
I now have a new “tool” (to me) to use.
54 lb+ is the largest I’ve ever caught on Waco. I can only imagine what’s on Tawokani and to boat 60 lb+.
I’m planning to fish there and other great places in OUR country!

If you want to try an enhancement, put a piece of bacon trailing off the chicken. It is like a big pig and jig. It has great action. Besides channels and blues, I have had flathead catfish hit it and they usually only go for live bait.

Same here, I'll always have it with me, and I'll always try shad and bluegill too.

Nice fish.

Dumb question as I'm just getting into catfish fishing. What part of the chicken is the best bait? I know I'll catch heck from the experienced people.

Chicken breast