I recently fished with a guide on Lake Conroe. His speciality was Catfish and Hybrids, which was very interesting to me.

But we caught Hybrids and catfish on shrimp and liver. I of course threw many of what I thought were killer Hybrid lures and never got a bite! Everyone on the boat were catching Hybrids with catfish scattered in there catch.

I've watched a few UTube videos were they have caught Hybrids on "bait" that I had never thought of.

What is your go to bait for Hybrids...be it hardware or "meat"?

WOW! You guys are tight with the info...62 views and no replies!

There is a lot of individual preferences when it comes to what to throw. Whites and hybrids normally feed on shad. If you are going to live bait fish, drop a shad or a small sunfish. The shad in my lake are being herded to the surface by the whites and hybrids and a noisy top water is my lure of choice. I use a 3/8 oz chug bug in a shad imitating color and throw into the school of rising fish. If you can only find fish on the depth finder, a #5 Mepps spinner would be my first choice. Look up Holding the Line Guide service or Dennis Christian posts on how and where to use them. When I fish Lake Whitney or Tawakoni I always have 3/4 oz jigs with 4 inch sassy shad in chartruse color. Choices change with the seasons and the feeding pattern of the fish. Always try to match the hatch. If they are feeding on small baits, use smaller lures. If you only want big fish, try upsizing you lure choice.

I have fished for hybrids and they would not hit a 1oz slab. I switched to my 4.5" bass flutter spoon and started getting hit. Good sized swim baits do real well too for me. I have caught hybrids many times on fresh cut shad but never used liver.

I use a homemade in-line spinner similar to Mepps #4 however it’s weighted heavier than a Mepps. I have actually had live bait guys drift by and ask me what I’m using. We will most often out fish the live bait, trollers, or slabbers.

Chicken liver is a great bait for Hybrids, lots of blood in the water.

I've seen them caught on crawfish below Lake Somerville dam when I fished their in the early 90s.

Hybrids been using a thumper this year...minnows,mepps, anything on a hook when using thumper....or minnows.

When I posted this thread I thought I had found a super secret "bait" for Hybrids.

I'm new to catfishing, but while fishing with a guide (I mainly wanted to catch Hybrids but the remainder of my crew didn't care which we caught, they just wanted to catch fish.

Well while catfishing we had a bunch of Hybrids mixed in. I tried proven artificial baits that I have caught tons of Hybrids on and not a bump. The told me that would happen.

I've guided bay and operated my own offshore charter business for many years. But have never been much of a fish eater. But after eating some fresh catfish, I've changed my tune.

So I started fishing the lake where we fished with the guide and catching cats is fun but the Hybrids being mixed in is what I want.

I've managed to get them to suspend under the boat while on a "catfish hole". I had heard the live muscles, I had some ready for the Hybrids and they ate them immediately! But on my next trip they did the same thing except they preferred chunks of shrimp over the muscles.

So my secret killer bait was not the "holy grail" I had hoped for!

I get them on cutbait (shad or perch) while catfishing sometimes but from my experience an artificial lure that puts out a lot of vibration and flash will outperform bait majority of times. If they’re around you can cover water quicker throwing lures.

Really only fish for them in rivers and streams. Like to use wild caught minnows.

The best fisherman i know who targets hybrids is Fastguy (TFF forum handle). His "go to" bait is a sassy shad on a lead-head jig.

Live Shad is #1
Cut Shad
Slabs
Perch
Swimbait (jig head & plastic)
Topwater
Trap
Crankbait
Deadstick

It's situational.

hardware=hand tied jigs =silver ,white,chartreuse=getrdone