GOOOOOD STUFF Right there!!

Thanks Jackie

Freeline or weighted?

No weight

Chicken breast can be very effective. I have fished it side by side with shad and had days where it outperformed the shad 2/1. That is not always the case, but it can be.

For me I prefer Gizzard shad, bluegill (esp the heads), threadfin shad and then chicken breast in that order. But I am telling you depending on the day any one of those can be better than the rest. Just depends.

I like to add the strawberry jello to the chicken and some dead red spray the day before and let that soak in over night. Not sure it makes a difference but I sure have more confidence in it when its prepped that way. Shrimp, nightcrawlers, hotdogs along with all manner of odd oily fish from your local Asian mart will work as well, but those are tier two baits for me... like only if you have absolutely no other choice.

If I can't find shad I'll use mullet, blue gill, or carp with good success.
If I'm out of fresh cut bait I'll use chicken from the grocery store. It's done well for me. I've tried several mixes with jello and garlic and kool-aid but just plain chicken has worked best for me.

Of course you can never go wrong with nightcrawlers. Tried and true for catfishing

Seen a video where a guy (guide) uses chicken with and without jello.

At the current prices at the grocery store, I can find shrimp almost cheaper per pound than chicken.

It's crazy to think we could have possibly caught more than we did if we had used a "better" bait than the shrimp and liver we had been using.

Will I be able to repeat what we did this late summer next summer, I'm not sure...who knows! I went back looking at pics from and the numbers were IMO pretty dam good.

I will add I tried gizzards on whim and they kind of sucked. If you have to go chicken I feel like the breast is the only part worth messing with... despite what you might read on low budget "Fishing websites". I was reading one that swore chicken hearts were the best thing in the world for catfish... likely the kid had a good day with them on his farm pond and decided that application to be universal.

My research still favors breast as the only consistent option to get into larger fish with something other than the fresh cut real deal baits i.e. shad, bluegill, carp/buff.

No offense intended. We have put hundreds of pounds or catfish in the boat with chicken hearts soaked in anise oil off jug lines. We use this first day setting out lines until we can catch fresh shad. The size of cats seems to be a little smaller but the qty is there.

That is interesting! I cant hardly find a first hand of account of them being good. Looks like I have one!

How well do they stay on a hook? Are you catching mostly channels or will blues get on those in your experience?

Always interested in hearing folks first hand experiences with these "other" baits.

back when I jug fished I found chicken hearts and gizzards worked excellent and both stayed on the hook very well

I tried the gizzards and about had to use my Leatherman to get them off the hook... Thought I was going to need to drill a pilot hole to get the hook into them damn near!

Your bait will NOT come off if your bait is gizzards. You can bet on that.

we kill them at Lake A with livers
channels

How do you keep them on the hook Butch? I recall as a kid reading something about tying panty hose around them or some such and I thought "This is just not the bait for me" lol.

Any bait that requires women's undergarments cant be what the lord intended lol.

we use a circle hook & just weave them around on it
like knitting with liver
& we are not really casting
we fish my Mom's dock & drop straight down

but it will stay on with short cast