for bait when you can't / too lazy to catch shad????? I'm talking about the bigger bass minnows you can buy. I would think you could even cut them in half, use the heads etc.

Anyone know??

I have tried them and haven't really caught anything on them. Don't know why, could just be that there wasn't fish every time I tried to use them.

side by side test would produce about 10 to 2 or even 10 to 1 on lakes and waters that had shad as the main food source. the problem with using minnows is that they are not in the lake already or not a main food source for the fish and the fish don't hesitate to feed on what they're always feedin on naturally ... natural baits are the key to fishing success so go ahead and take the time to catch the shad and you'll do a lot better than you would using minnows. bluegill is another great source for catfish bait and they're easy to catch out of farm ponds or tanks. they're also easy to keep alive ... all you need is a bucket and one of those $6 aerators you can get from walmart.

bluegill was what I took to texas with me to fish in those tournaments and we did pretty well on them.

I have caught tons of catfish on minnows. But usually the minnows i use are the ones i get from the lake I am fishing at. But I do not recall ever catching any blue cats with minnows.
I have also seen on one weekend fishing below Kaw dam that the flatheads were only hitting minnows and nothing else. Seen 10 flatheads caught with minnows while I was using gold fish and perch. Not a bite one for me.

I usually catch cats on minnows in the spring. Most of them are during the crappie run and they are channel cats and small yellow cats. Tiny has some good points there. On our lake, during spring, alot of people throw the minnows in the lake when their finished fishing. Maybe it has something to do with it. Then again, it just maybe lady luck shining on us at that point.

If you can't get shad take a seign and get some ghost minnows, they are not as good as shad or cut perch but they will bite them!

Listen to Tiny! He is the Man for catfishing! Just google Tiny catfishing, read and follow his tips and you will catch more fish. Thanks Tiny for all the info I have learned from your web tips!

I used minnows in January a few times when I couldn't catch a shad or bluegill to save my life. Never caught more than 3 fish and they were small blues. I was hooking 4 bass minnows on each hook and snipping the tails for the bleeding factor.

I have caught 5 cats over 30lb on large bass minnows...Alive. I have caught smaller channels on dead minnows with the head cut. I have found that if they are chasin shad I can catch them on bass minnows pretty well.

Tiny is right on target as always! He is the original catman!

I can tell you from exprerience that ghost minnows will definitely catch some catfish. They are a natural forage in most lakes and are really easy to catch with a seine.

Guess I need to get busy throwin the net for shad!!! But darn I hate getting all wet throwin the thing.

I throw a 14 foot diameter cast net and I don't get wet. Watch the instructional video on calusa.com or got look it up on YouTube. Good luck.