Lake Fork Jugline bait help

Ok, im not a catfisherman. But im going to Fork in a couple of weeks to crappie fish. I thought about setting out some juglines. I know they need a name an date. And im planning on putting 3 to 4 hooks on each one. Is that about right? But my main question is what bait to use? Frozen shad, liver, shrimp i judt really am not sure what might be best. Or do I do a mixture and see what works best.

I have not fished Fork so I don’t know what works best there, but I will say that fresh chicken breast has worked well for me on the lakes that I have fished.

I dont know if I've ever heard of chicken breast. Do you but a package and cut them up ?

I always use chicken breast cut into chunks, and put it in a bag, open a pack of cherry or strawberry jello, dump it in and let it sit a day or two in the fridge. I add real Mexican vanilla, or minced garlic to mine. Divide it up, put in qt. freezer bags and put in the freezer. It also toughens the meat and makes it harder to get off the hook.

I’m not advising you one way or the other, but Fork is probably not the best lake for jugs. Maybe around the dam, but there are stumps EVERYWHERE else.

I’d leave those jugs at home and bring you some range cubes and punch bait. Throw out a bag the night before and then go fish it after your done crappie fishing. Youll catch more fish on rod and reel than you would in the time it takes to bait up and deploy all those jugs. Not to mention all the time it takes to build the jugs. If you can’t catch some channel cats on fork you might as well be playing golf. There are a lot of guys on the forum like Littlewheel that are willing to help out a new guy with techniques and locations.

Do you think the range cube and punch bait will work off a dock? Or range cubes and cut bait off the bank? I only say cut bait off the bank due to it falling off when I cast.

We use Stubbys Cheesebait. If used properly by keeping it cool and using a spinning rod with no weight, the bait stays on fine. If you sling it out there with a bait caster with 2 oz of weight, it won’t. My number is 9039872315 if you want to holler and I will be glad to help you along.

Boom! Gotta love TFF bros! Littlewheel is a master Channel Catr. Pretty cool that he is so willing to help a fella out! Yes you can chum at your dock. If you chum they will come. We rent lake houses at a number of different lakes throughout the year and we always drop a bag of cubes and fish right under the dock at the lake house. It’s so easy a 1 yr old can do it!

Thanks brother . I just try to pass on info that was passed on to me by Stubby. I got about 60 years of knowledge crammed down my throat in a few years. Always glad to help.

I have been chumming several docks, and some cat tail beds on Lake Worth, at daybreak, with soured wheat. By the time I get done with the last dock, I go back to the first one. I continually catch numbers of channels, and a few blues till around 10 or so.

Most of these docks are in 6 to 8 foot of water, and Im fishing in 3 to 4 foot, about 18 inches off the surface using a slip bobber rig, and punch bait on a treble hook. I can wear them out every day doing this same routine. Until it gets cold, then its hard to get them up shallow early. Have to wait till the sun is out and shining down, warming the shallows.

Use CJ's punch bait, I can't even get it off my hook if I try.

So with the range cubes it takes about 12 hours? With 1 bag do i use all of it in 1 spot or 2 or 3 ?

I use range cubes too, it attracts all species of fish, not just cats. You want to attract them, not feed them. Go sparingly with it. I bought a 40 lb bag bag in March, still have half left. I usually take a one gallon freezer bag full, each trip, and rarely use all of that. When I use them, about 30 -45 minutes or so later, they'll start coming in. It will start to dissolve in the water.

We bait each of our holes with a 50lb bag of cubes late in the afternoon the day before a trip. Pretty common for our clients to catch 150-200 fish on a 4 hr trip.

I’ve always used the whole bag like Littlewheel. It will disintegrate rapidly and puts out a huge chum trail out. When I go back to fish it the next day I throw out about a coffee can sized scoop to ring the dinner bell. The fish that have been sniffing that cattle cube chum cloud for the last 15 hrs will still be hanging around ready to eat.

I’ve casted out with a 2oz weight but when I reel in the there’s no bait in the hook, could be that it came off on retrieval or while casting out... I’ve thought about using them treble hooks with the spring in the middle to see if it’ll stay on better. I’ve been using stubbys but no luck yet

No need for the spring hooks. The weight is what is killing you. I had a guy last week that called and said he couldn’t keep bait on the hook and has been skunked twice. He fishes Fork. I met him at the boat ramp and wanted to see what he was doing wrong. He had a bait caster with 30 lb mono, a 2 oz weight tied to the bottom and a treble hook about a foot up from the weight. He went to the bottom and then reeled up 4 turns. When the boat rocks, that weight bouncing doesn’t help keep bait on the hook. After a few minutes I had him reel it up. I then handed him my spinning rod, with braid, no weight and a #4 treble hook. I then had him go to the bottom , half turn up and set the hook. We caught roughly 80 fish in less than 2 hours. I told him that we don’t tell people to use it the way that we do for no reason. We have found every way to NOT catch fish. It is not a punch bait with 80 percent cattail filler. If used correctly, it works great. My number and Stubbys number is posted everywhere. I send out instructional videos to help people. There is no reason not to call if you are having trouble. When used properly, you won’t have trouble.

I also just tried to call the number you have in your signature to try and help out

Since I don’t usually chime in on channel cats I would like to give a disclaimer before I go any further. I’m a blue catr and fish with cut bait 99.9% of the time. I did grew up channel cat fishing at my dads boat slip at Eagle Point Marina on Lewisville back in the 80s and we used the same method as Littlewheel and Stubby. Dad kept it chummed up with sour milo and we could catch fish there all day long one right after the next any time of year. Catfish train super easy.

You can’t cast a lot of the punchbaits fonzie. You can lob it at best. We use sure shot when we’re plop fishing for blues under the Cormorant roosts on dead calm days. Its got fiber in it which helps it stay on the hook when you lob it 10ft to make it plop. If I was chumming for channels I would use Stubbys cuz it doesn’t stink and it’s proven itself well. Casting way out isn’t really needed for chum fishing though. Throw your cubes out in a small area instead of broadcasting them. Then fish directly over your cubes. If you gotta lob it out for shore fishing then I always used a slip bobber rig. There are a million ways to skin a cat. I would take Littlewheel up on his offer to help. Those boys are some channel cat catchin sons of guns!

Thanks El Gato Azul! Your explanation was spot on. We don’t have trouble casting it out 50 feet or so on slip corks. However , we do just lob it out there. With no resistance from the spinning reel and the density of the bait, it really isn’t a problem until somebody does a banzai cast.

I have had luck using a cut up women's nylon material to keep the bait on for the long casts with a weight . I use stubbies cheese bait and have okay luck with it on Lake Lavon . I need to spend some time with a local expert to learn more .

I have to take my bobber off and beat the hook through the water as hard as I can about a dozen times to get punch bait off of mine. LOL

Our bait stays on just fine when used properly