SUMMERTIME RIVER CATS
Summertime River-Catfish Baits
EDITOR'S
NOTE: Watermelon, iced tea, suntan lotion, sunglasses
and fishing for catfish comes to mind when the sun climbs
high in the sky, and the mercury heads for the 100-degree
mark. Many anglers believe that to catch catfish in
the summer you simply throw a stink bait out on the
bottom of any river. But to consistently catch more
cats on every outing, you need to know where the fish
most likely will occur, what they're most likely to
eat in these spots, and what conditions cause them to
feed most actively. Catfish like to eat almost anything.
To catch catfish, determine the natural baits in the
river you're fishing, and fish them first. Check with
local anglers and sporting-goods stores to learn what
baits catfish bite in that region at that time of the
year. Several other factors affect when and what catfish
eat. The temperature of the water governs how actively
catfish feed, because the enzyme action in a catfish's
stomach doubles with each 8-degree increase in water
temperature. The hotter the weather becomes, the more
catfish feed. Since most catfish prefer a dark habitat,
they eat mostly at night during the hottest, sunniest
weather.
During the hot summer months, some anglers use more
scent on catfish baits than in the spring. Many sportsmen
have discovered that chicken livers, especially those
soaked in some kind of catfish scent, really catch summertime
river cats. Also, fish with shrimp in the summer for
catfish. Although most catfish in the U.S. never have
seen shrimp, they will respond to the smell the bait
gives off. Shrimp can be expensive bait when fresh,
but spoiled shrimp has a very low cost at a fish market.
You also can catch catfish in the summer with cheese
doughballs you make yourself as well as live baits like
minnows, goldfish, worms, crickets and dead baits like
roaches and bonita, a bloody and smelly saltwater fish
when cut up. To catch more catfish in rivers this summer,
first find an area catfish frequent, and concentrate
most of your fishing in that region. These tactics have
worked for others, and they will work for you.
Monte Burch’s Bad Dip Bait:
Monte Burch of Missouri comes from a long line of really-serious
catfishermen. His ancestors have passed this bad dip
bait recipe for catching catfish down for several generations.
Here's Burch's directions. Use 2 gallons of dead shad
or minnows, 7 pounds of Limburger cheese and 1 ounce
of oil of anise. Put the minnows or shad in a 5-gallon
bucket, cover the fish with water, put a lid on the
bucket, and bury the bucket in the back yard. Three
to four days later, dig the bucket up. Pour off the
liquid, shred or melt the Limburger cheese, and mix
it with the oil of anise and the spoiled fish. Then
dump the mixture into pint fruit jars, and put lids
on the jars. Don't screw the lids down tightly, or the
jars may explode. Within a week, you'll find this bait
ready for you to use it to catch catfish. Take pieces
of plastic worms, and thread them on your hook. Dip
the plastic worm in the stink-bait mixture. Then cast
the bait out, and hold on to your rod, because the cats
will come.
To
make a more-stiff bait that you can put on your hooks,
use an old microwave oven, and take it out of the house.
Pour a pint of the mixture in a glass or microwave-safe
bowl, and cook the mixture until it becomes more stiff.
Only use the microwave for this outside the house. If
you cook this bait in the house, your family may leave
and never come back, and you'll certainly have no chance
of ever selling your home.
Use Wheat to Catch Catfish:
Lomax Dunham catches catfish every time he goes fishing.
He uses a secret technique to lure cats into main river
points, the intersections of river channels and creek
channels and the backs of small bays off the main rivers.
"You want to bait the places where you've caught
cats in the past," Dunham says. Dunham starts with
a 5-gallon bucket that he fills about 3/4 full of wheat.
To the wheat, he adds four cloves of garlic and five
squeezed lemons. Next he covers the top of the wheat
with water. He continues to add water if the water evaporates
and lets the mixture sit for one to two weeks to insure
the thorough fermentation of the wheat. Then he takes
a plastic scoop and the bucket of wheat with him whenever
he goes catfishing. According to Dunham, "I strew
the wheat on the tops of points, along the edges of
creek channels or in the backs of bays that I want to
fish. Generally 5 gallons of wheat will bait up three
to four spots for catfish. After I've spread the wheat
on the three or four places I want to fish, I'll come
back and anchor up on the first spot and begin to fish.
Usually the cats are already on the spot feeding on
the wheat when I arrive. So all I have to do is bait
with worms and fish on the bottom." Dunham warns
that if you use this wheat-baiting formula you need
to leave the bucket of wheat well away from the house.
"Also don't get any of the wheat on your hands
or in your boat, because that stuff really stinks, and
you can't get rid of the smell."
Possum to the Rescue:
Danny
Fields had a desperate mission. He'd had to leave the
catfish biting because he had no bait. Earlier in the
day Fields had baited with live minnows. However, when
he went to the bait shop, the owner told him he'd sold
all his minnows and wouldn't get any more until the
next day. On the way back to his fishing camp, Fields
spied a possum lying dead on the side of the road. Although
the possum hadn't yet begun to swell, it had a strong
smell. "I picked that possum up, put it in a plastic
bag and went back to camp," Fields reports. "I
skinned the possum out and cut up little chunks of the
possum for catfish bait. I baited the possum on my trotline
and on my rod and reel and caught the most cats I'd
ever caught. Now when I'm driving the three hours from
my home to my cabin on the river, if I see a dead possum
on the side of the road, I'll pick it up and use it
for catfish bait."
TOMORROW: OTHER SUMMERTIME
RIVER-CATFISH BAITS
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