Making your own catfish bait question(s)

[Oldcountryboy]

Was watching a outdoor t.v. show this morning and they had this famiy that made their own catfish bait. They called it "Punch bait" and said it was crawdad flavored. Apparently they have it on the market but I've never seen it in any stores around here. So this got me to wondering about making my own crawdad scented bait.

I have access to a creek that has crawdads in it. If fact I trap quit often throughout the summer to catch us a crawdad dinner. We eat crawdads a little different then the cajuns do as we peel the heads off before we cook them. Therefore I throw a lot of crawdad heads away and have often wondered about putting all those heads into a blender and try to make a bait mixture out of them. So my question is "What would I mix with the blended crawdad heads to make it in a doughy bait?" "Is there any kind of preservative to add to keep the dough bait from spoiling fast?"

[deaconjim]

I just cut beef liver into small chunks. Never needed a blender.

[Pops2]

use a basic carp doughball bait recipe & add the crawfish, but don't leave out the strawberry jello or the licorice extract. make the doughballs bigger than carp size. for ease of finding recipes, the brits call them boilies ( they actively & aggressively angle for carp).

[copperhead46]

Hey r.h., how about mixing the crawdads with wheaties and enough moisture to bind it together. I don't know anything that would preserve it, but you could just make up a small batch at a time. Where do you go catfishing? I live pretty close to the pumpback station by Salina, and I see people pull catfish out of there even now, after it's been so hot!

[Badger]

Pumpback is 180' deep too. It's bound to be cooler than the main lake! I used to do real good down below the discharge until they filled in the big hole and put the waterline across it. I had several mornings that I had 100 lb stringers or more. Now your lucky to get perch down there.

[Oldcountryboy]

Originally Posted by deaconjim

I just cut beef liver into small chunks. Never needed a blender.

I've had good luck on chicken liver before but I'm trying to be frugal by using the rest of the crawdad I don't eat. I know that a lot of different kinds of fish will eat crawdad and don't doubt that beef liver is good too, but I don't have any to spare right now. Thanks for your reply

Originally Posted by copperhead46

Hey r.h., how about mixing the crawdads with wheaties and enough moisture to bind it together. I don't know anything that would preserve it, but you could just make up a small batch at a time. Where do you go catfishing? I live pretty close to the pumpback station by Salina, and I see people pull catfish out of there even now, after it's been so hot!

I don't live too far from you copperhead. Just right around the corner in the little kansas area. I mostly go fishin on the Illinoise river since it is so close to where I live. I love fishin for small mouths on the pumpback as well as sandbass and crappie. And I've seen some huge cats come out of the pumpback. I met a fellar over that way that does some winter catfishing right there at the pump, he has shown me some pictures of monsters he's pulled out of there.

I've given wheaties a thought but don't want to buy a box of high dollar cereal. I was wondering if anyone uses flour, cornmeal, or oatmeal. Something a little bit cheaper.

Originally Posted by Badger

Pumpback is 180' deep too. It's bound to be cooler than the main lake! I used to do real good down below the discharge until they filled in the big hole and put the waterline across it. I had several mornings that I had 100 lb stringers or more. Now your lucky to get perch down there.

I've fished below the pumpback before and filled stringers full of cats. Some cuzins and I use to go over there and fish all night. We got hung up a lot, but we also hauled a lot of cats in. Some of my older cuzins have passed on and the remaining ones don't fish anymore. So I don't go down there alone since there's not much security down below. I need to get my gun carrying license so I'll feel a little more comfortable.

Badger/copperhead, I hate it that we can't go down below Markem Ferry dam anymore. I suppose you fellars have noticed they have fenced it all off to where no one can fish there anymore. That was one of my favorite catfishing spots.

[Oldcountryboy]

Originally Posted by Pops2

use a basic carp doughball bait recipe & add the crawfish, but don't leave out the strawberry jello or the licorice extract. make the doughballs bigger than carp size. for ease of finding recipes, the brits call them boilies ( they actively & aggressively angle for carp).

Pops, I have thought about that ideal too. I use to mix a big handfull of cornflakes with strawberry or grape pop and a touch of licorice oil. I would catch the fire out of carps and suckers.

But I've been afraid if I use this recipe with the crawdad heads, carps and suckers might be all I catch. I want to target mostly catfish, if it's possible. But it might be what I'll end up doing.

[||Downhome||]

just freeze the heads then throw them on the hook.

I catch more on live bait then I ever seen on livers or stink bait. brought home a stringer tonight. don't bother with that stuff no more, not saying it does not work. just to me live bait works the best. have 14 and 12 size hooks catch the bait on a light pole then hook it up on the main stays. BANG BANG!

[Badger]

They put a parking lot in and made a walk thru gate below markham ferry dam. You can still fish there but you have to walk a long way - Homeland Security $ at work!

[big rockpile]

I'm thinking equal mix of Flour and Corn Meal mixed into boiling water with Garlic,Crawdads,maybe a few Shad and or ground up Bluegill cleanings and Cheese,make a stiff Dough.

big rockpile

[Oldcountryboy]

Originally Posted by Badger

They put a parking lot in and made a walk thru gate below markham ferry dam. You can still fish there but you have to walk a long way - Homeland Security $ at work!

There's a walk thru gater their? I don't recall seeing that when I was down there looking around last April. Can a person still get to the other side? A bit longer drive, but I've had some good luck on that side too.

[Badger]

The other side was open last time I was down there.

[Esteban29304]

Different baits for different areas, but;;
The best Catfish baits I have ever used are , Hellgramites & Leeches. Cut chunks of beef chuck , chicken livers, & dried Mullet guts work, too, but not as good.

[oldasrocks]

Get some small cloth sacks and fill them with the crawdad scraps. Insert a hook with leader into them and freeze for later use.

to catch the BIG catfish we used to fill a 1 gallon paint strainer bag with beef liver and hooks. The small ones will hit it but not get hooked.

[copperhead46]

the walkthru gate is there, it's a long way to the water now. Last time I was there the other side was still open, if it ever cools off, I think I'll just go on down to the Low water dam, that mess at the dam makes me nervous.

[big rockpile]

I thought about Wheaties,Catfood,Blood Meal and Strawberry Jello.

But I've been using Sony's Blood Bait and my wife says why mess with anything different when this works.

In the morning I'm going to use Chunks of Drum.

big rockpile

[backwoodsman]

We make alot of our own baits for fishing and trapping. Sodium Benzoate will stop the taint. It can be found at many trapping stores/supply houses. 1 tablespoon to about 1/2 gallon of "bait" is a good start. A search on Brotherhood of Catfishermen or BOC will net you more recipes then you can try in a lifetime. We've posted alot on Wild About trapping also. Crawdads are attractive to alot of fish and dough flavored with crawdads works good at certain times of the year. We do the best on dough/stinkbaits in July and thru August.