Homemade Fishing Baits?

[DixyDoodle]

Today was a civic holiday here in Canada and wouldn't you know it? ALL of the bait stores in our small town were closed. All I wanted to do was take the youngest son fishing for an hour or so, with worms if nothing else, and nobody was open!

I just thought this might be a good time to ask about your favourite and easy-to-make homemade fishing baits, in particular for panfish. What would you say are some good baits to make from foods right from the kitchen?

DD

[Fire-Man]

Pan fish here are not to picky. I have used Cigarette paper and caught some, Loaf Bread, White side meat cut into little small pieces(less than a dime size), hot dogs, soft dog or cat food, cooked rice, spagetti noodles(cooked). Turn over something in the yard and catch some crickets(hmmmm if you have them there), but have never Made a special bait for pan fish.

I would Love to hear about some home-made baits that can be kept frozen or what ever to catch BIG CATFISH. Seems everytime I can go cat fishing I have a hard time catching live bait(we can use live bream/panfish for catfishing). The cat fish Love live bream, but there has to be a bait that can be stored till I go fishing, that will work about as good!! Any Idea's. I have already tried Side Meat/fat back, stink baits, hot dogs, cut mullet. Thanks Randy

[SquashNut]

try canned corn, or little peices of hot dog.

[CraftyDiva]

1 cup flour
1 cup corn meal
1 cup water
Vanilla extract (as much as desired)
Preparation:

Put the corn meal and flour into a bowl.
Put the water into a pot and add as much vanilla flavor as you want.
After the water begins to boil add mixture of flour and corn meal, let absorb the water then take the pot off the heat.
Knead and mush the mixture until dough is thick enough to stay on your hook.
Put into a ziploc baggie after it cools and your ready to go!

Edited to add....... if you want to use the can corn, drain most of the liquid out add some Vanilla extract to the can, let sit for corn to absorb the vanilla flavor, then use as bait 3/4 kerrnals on your hook. For some reason the fish like Vanilla,


.

[cowgirlone]

That looks like a good one Craftydiva, thanks!

When we clean chickens, I like to freeze the livers. I use these with a treble hook and wrap a small length of thread around the liver to keep it on. You don't have to tie the thread, just wrap about 6 inches of thread around it.
Works good for catfish.


Anyone have a good stink bait recipe?

[PyroDon]

ground up cornflake and grape jello makes a good dough bait.
Generally I walk the bank and use what ever jumps in.
this time of year its easy to catch grasshoppers by putting an old wool army blanket on the hood of a car or truck and driving through some tall grass.
for catfish chicken livers with some added oil from a can of sardines, smelly cheese works well to . as well as chicken or calf blood and some corn meal to make a dough.

[BillyGoat]

What I use to do to catch crappie, but this is in early spring. I would get one of the smallest cans of cat food, punch a couple holes in it. Tie a line or string to it. Drop it in (more shallow water, 5-12' deep) so it rest on the bottom. Have your line in and wait. This draws them if they are around.

When I was a girl ( 1950's) my Father & his buddies used to cut up pieces of cow's liver and "hunks" of cheddar cheese..they'd alternate : a piece of liver, a piece of cheese and then a piece of liver all smashed up onto a good-sized hook..never failed to catch whopping sized catfish..

flash forward to Missouri, 1970's..bunch of guys standing fishing in a huge pond catching catfish left and right..I asked them what they were using for bait.."liver & cheese"..

Alabama..2000..same story..

I'd say use liver and cheese..

This time of the year I like to take a bright flashlite and go around the high weeds and catch those big yellow grasshoppers for panfish bait. Shine the light on them which blinds them and then quickly grab them. Place them in a ziploc bag and then throw them in the freezer. When you get ready to go fishin just grab the bag on your way out the door. By the time you get to the fishin hole they will be thawed out and ready to use. Grasshoppers make excellent bait for this time of the year.

Billy goat, I use your method for catfishing. Only I use liver flavored canned dogfood. Works great!

[DixyDoodle]

Thanks for all the tips! I ended up taking grasshoppers and the corn with vanilla. What we caught: one 5 inch perch. LOL Well, I was using lures myself, actually; my 6 year old used the baits. Then again, we only stayed for an hour before ds said "I've had enough". I had also made the mistake of trying a new fishing hole which once we got there I did suspect of not maybe not being a good spot...and I was right.

Maybe next time. Actually, I might sneak out early this morning and give those baits a go at our pond.

DD

[pourfolkes]

Another great tip: take a small piece of panty hose and put the catfood, liver, whatever in it and tie it at the top to make a little bait bag. It stays on the hook much better and many times after you remove the hook from the catfish's mouth, is still on the hook to be reused...

[TedH71]

We use cut up pieces of Ivory soap to catch catfish in East Texas also we use those giant green caterpillars called Catalina worms? They work good as well.

[DixyDoodle]

Well, I tried the grasshoppers and corn in our pond. Caught absolutely nothing....not even a nibble. Obviously dew-worms work much better in these here parts.

Guess I will have to check and see if the bait shops are stocked up again, and throw a couple dozen worms in the cold storage.

I forgot to mention in my other post that when we were at the river fishing, when we were on the dock, there was a nice-sized carp under it, maybe a 20 pounder? I dropped the grasshopper under its nose and it swam away, uninterested. Now when a carp turns down food.....LOL I don't generally fish for carp, but my son would have freaked at catching that.

DD

[Lynne]

Originally Posted by DixyDoodle

I forgot to mention in my other post that when we were at the river fishing, when we were on the dock, there was a nice-sized carp under it, maybe a 20 pounder? I dropped the grasshopper under its nose and it swam away, uninterested. Now when a carp turns down food.....LOL I don't generally fish for carp, but my son would have freaked at catching that.

DD

They are fun to catch and some people even eat them. They like dough balls, hot dogs and I now found, left over dog food. Seems all these thing are not alive and your grasshopper was?

[Thoughthound]

Even big carp have small mouths, so (slightly) smaller hooks and baits are in order.

If you put a lot of bait on a hook, a carp will just suck most of it off and annoy you for 15 minutes.

For catfish, the smellier the better. And corn and blood chum draws them from far away.

For crappie, smallish grasshoppers.

For panfish, just about anything that's red or that moves and isn't much larger than their eyeballs.

How to catch serious game fish? I have no clue. But for my money, a carp puts up as good or better fight than bass I have caught by accident.

And smoked carp is pretty tasty. Watch out for the bones.

[Kenneth in NC]

Take ice cream flavoring (commercial grape) make corn meal mush and add flavoring. My neighbor uses this to catch Catfish and Carp. He makes a living fishing so I'd take his advice...or not.

Kenneth

[moonwolf]

open a can of tuna or salmon. remove the liquid. soak the worms or whatever you got handy that looks wiggly (even cooked noodles) in the tuna or salmon liquid and you'll catch some fish.

[SteveD(TX)]

I've used corn, velvetta cheese, chicken livers or gizzards, and even lunch meat. Can you dig up some worms?

[michiganfarmer]

If i had to survive on fish, but I had to make my own bait, Id starve. I am a terrible fisher, and other than worms I dont have a clue about bait