How to Make Great Catfish Bait

The bait may not smell great, but catfish love it.

Catfish have poor eyesight, so they use a strong sense of smell to find food; that's why stink baits work best. There are four types of commercial stink baits, each with pros and cons. Punch baits and dip baits use cheese as the main ingredient and take a long time to make, but they're very effective. Blood baits are composed of blood mixed with a thickening agent (like brown sugar) and also work well. Dough baits are flour based and can be made quickly and used immediately. If you have time and a cast-iron stomach, here's a recipe Texas anglers swear by.

Things You'll Need

• 36 pounds of hog brains
• 40 pounds of cheese (use 60 pounds for thicker bait)
• 1 gallon of shad or any small bait fish
• Shovel
• Meat grinder
• Large plastic barrel with lid
• Electric drill powered paint stirrer
• Quart jars with lids

Instructions

1. Order the 36 pounds of hog brains through a large meat market and acquire the 40 or 60 lbs (depending on how thick you want it) of expired and moldy cheese from a wholesale cheese distributor. Any cheese will do but smelly cheeses like Limburger are ideal. You can find one gallon of shad or any other small bait fish at a bait shop or possibly your local fish market.

2. Sour the brains. Wait until the weather is warm or a heat wave hits to get started. Take your 35 lbs of hog brains and spread them out in direct sun for two or three days to get the decomposition process started. Make sure the spot is upwind from your house and off limits to dogs and other animals.

3. Combine the ingredients. Shovel the soured brains into your plastic barrel and add your gallon of shad or other small bait fish. Run the cheese through your meat grinder to grate it up. Throw the cheese in the barrel on top of the rotting flesh. Make sure the barrel is filled up no more than one-third of the way to leave room for expansion. Blend everything together with the paint stirrer attached to your electric drill.

4. Ferment the bait. Put the lid on the barrel, with a small vent gap, and leave it in the sun for at least two weeks. Any maggots will die quickly so they won't be a problem. Stir your bait every couple of days while it's fermenting. When you notice the bait isn't expanding much between stirrings, it's ready to use.

5. Fill the jars. Dip your jars into the bait and fill the jar half way; filling the jar more than half way could cause the lid to pop off or the jar to break as a result of further expansion.

6. Bait your hook. Make sure to use a dip hook (sponge bait hooks) from your local tackle store. Get the small dip hooks and re-dip them in your bait every 20 minutes while you're fishing. Be sure to wring out the water before you re-dip the hook.

Tips & Warnings

• Turn your dip bait into a punch bait by mixing it with cattail fuzz until it has a peanut butter texture. Use a small treble hook if you are fishing with punch bait.

References

• LASR: How to Make Your Own Homemade Catfish Bait
• Fishing Loft: Make Homemade Catfish Bait Recipes
• Learn to Catch Catfish: Catfish Bait Recipes

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Bass Pro Shops: Grocery Store Catfish Baits