Most people think catfish eat only stick and rotted baits and blood baits but that could not be further from the truth. Yes, cat fish do like stink and rotted catfish baits and catfish blood baits in certain fishing situations but these baits are not their primary food source. Here's a few examples of catfish baits that all catfish species will eat on a daily basis that work well when fishing them as live bait or as dead bait ,or cut bait, and they include such baits as nightcrawlers, suckers, chubs, shiners, goldfish, shad, skipjack herring, bluegills, catalpa worms, grasshoppers, leopard frogs, bullfrogs as cutbait, waterdogs, adult salamanders, crayfish, saltwater shrimp, clams, and blood baits.
Actually a catfish's daily diet is mainly live bait and consists of about 90% of there food intake daily. Probably because these foods are readily available in there food chain. It is a myth to think that catfish only consume dead cut baits,stink baits and blood baits although like i stated above these baits will work in certain fishing situations.
Catfish are a predominate night feeder and some large catfish can be caught at night. Don't think you need to concentrate all your cat fishing at night because catfish will also feed during the day and you can use a variety of catfish bait to catch them, particularly if they are living in muddy or stained waters. Catfish are a warm water fish are very active when the water temperature rises above 70 degrees. We will concentrate on the catfish baits commonly used for the following three species of catfish, the channel catfish, the blue catfish, and the flathead catfish but first we want to give you a brief background of each type.
The channel catfish is very common and has a range from the northern to southern united states. They are blueish gray in color and often have spots along the sides of their bodies. The tail has a deep fork, and the anal fin is shorter and rounder then the bluecat. The world record channel catfish weighed 58 pounds and was taken from the Santee-Cooper Reservoir in South Carolina, July 7, 1964. Channel catfish grow very slowly and a channel often takes over over 9 years to reach a weight over 5lbs. Channel catfish are very tasty and a 1 1/2lb to 3lb fish is excellent table fare. This catfish species will hit on live bait, or dead cutbait as well as prepared catfish bait and also blood catfish baits.
The record blue catfish was caught in may of 2005 in the Mississippi River and weighed in at 124 lbs. The blue catfish grows much faster then the channel catfish and sizes in the 20lb range are not uncommon. Blue catfish love cut bait from large shiner minnows, sunfish, suckers, and carp, but blues will also hit on live baits as well. They also love blood baits and stink baits in special fishing situations. The blue catfish is typically a blueish gray color similar to the channel catfish but without any spots. Also blue catfish has a much longer anal fin then the channel catfish.
The record flathead catfish was caught on may 14,1998 the weight was 123 lb 9 oz and the location was Elk City Reservoir, Kansas. The flathead can be caught in areas west of the Appalachian Mountains, in large rivers and their basins of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio. Their range goes as far north as North Dakota, and as far west as Arizona, and south to the Gulf of Mexico including northeastern Mexico. Flathead catfish also go by other names such as the yellow cat, opelousas, and shovelhead cat.Yellow cat will eat mainly live bait fish and grow incredibility large. In fact in some areas of the south they are very unpopular because they can wipe out entire populations of bluegill and bream. Flatheads love to live in to hide in deep pools, in lakes,and large slow-moving rivers. The flathead catfish has a wide flat looking head very small eyes and are very brownish color. They have more of a square tail and their jaw protrudes beyond the upper jaw.
Well folks that concludes our summary article about shiners catfish bait options We sincerely hope you use our fishing information on your next fishing trip Good Luck!
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