Catfishing experiment

[Deer Slayer]

A friend of mine has been doing an experiment with a couple different catfish baits recently. He has been targeting channel cats and baiting the trotline with fresh cut shad. The first night he caught 3 channels weighing 2-4 pounds. The next night he baited with frozen grasshoppers from last year. He caught 8 from 3 - 8 pounds and most of the fish were over 4 pounds. Last night he baited with garlic weiners and caught 3 channels from 2 - 4 pounds. We have been toying with shad vs. garlic weiners since last Thanksgiving on jug lines. Sometimes the weiners catch the most and the next time the shad win. I have heard of grasshoppers being used for cats for many years so we decided to test them out. Remember the current hopper population is not big enough to be used as bait yet. The trotline never moved during the several night experiment. What really started this was a report of yellow hoppers catching 60 channels in 24 hours for 4 guys last week. So it appears that grasshoppers are REALLY relished by channels. The weiners seem to hold there own against fresh shad which was a surprise. Another friend who fishes Kerr swears by garlic weiners on juglines and so I accepted the challenge to compare. I now feel fairly confident that if I cannot get shad then cheap weiners microwaved with garlic powder or salt will do fine. But I know what I am going to be doing several summer nights and that is raiding the fields with johnson grass plucking yellow hoppers and freezing them. I am expecting that the hoppers are going to beat the pants off of shad and weiners on jugs.

 

[Bowhunter]

I would really like to hear how this turns out. I love running jugs and it can be tuff to catch shad sometimes. I mainly use the biggest perch i can get but it takes about 3 days to catch 150 to run the jugs for a weekend. The older I get, the less time I have to catch them, just too much work. Please keep us informed on the grasshopper exeriment.

 

[dennishoddy]

Now, If I can just get Deer Slayer up to Kaw, we will try out the weiners on some Blues.

Guy I talked to once, told me he uses weiners cut up, and soaked in beer over night for cats.

 

[Deer Slayer]

Bowhunter - To prepare the garlic weiners just get the cheapest weiners you can find, generally 88 cent/pack, and cut them into approx 1" pieces. Next dust them liberally with garlic salt or powder and microwave for 1 minute on high. Pull them out and let cool a little while you redust them. Nuke them again for 1 minute and remove. That's it. They should now be tough enough to stay on the hook. We use 4/0 circle hooks tied to 50# test leaders with a crosslock swivels. We use palomar knots on everything.

Johnson grass is apparently high protein and cattle sure like it. Soybeans may be another winner for growing big hoppers. Just go out at night with an empty pop bottle to stuff them in and start picking. I would suggest a red headlamp filter too. You should not have a problem in western Oklahoma finding big hoppers. The hoppers that were used in this project were frozen from last year.

The young fella that told me about the weiners swears by them and finally I gave in and said I would give them a fair shot. I am glad I did. I think I owe him a burger for this tip. Save yourself some time and energy and try the weiners or hoppers.

 

[Deer Slayer]

Dennis- Ima comin, get the 20 horse runnin good sose we dont get stranded in rough water.

 

[cjjtulsa]

I like flatheads, and they typically like live bait; any flathead ever go for the grasshoppers on your lines, even though they are frozen? Interesting thread.

 

[Bullbuster]

One trick I have been using for cats that seems to work really well is float the bait off the bottom. I have my old saltwater bluefish rigs I use. But add a bobber an 1" or 2" from the hook (I use double hook'n floats) with cut bait. I can only assume that it helps the smell drift in the water better and aids them in seeing it. But the bobber also makes the bait look bigger than it is. I catch more and bigger cats than just letting the bait sit on the bottom.

 

[Deer Slayer]

Bullbuster - I have heard of that and it makes sense. I would suggest you use that method while drifting for cats.

 

[Deer Slayer]

Roosta7 is going to try frozen catawba worms this weekend on a trotline. I know he will report.

 

[oldnslow1]

Little smokies works great on jugs but kind of expensive
3" perch beats anything for live bait
live shad next but cut chad beats dead shad by a long shot
flatheads will not eat anything that is dead

oldnslow1