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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 ar not there 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.
Channel catfish are one of the most common sought after catfish by catfish anglers and the channel catfish species habitat has a very wide range. They live from the northern states all the way into the southern states, And from the East coast to the West Coast with the exception of only a few areas in the Rockies. The channel catfish has bluish gray or almost silver sides with small black dots. the anal fin is much much shorter then the blue cat, and the tail has a deep fork in it. Channel catfish grow very slowly compared to the blue catfish and the flathead catfish. It may take a channel catfish 9 years to reach 5lbs. There are some areas where the growth rate is much sooner but the norm is they grow slowly. Channel catfish have been known to live up to 40 years, but that many years is quite rare. The record channel catfish was caught July 7, 1964 in the Santee-Cooper Reservoir in South Carolina and weighed 58lbs. But If you are after a good eating catfish you are in luck. fish in the 1 1/2lb to 3lb range are the best eating size and they are quite tasty.
The blue catfish looks allot like the channel catfish except they have a long anal fin and do not have any spots. They probably get their name because of their blueish gray color. The bluecat get much larger then the channel catfish and it is common to see fish larger then 20lbs. The current bluecat fish world record is 124 pounds and was caught on May 22, 2005, in the Mississippi River. Blue catfish will usually feed on cut up or dead catfish bait, and even stinkbaits. Blue cats will also respond well to live baits and live river herring and shad usually are a top choice. they also love large shiner minnows, sunfish, suckers, and carp. The bluecat is predominately a river fish but the can also be found in some large lakes and reservoirs where they have been stocked.
The flathead also has other names such as the yellow cat, opelousas, and shovelhead cat. The flathead catfish can be fond 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. The shovelhead catfish can grow very large and will consume catfish bait primarily live bait. In some areas of the south they are a undesirable fish because they love to feed on bream and large flatheads can wipe out populations of these fish. But in many areas they are considered a prize gamefish because they grow so large. The record shovelhead was caught May 14, 1998 from Elk City Reservoir, Kansas and weighed 123 lb 9 oz. Shovelheads like 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 chub minnow catfish bait options We sincerely hope you use our fishing information on your next fishing trip Good Luck!
Check out Mark's website to get some amazing fishing information and fishing articles loaded with fishing tips about catfish bait that really work!
Check out Mark's website to get some amazing fishing information and fishing articles loaded with fishing tips about catfish bait that has been proven to work!
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