Maumee River – July 19 , 2019

There are two very different schools of thought when it comes to choosing catfish bait.

Some veteran catfishermen believe the stinkier the better. They come up with concoctions that would make a skunk gag, and they swear by it.

They argue that smelly and gross looking globs of dead bait are responsible for huge stringers of catfish across the country, as well as a bunch of tournament trophies.  Some others believe the biggest fish always fall prey to the liveliest, freshest bait available.  And though we might use a glob of night crawler every once-in-a-while for channel cats, I thinks live bait when fishing for flathead catfish is best.  Some blended stinkbaits are the culmination of years of painstaking research, Berkley has a whole laboratory dedicated to scent research.  I suspect most people use them because they are simply a lot easier to get, handle and keep.

GOOD BAITS

Suckers can be caught with hook and line or netted. In the early spring they can be found in small feeder creeks off of larger bodies of water. By summer, they are too dispersed in the main bodies of water to target specifically. Large suckers can be frozen and chunked, when they are abundant in the spring walleye run is the time to load up a stringer full and freeze them for summer fishing. ,

Gizzard shad  are good bait, but both are very temperamental and difficult to keep alive -so most use them dead whole or chunked up. Gather these with a cast net in feeder creeks, low-head dams and by hot water outlets in the winter, but in the main lake body and in coves in the spring and summer.

Bluegills, and  bullheads-These are excellent flathead bait when fished live  where it is legal. All do well in a tank when it is kept clean and cool.

Creek chubs

Found year-round in small feeder creeks in eddies and deep holes. These  fish are excellent bait when they are large enough. They are tough to net since they live in cover, but are easy to catch with a small jig.

Have fun be safe and good luck fishing.