Catfish Bait Recipes - How To
Who doesn't love the taste of freshly caught filleted catfish, fried up on a plate with homemade hush puppies? Yummm! Most people think catfish are hard to catch, but it doesn't take long to reel them in once you've found the proper baits that they strike on. I've tried many of the store-bought catfish baits and not really had too much luck. The best catfish baits can be found right in your own home. One of the easiest catfish baits to use is regular old hot dogs. Cut them up into one inch slices and throw them on a hook and more likely than not, you'll be reeling in a catfish or two. I've experimented with several baits for reeling in the catfish and two of my favorites I'll list for you here. Just don't go stealing all my catfish or I'll have to start charging for these bait recipes :)
Catfish love chicken livers. And some people have been known to fry them up and eat them. But I'll save mine for the catfish, which seem to taste a little better in my opinion. First thing you'll need is the chicken livers. If you raise and eat your own chickens, you'll have an endless supply (lucky you). But if you're like most people, you'll have to resort to picking up a bucket or two at your local grocer. They're really cheap, cheaper than night crawlers, so grab an extra bucket of them while you're there. The worst thing about chicken livers is that they are hard to keep on a hook and they are slimy as all get out. So to make them easier to stay on the hook, the need to really be dehydrated. I dehydrate mine to about the consistency of beef jerky. In a dehydrator, it usually takes about two full days for them to dehydrate fully. They should look and feel like beef jerky when they're done. The secret ingredient that helps them get the strikes from catfish is garlic salt. When I put the chicken livers in the dehydrator, I sprinkle them with cheap garlic salt. The catfish ain't going to know it's not McCormick garlic salt. You can find a large bottle of garlic salt at a dollar store for less than a buck. Note: Unless you want a big mess on your hands, you also need to cut out & lay a piece of wax paper on each of your trays. The chicken livers will peel off easily when you go to turn them. Every time you turn the chicken livers while drying, give them a sprinkle of garlic salt. When they are done, they almost smell good enough to eat...almost! Again, I'll leave that to the catfish. This homemade catfish bait recipe will have the catfish begging for more. Trust me!
So you got all of the chicken livers onto the dehydrator trays and they are on their way to drying out nicely and stinking up your wifey's kitchen, right? Now we have all of that leftover chicken blood still in the buckets. While the chicken blood may be good for pouring into the back of your wifey's flower bed for the health of her plants, it is even better for use as a seasoning of sorts. You did buy a package of those really cheap hot dogs while you were at the grocery store, right? The cheapest you can find. It don't matter to the catfish. They are downright hungry, remember? Now fill a small mason jar with the hot dogs cut up into about one inch slices and put them into the jar. Now take that leftover chicken blood and pour it over the hot dogs. Then put the lid on and let the hot dogs sit in the blood for about a week before using. You can add some fresh garlic to the mix if you so choose. Shake the jar once every few days to keep the dogs covered with the "seasoning". Keep them in the back of the fridge so the wifey don't know they're in there, else she might throw them out the door, with you not too far behind. Them catfish are just going to be waiting for you to arrive, trust me!
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