Fishing Question?

Question

i might go to a fishing tournament this weekend at a small lake that has mostly panfish small bas and catfish. i figured it would be easiest to win by catching a bunch of catfish. What would work the best and where should i cast it? Does lucky 7 bloodbait work good? Thanks

and what tworks the best and fastest in which area of the lake

Answer 1

Your best bet is to catch or buy shad and put it on your hook and through it out , keep trying different depths until you find the one where the catfish are then stay at that depth.

Answer 2

Best bet is to use chicken liver and a BIG night crawler on a treble hook. it works wonders.

Answer 3

the best thing that i have used is chicken liver..get it at the food store

Answer 4

where do u live im going to one this weekend too. it has the same fish too...u live in PITTSBURGH????

Answer 5

Crawdads (crawfish) are one of the primary food sources for catfish in Clear Lake. At times live crawdads are an excellent bait but more often the meat from the tail is the top producer. Just remove the shell from the tail of the crawdad and place the white meat on the hook. Crawdad tails are best used still fishing with or without a bobber since they don't stay on the hook very well. They produce the best results from spring to late fall when they are readily available to the catfish. You can purchase crawdads at several bait and tackle shops around the lake or you can catch your own with a crawdad trap.

Shrimp or prawns as they are called in the fish markets are a perfect substitute for crawdads. Although I have never been able to get a catfish to admit it, I believe they taste just like a crawdad to them. Depending on the size of the shrimp and the desired size of the bait you can use them whole or cut them in half. You can use them with the shell on but most anglers remove the shell. Unlike the crawdads you can use shrimp in heavy current or for long vigorous casting or even drift fishing without fear of losing your bait. They can be purchased in most seafood sections of supermarkets either frozen or fresh. I sometimes soak them in crawdad scent oil but I can't really prove that it helps. They work best from spring to late fall just as the crawdads do.

The word cut bait covers a wide variety of fish baits. The most common ones that are used at Clear Lake are: shad, anchovy, sardines, mackerel and silverside minnows. Cut bluegill are rumored to be a deadly cut bait but since it is illegal to use them in Clear Lake I have no idea as to the validity of the rumor. Cut bait can be a fillet or a chunk, it depends on your preference. I use them primarily for drift fishing in deeper water since the cats are usually feeding on shad or silverside minnows when they go deep.

Freshwater clams are another excellent bait for catfish at Clear Lake and can be productive year round. Fresh clams are more productive than the frozen or processed ones but if the fish are on the bite any kind will catch fish. They can be especially productive for pan sized catfish when fishing at night in the summertime.

This category includes nightcrawlers, minicrawlers and garden worms. Most locals prefer a gob of garden worms or if not available then minicrawlers. They are highly productive in winter and early spring when the creeks and drainage ditches are pouring muddy water into the lake. The catfish lay in waiting for worms and other food to be washed into the lake with the muddy water. It is best to use just enough weight to drift along the bottom in the current to provide a natural presentation. Nightcrawlers and minicrawlers are available at all bait shops around the lake but garden worms must be dug up by the angler.

Live minnows, especially large or extra large are a good bait all year round. The only drawback (or maybe not) is that you will catch as many bass, or maybe more, as catfish. Most serious catmen kill their minnows just before they put them on the hook for this reason. They can be used under a bobber in shallow water in spring and summer as well as drift fishing in semi deep to deep water all year long. Minnows are available at only a few baitshops in the area so check my list of bait and tackle shops and call them to see if they're available.

I truly believe that a catfish (especially a channel cat) will eat almost anything that is animal, vegetable or mineral. Here is a partial list of stuff that I have caught them on; bread dough, salmon eggs, smoked salmon, corn, hot dogs, bologna, german bologna, salami, green peas, Berkely Power Bait Trout Paste, plastic worms and grubs, and even crank baits. Hot dogs are a very good bait for catfish at Clear Lake. Many fish in excess of 15 pounds have been taken with hot dogs. Another good catfish bait that deserves a mention here is cheese, just about any kind of cheese will catch catfish but orange cheeses like cheddar or american work particularly well. As I already mentioned, I have caught a lot of cats with plain bread dough so I'm sure a prepared doughbait will do well.

Here is a list of Bait and Tackle shops around the lake that can give you up to the minute information on fishing at Clear Lake:

Lakeport
Tackle It Sport Shop/Ed Clark
160 N. Main Street
Lakeport 95453
707-262-1233
Visit their website



Clear Lake Oaks/Glenhaven :
Limit Out Bait and Tackle/Bob Higgins
12599 E Highway 20
Clear Lake Oaks
707-998-1006

Glenhaven Beach Campground and Marina Hollis "S" Thackeray
9625 E. Hwy 20
Glenhaven CA 95443
707-998-3406

Clearlake City
Lakeshore Bait & Tackle / Bob Rider
14913-D Lakeshore Drive
Clearlake, CA 95422
707.994.FISH
707.994.4961 fax
707.245.5321 cell

Clearlake Bait & Tackle / Jeff Billings
14699 Lakeshore Dr
Clearlake CA 95422
707-994-4399
Open daily 6:00am - 6:00pm

If there are any other bait and or tackle shops in Lake County that would like to be added to this list just email me and I will add you to it in a day or two.


Stink baits and dough baits are not real popular at Clear Lake. I suspect that this is because very few fishermen are familiar with them. I have only used them a few times. I have heard a few reports of large catches of catfish using stinkbaits in the spring and early summer. I continue to experiment with them but I haven't had much luck. I have caught a lot of nice channel cats using vanilla and peanut butter flavored doughballs while fishing for carp.

GM Fiber One bran cereal, bread, Big Red soda pop, chicken livers, squeezeable cheeze spread. Blend the bran cereal, the bread, the cheese spread and the chicken livers. Add Big Red until the right consistency is achieved. This will draw them out of a deep sleep.

This is my dads old recipe, it's smelly but good.
Step 1:
In a 5 gallon bucket mix: 5 pounds of old cheese cut up into small chunks. Pour in enough hot water to wet down cheese, then mash cheese and water into a paste.

Step 2:
Go to the grocery store and buy 2 or 3 pounds of chicken liver ,the kind in the small plastic tub,with lots of blood, the more the blood the better. Then place raw liver and blood in old blender and grind to a pulp.

Step3:
Mix cheese paste and liver pulp together in 5 gallon bucket. Put on airtight lid and squeeze sides of bucket in before sealing lid. This gives room for expanding gasses(ewwww). Place outside on a warm sunny day for 2 or 3 days to season, 4 or 5 if you're brave. After seasoning in sun you should have a plesant smelling soup. If you can stick your head in the bucket and inhale without barfing then you need to season it some more. Then mix just enough flour into soup until it becomes a dough. Put this stuff on a hook and you will catch catfish. When you skin the catfish use the guts in the next batch with the liver to make an even more potent batch. You can pour this stuff into a leg of pantyhose and put it in your fishing spot to attract fish to your spot.

I just added this paragraph because I didn't mention chicken livers. I have never got around to using them but I do know several anglers that have good luck with them here. Several channel catfish weighing 20 pounds and more have fallen for chicken livers. One problem with them is keeping them on the hook but if you cover them with garlic salt and dry them in the sun for 3 or 4 hours they will toughen up quite a bit and the garlic salt seems to make the cats like them even better.

All you have to do is use a wire leader or a snap swivel and a #4 treble hook... with the hook in hand, (not snapped into the swivel or leader) push the eye of the hook through a couple of solid pieces of chicken liver, then gently place the hook into the snap of the swivel or wire leader. Snap it shut and hold the hook by the eye, next wrap the liver with about 18-24 inches of everyday household cotton thread. The stuff your wife sews your buttons on with. Wrap the thread tightly around the liver so that it cuts into it a little bit, and I guarantee you cannot throw it off. I've been using the method forever and can't imagine doing it any other way.

You can even bring your liver in to check it and throw it back it out... it works that well. The only downside is after 2 or 3 bait ups you have to take a second to cut the accumulated thread off the hook with a knife.

It's easy, it takes no prep. work (throw a spool of thread in your tackle box) and it's environmentally friendly...

The ultimate thing to use for wrapping liver baits on a hook is the wrapping inside of golfballs. It stretches and you can use a little or alot, personally I've caught many large catfish on 9/0 to 10/0 hooks with 3-4 chicken livers wrapped on. It's fantastic in waters with no current. Don't use any weight, big channels and blues cant resist it and you wont usually be bothered by smaller catfish. Big bait for big fish!

I can bait up with chicken livers and make about a 40 foot cast consistently without throwing it off the hook. the key is to use them fresh from the market.

I buy a fresh container still partialy frozen. Don't allow them to sit in the hot sun. Keep them on ice when possible. And most importantly don't tear off pieces of liver with your fingers they turn to mush. They also turn to mush after being in the sun all day unless kept cool. The best way to use the liver is to use a very sharp knife and and gently cut off 1 inch size chunks to use and never thread your hook through them more than twice. Just thread the hook through a chunk all the way to the eye of the hook and bury the point and barb into what is hanging. I have found that trying to put a hook through it more than twice results in bait being thrown off or it being reeled off. I have been catfishing and never had trouble with liver coming off the hook and I don't use thread or panty hose to keep them on the hook and like I said I can consistently make 40 foot casts without losing the bait. As far as bluegill stealing your bait, well I fish at night to avoid them being in the shallows. Here where I live, once it gets dark the bluegill fear for their lives and retreat to deeper waters to get out of the way of what I am after.

Use any paper coffee filters, take one filter and place the liver in the middle. I recommend cutting a piece of filter to the size of catfish your going for and fold the ends over the liver then just pierce the top where the folds come together and wala you've got an ever seeping bait which has a good texture and doesn't fall off that easy, especially great with chum and stink baits.

Ingredients
8 lbs. Chicken Gizzards
McCormick Season All Seasoned Salt*
Black Pepper*
Cayenne Peper**

(*=No measurement required; **= No measurement required, but use sparingly)
When buying gizzards, buy them fresh and/or frozen from a butcher, NOT PRE-PACKAGED!!
Make sure to thaw gizzards, so I recommend getting themn on a shopping day, and get them first, and get all your other stuff so it will thaw in the car.
When you get home, put them in your sink and let them thaw for a couple more hours ( I recommend buying them the day of the game.) When the game is done, get your kitchen ready.
Look at yer gizzards.
If you bought them partially or totally frozen, the bottom of the bag should be filled with blood( DO NOT DUMP THE BLOOD!).
Divide the gizzards into freezer bags, fill them ½ to nearly ¾ of the way full.
Add cold water until the bottom is ½ of the way full ( this will add enough liquid to draw out the blood.)
In each of the bags, add as much seasoned salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper as you want, but use the cayenne pepper sparingly. add a little bit of blood into each bag. If you put one serving in each one and you still got more, sever some more until its gone ( you shouldn't waste that stuff).
Put the bags in the freezer for a few more hours. Strain each bag to remove blood. put all into seperate bowl and stab with something pointy ( long knife , BBQ fork, eating fork ,pitchfork, anything pointy will do) so that it will absorb the blood & seasoning.
Put gizzards back into freezer baggies and add blood. if you want to, you can add some more water.
If you'll be going fishing the next day, put one bag in the fridge so that it won't freeze into a bloody, meaty ice block.

Well I hope this will help you.

Steve