Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Lake Eufaula Catfishinh

Never have done a lot of freshwater catfishing.
Cut bream = no bites
Worms = caught several
Store bought doughballs = very slow bite, caught 1 missed a few

Just started, no swivels so attached sinkers may cause them to drop bait.

What do you guys suggest. Just fishing from dock towards mouth of Pataula creek.

Live bream, squid, shrimp. Worms are messy and cant keep in freezer. We did just have a massive may fly hatch. Are the fish just not biting?

Lots of big fish breaking the water early/late. Assume those are gar??

Easier to learn from others than to go thru school of hard knocks.

I always enjoyed fishin noodles on lake eufaula. July and August after an evening shower is usually a good bite.

Iv'e found catfish go for chicken liver faster than anything, but it's messy and falls off the hook alot. alot of folks are using shrimp now. sure, live bream would be king. I used one one time and had no chance against the big fish that ate it.

Livers for eating size fish. Dedicate a pair of scissors and cut them up in small pieces ahead of time. No swivel needed, rig it like a drop shot. For big fish, whole brim or shad hooked through the lips. Y swivel works best for me with 12-18 inches of leader. Worms to catch the bream and they go in the fridge, add a little corn meal to them and keep a little moisture for them.

I've seen a guy use canned cat food. He cut a square of pantyhose, put it in the pantyhose, twisted and tied off with a rubber band. Seemed to do pretty well.

Pantyhose works well for chicken livers too

Standing at Plant McIntosh doing a power plant inspection, I've personally witnessed the City of Atlanta, dumping raw sewage into the Chattahoochee River. The smell was unbearable and we were on the other side of the river from the sewage "treatment" plant.

The guy that was with me that worked at the plant said they do it all the time. He said it was cheaper for them to pay the penalties to the EPA than to actually treat the sewage. Once you understand who runs Atlanta, you understand this line of thinking.

I have never eaten anything out of that river system again. Including raw oysters from Apalachicola.

I've caught more cats with liver than you can shake a stick at. Yes to the cutting them up approach, it don't take that much anyway to leave a trail of smell for them to find. Also, it helps to let the liver sit out in the sun for a bit and start to rot. Make sure you do this far from the house or you may be paying alimony.

Find the river channel on the south end and troll that channel south with deep diving plugs

Take hotdogs, slice them up, put in a ziplock bag with garlic powder and garlic salt. Let them sit over night. Youll be eating catfish the next time you fish with them.

Catfish are spawning right now, so that could be part of the problem. If you are targeting channel cats, go to a feed store and buy a sack of range cubes. Throw some out and wait about 30 minutes. Then keep throwing out a few handfuls every 30 minutes. A cheap package of Bar S hotdogs makes good bait. Cut them into bait sized pieces and pre soak them in strawberry jello the night before. Even add a good dose of garlic powder, if you want.

The only store bought catfish bait that has ever worked for me, was Danny King's. Hard to find in Alabama, but some Walmart's and Academy may stock it. Just don't get any on your hands, trust me.

Buy a cheap cut off meat, I know that is hard now days, like cube steak. Cut the steak up in one by one cubes. Take chicken livers, place them in a blender and liquify the livers. Hide the blender from your wife, it will now always be the fish bait blender. Pour the liquid livers over the cut pieces of steak. Place in a Tupperware container and in the sun for a day until they smell like store bought blood bait. The pieces of steak will absorb the blood and smell, but will stay on your hook better than livers. You can re-soak the bait or change them out when you check your bait while fishing. You can freeze this bait and reuse.

I use a barrel swivel, a ball, and one of those sliding weight clips when I fish at a dam. Shad is the best bait to use if they are pulling water. I have caught them on Magic bait up there, but use a treble hook with wire wrapped around it, so it holds the bait longer. Use a circle hook if using live or cut bait.

I have heard about the hot dogs soaked in jello. Chicken liver works well, rooster liver is good if you can find it. I think its a little tougher.

Bayou Baits rooster chicken livers-Stay on the hook really well, great bait also. Google them and You can find them, Grocery stores have them sometimes.
Piggly Wiggly in Camden carries them in the frozen section.

Skipjack and Shad are the best bait for catfish, live Bream for flatheads.

Fresh shad is hard to best