bait problems

hey all,

well, i’ve been tryin real hard to catch enough chubs to do a little catfishing soon, but the spot i thought i could get ’em just ain’t producing . so i thought i might go try and get a few large suckers to cut up and use as cut bait. the only problelm is that suckers won’t bite on anything that i throw at them. i was just wondering if it was legal to use them if you snag ’em? i don’t want to break any laws ya know .

if i can’t manage to catch my own bait, what would you guys suggest using? are those artificial stink balls good or just a gimick? what if i just used a really fat fathead? or maybe 2?

some ones got to help me out here. i want to make sure that i’ll at least have a chance to catch one if i make the trip all the way down to the river.

Jake, as I recall white suckers really love crawlers and the smaller garden variety earthworm. They are light biters so you’ll have to be fast on the set but remember their mouth is almost as tender as a crappie.

Hey Jake, I don’t know what you tried for catching those chubs but I catch my own chubs on corn, Wax worms, angle worms, and my favorite is power wigglers. You can usually catch suckers on crawlers! As far as those stink balls, they do catch fish but they are usually those small channels. I don’t know what kind of cats you are after but cut bait is IMO the best for big channels. For flatheads use LIVE BAIT, bullheads, suckers or creek chubs. Even though I just caught a 42″ flathead on a ringworm fishing for white bass yesterday, which is very uncommon. I don’t know how to post the picture or I would! Sorry!

I have never used anything but a piece of night crawler to catch chubs and suckers. For chubs I use a #16 plain fly hook, 3/4 inch of crawler and split shot just heavy enough to touch bottom. No heavier. If your not getting bit by chubs within 30 seconds move yor bait to a different spot. If you dont get bit at all within 2-3 minutes you should change locations. Chubs love small chunks of rocks in riffle type areas but the current shouldnt be too swift. Current seams and holes in stream are good to. Casts should be very short 5-15 ft. In fact dabbling your bait with about 6-7 feet of line out works great. Keep looking for those chubs. When you find good spots your usually set for many years to come.

Bait suckers from the local bait shop work for cut bait just as well as wild ones. Probably just as cheap when you factor in all the costs of running around looking to catch em.

Jake,

For some reason sheephead are not worth a crap for cutbaite. but Redhorse are … if you can get on the river and catch some redhorse or buffalo they are super for cut baite!!!

No wonder there are so many sheepshead in the river.

Even the other fish don’t want to eat them!

Dan

I am having the same difficulty.Sometimes the bait doesn’t even want to bite!
Chubs are just as spooky as trout so you have to sneak up on a school of them.In the early season they always don’t bite or they are feeding on something else and won’t take a crawler.Same goes for suckers.Yesterday I was fishing a pool that had hundreds of suckers in it.I know I could see them.I tossed out my bit of crawler and not one of them would take it.I tried everything and the suckers would just not take a crawler.They were feeding but on something that was hatching off the bottom of the stream.I wish I hadn’t been on a trout stream and had my net with!I would have been set for the year!

chunks of worms, exactly what i was using. i guess it must be a personal problem.

thanks for the other info guys. i’ll keep everything in mind.

I catch most with corn dragging along the bottom and in Ia bluegills are awesome for flats,don’t know the regs up there.Are you holding your mouth right?That helps(or so I’ve been told).

We were in Alma fishing Sunday afternoon using crawlers. We couldn’t keep the Suckers off our lines. We caught three within the first couple minutes of being there. They were biting very soft though so you have to keep the pole in your hand and feel for the slightest change or tap. Amazingly we only got one Sheephead.