Chicken Liver Chum Bait!

So, I don’t claim to be an expert Cat man, but I do love to fish for Channels. I’ve always liked to use chicken livers for bait but, like everyone, I hate trying to keep them on the hook. I searched Youtube the other day and found a video posted by a young man (credit to him for this!). He took a container of chicken livers and the olive oil from a can of sardines and turned it into a smoothie in the blender (yum!). He cut up boneless/skinless pieces of chicken and poured the slurry over it. He said to keep it in the fridge for at least a day.

I tried it. The bait is not horrible to use,it stays on the hook, and it catches fish!

I am going to try soaking some cut bait next time. I might add some stinky cheese to the smoothie. I wonder why he did not toss in the sardines as well as the oil….

Steve,

It has been my experience that fresh cutbait or a blood based prepared bait like Sonny’s will outfish liver 5 to 1. The local bait shop here will give me their dead musky suckers for free. I put them on ice and the fish seem to enjoy smacking them. There are a lot of cat chasers out there that make their own baits but I feel it is a waste of time and energy that could be spent fishing instead. When using cutbait you want to change it every 15-20 minutes for best results.

Wiskey i would disagree with you. In my experances fishing for cats all have been on Chickenliver. never tried cut bait but plan to this year. Ive never even had a bite on stink bait.

I’m not a bkDowner as I believe we all need to try new things and baits are one of them.

I’ve stayed away from “live” baits and fished with the prepared “dead” baits because I’ve hear of too many horror stories of the homemade baits blowing up in basements, garages and boats.

Sonny’s and the Team Catfish bait products are “dead” baits and won’t pop their lid from the decaying matter.

So just a word of caution. Keep the cover loose and keep the containers cool if using those types of baits.

Thanks for sharing Steve. I’m looking forward to this weekend of lower, fish-able water!!

When I was a kid stationed at Ft Riley, KS, one of the favored baits was Shad Sides. They were rotten, stinky things. I forgot a jar (lid tight) on the porch. It literally blew up. What a freaking mess that was!

Quote:

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When I was a kid stationed at Ft Riley, KS, one of the favored baits was Shad Sides. They were rotten, stinky things. I forgot a jar (lid tight) on the porch. It literally blew up. What a freaking mess that was!

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That there is what I’m talking about!

cut mooneye is a great channel bait.. I agree on the other baits outfishing chicken liver. not saying chicken liver isnt good bait. I use it all the time.. problem with it is the fact it just dont stay on.. the smoothy idea would be something to try,, Ive never let the chicken liver rot.. always fresh out of the freezer..

anyway.. good post something definitely worth a go if you got the time.. like brian stated trying new baits is a good idea for everyone.. so many time we get stuck on a bait we have confidence in so we think the fish just arnt biting when were not getting bit.. when in fact that other bait could be working great..

its good to step back and re examine your approach sometimes..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4g3oC2w7PE

This is the best way I have found

Well do what suits you. I had 30 fish over 15 lbs last year alone. You don’t see too many chickens swimming around in the river or lakes. I’m not saying they won’t clean up some liver if they find some. It is my experience that natural baits work best for bigger fish. If you have never had a bite on stink bait you are doing something wrong. Check it out. Even a walleye guy can do it.

I caught a walleye on stink bait a few years back. Those pool 2 fish aren’t very picky I guess

I might be here’s the way I do it. I would love to be able to use it stink bait way less messy I will admit that much. I have used sonnys and sudden impact. With both trouble hooks and regular hooks. With tubes and non tubes. Leave it our for 15 20 min then redip it?

First time poster here, started lurking about a week or so ago. Love that there is a huge cat crowd here!!

I’m one of the odd ones apparently, i’ve NEVER used stink bait. Fresh cut bait for me only. Used to fish the MN River when i lived in Mankato the last 10 years, just moved to Owatonna and plan to get over to the mississippi in the next two weeks for some big flats!

Might want to try it sometime. Stink I mean.

I wasn’t a believer at one time either.

As old man Sonny’s said, “if you want to catch numbers (of channel cats) dip bait can’t be beat.”

Now when I’m targeting channels I have three types with me. Frequently I’ll take cut bait along as well. It’s all about letting the fish tell me what they want.

I use whatever works. If you’ve never got a bite you are doing something wrong. I like to use the surgical tubes with the holes in them. Make sure you are not clicking your bail until the bait hits the bottom. Throw it as close to a snag as you can or a wing dam or a current break. I’ve also had a lot of luck working deep holes at mid day. If fish are there, you should get some action within 10 minutes. It is pretty common for them to hit it hard enough to pull your rod into the water. When fishing the lake here I drift my baits using floats over emerging weeds and fish runways between weed beds. I prefer blood baits to cheese baits. Nothing works as good as Sonny
s blood in my opinion.

I was starting to wonder if Sonny’s blood dip bait worked tell the last 2 nights. The channels were on a chew.

I’ve found using Thule fabric (the stuff wedding veils are made of) is a cheap and amazing way to keep the liver on the hook. I just wrap a small piece of liver in the Thule and use either fishing line or thread to knot it closed. It doesn’t come off the hook and it lets the bait bleed freely. I make as many as I want and throw em in the freezer. Simple and cheap.

Steve, I used to hate using chicken liver bc I couldn’t keep it on the hook, now I use just plain sewing thread and it works great. First Hook your liver onto hook then wrap your thread around it til it’s secure the only thing is you have to cut the thread when you need to rebait.