I read often that fresh cut bait is best. I often use frozen bait – suckers, usually that I keep small packages of in the freezer. I’d do the same with shad – if I could ever get my hands on some… I use what I’ve got, but, do you think that fresh measureably beats frozen?
At times, I think it does.
But, frozen is a lot easier and works well, too.
I’d say fresh is better, but frozen is better than nothing and can work pretty good.
I ordered a bundle from Team Catfish last month and it came with a bonus ‘Dead Red Blood Spray’ for using on cut bait. First additive I have ever seen and will be interested to see how it works. Unsure if BK has mentioned using the stuff…
I am one of those ‘fresh is best’ guys. I do not use frozen shad…it seems to deteriorate when frozen, becomes mushy and the blood in the fish turns black. I think the best part of cut bait is the red blood that oozes out. If, when you cut it, it bleeds red, you are probably looking at good bait. Suckers and chubs, when frozen whole, seem to preserve the red blood better. Thaw it, cut it and the blood is still red.
As far as the Dead Red addative goes, I have used it side by side with fresh bait…the fresh bait won out hands down. Side by side with not so fresh bait, it did seem to help but I don’t think it was a significant amount…barely noticible.
My opinion is if you can cut a live fish, that is the very best cut bait. Day old is OK but stay away from frozen if at all possible. Try all the additives that are on the market, you might find one that works.
A side note, I live in Iowa where it is legal to use a cast net so fresh shad for me is considerably easier than you guys in Minnesota. Still though, get some live suckers and chubs and you have pretty good cut bait.
Good luck…Ken
Believe it or not I think the body of water and maybe conditions has something to do with it too. Down on the Coralville res. its shad all the way for bait, anyway and any size and its better then bluegills,,,but bluegills hammer the catfish too. Around here shad works but not as good as at the res.
This old boy I occasionally fish with, 80 this july, has tried many baits including hotdogs on his ditty poles. In his stretch of back waters we’ve been out and hammered the catfish on bluegills under 3″ long. In a stretch of water I fish thats closer to me I use frozen shrimp and do the same. He says hes tried frozen shrimp and it isn’t nearly as good as bluegills. When smaller blue gills are in short supply he cuts the bigger ones into cut bait and does well. I don’t know why but I do think conditions change and make one bait better then another. Overall and from day to day all conditions included I think cut bait is a little better then live bait. Maybe because of the scent and the size you can cut it into. Theres an old saying,,,you can catch a big fish with small bait but you can’t catch a small fish with big bait. Its rare when they don’t hit frozen shrimp and if that time comes I’ll go with small cut bait.
Fresh cut is best, but fresh frozen is not too far behind. Not so fresh is best for numbers and smaller fish.
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I read often that fresh cut bait is best. I often use frozen bait – suckers, usually that I keep small packages of in the freezer. I’d do the same with shad – if I could ever get my hands on some… I use what I’ve got, but, do you think that fresh measureably beats frozen?
Depends on the day. Sometimes it’s shad caught a few hours ago, sometimes it’s the shad that has sat in the heat for a day. Insert any other baitfish instead of shad. It’s good to have both.
I prefer fresh cut bait but fresh is not always available. I’ve been reading everything I can on brined baits. The salmon trollers use brined baits and have great success. I plan on brining a number of baits as soon as I can find some large ones and giving it a shot this year. For those of you wondering about how to brine baits – Watch this YouTube video:
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The only time I’ve noticed fresh outfish frozen by a large margin is during late ice/ spring (which is strange since the channels are feeding on a lot of dead shad etc during that time, I’d think frozen would be ok but its not great).
If you ate leftovers most of the late winter and spring, you’d go crazy for a fresh steak too! 
Steve, I am sure we will all be interested in hearing the results. Without going to your link, my knee-jerk reaction would be that a salty piece of cutbait isn’t going to perform well, but you never know. It might be the greatest thing since fresh shad!
Pug – The brine solution is a mixture of Kosher salt and 20 Mule Team Borax to which a scent oil can be added to enhance the scent trail. The salmon trollers swear that it leaves an excellent scent trail. I’ll let you know how brined suckers and sheepshead do. I may try some shad too.
Interesting. I’ll have to check out the video.
Steve, I am glad you mentioned Sheephead…. Do you have much luck with them as fresh cutbait? Where do they stack with suckers/bullheads/shad and other legal cutbait in MN?
Sheepies would be the most avaiable fresh bait for me!
I use sheepshead all the time and have had good luck with them. I cut long fillets – nice cut bait. I don’t listen to the “This is better than that” bait discussions. If it can be cut and it bleeds – it works. Catfish are not fussy and will eat anything.
I am a believer in frozen bait is better than no bait for sure. I am a big believer in fresh cut however I have found times where frozen will out produce fresh.
I much prefer last years left over bait from the freezer before the water temps hit 48 in the spring. I have used it vs fresh side by side and frozen and nasty wins every time.
Another time I have found frozen to work is when the water is really hot. I don’t have a real solid answer on why but I think the blood and scent disperses faster on fresh in that hot water washing it out faster than frozen that has to melt first.
Lastly, I have noticed that on the cool down in fall the frozen bait can pay big dividends to fresh. I think it is the last push to feed and anything works goes into affect.
My bottom line with bait is a good piece of bait in the right spot is so much more important than what that bait is.
If you really want to get into freezing bait you should probably read this article. This is about making salted minnows. From what I have read this procedure almost fresh freezes bait. If done correctly this is as close to fresh bait as you can get. This can be done with large baits like suckers and chubs too. I don’t have a lot of freezer room at home or I would be doing this. I’m trying to talk my Bride into getting a small freezer for me to store bait in. Check out this article:
http://www.lakemichiganangler.com/tips/general/how_to_make_salted_minnows.htm
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I’d say fresh is better, but frozen is better than nothing and can work pretty good. x2
I ordered a bundle from Team Catfish last month and it came with a bonus ‘Dead Red Blood Spray’ for using on cut bait. First additive I have ever seen and will be interested to see how it works. Unsure if BK has mentioned using the stuff…
The spray works great, bites as soon as it hits the water. I’d recommend marinating your bait in the solution or freeze it with, the scent will keep longer.
Frozen bait works better right at ice out when the winter kill is getting cleaned up. After that week or two I’d go to fresh. I find night crawlers also work good during the right after ice off period.
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