You are here	Crawdads 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 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. Cut Bait 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. Clams 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. Worms 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 or Dead Minnows 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. Miscellaneous Baits 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. If you use your imagination I'm sure you can come up with a few new ones.....Good Luck.....Catfish Ed.	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 Kelseyville General Store 5300 Soda Bay Road Kelseyville (inside Clear Lake State Park) 1-541-961-8053   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 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....Catfish Ed.
Stink Baits/Dough Baits 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. George Glasgow of Montgomery Texas sent me this dough bait recipe: 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. December 1, 2003 Mike S. from Central Arkansas sent me this stinkbait recipe: This is my dads old recipe, it's smelly but gooood. 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. Also useful in removing unwanted inlaws from your home during the holidays. Mike Chicken Livers I just added this paragraph today because I have received several emails asking why 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. Dusty from North Carolina says if you take an old pair of the miss's panty hose and cut into little squares and make a pocket out of this you can put it around the liver and it will stay on even longer than you want sometimes... Ron Brown from Asheville North Carolina wraps sewing thread around the livers to keep the catfish from stealing them. March 12, 2008 Paul Sturgill, Wise, Va. emailed this tip for keeping liver on the hook: I learned this trick from a lady while fishing on the Cherokee Lake in Eastern Tennessee. To keep liver on the hook. Use elastic thread that you can buy at any Walmart in the sewing department. Just break off 4 to 5 inches of elastic thread and while winding it around the liver that is on the hook make sure you stretch the thread. You don't even have to tie it but just let it go when you run out of thread. This works extremely well to keep the liver on. You will be pleased how the bait stays on cast after cast. The thread is less than $2 and one spool will last for a long, long time. Paul Sturgill, Wise, Va.t August 25, 2007 I received this email from Brent: in California: Here is an idea to help keep chicken livers on the hook. I put a short leader on a treble hook. I take a sharp tweezers, thread it through the liver and pull the leader back through the liver so the leader & hook are right through the liver. Then I put them in ice trays and freeze them. I will make about 3 ice trays of these. On my pole, I rig up a slider weight and swivel, when I need to change bait I just change the leader.   Brent Wilson, California July 26, 2002 Kerry in Dallas Texas gives a detailed answer to the problem of keeping liver on the hook: 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... December 27, 2002 Tom Radovich from Union City CA shares his method of keeping liver baits on the hook: 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! May 2, 2003 Don Rogers from Kentucky shares his method of keeping liver baits on the hook: 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 for around 20 years 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.  Hope my tip helps you and anyone else that looks at your web page. Thanks, Don Rogers January 2, 2005 I received this email tip with no name or location but it sounds like a good method: 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. December 12, 2004 Joe from Tampa Florida shares this recipe: 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. WARNING! BE PERPARED TO HAVE CATFISH JUMP ON YOUR LINE!!  "if they don't work, they taste good fried with soy sauce." Happy fishin, Joe :) Haftriniboi91@aol.com August 14, 2001 Strawberry Doughballs Since I've been posting a lot of photos of catfish caught with strawberry doughballs I figured I better add a section explaining what they are and how to make them. I originally started using them as carp bait but I started catching more catfish with them than most fishermen around me were catching with more conventional catfish baits. A strawberry doughball is simply a doughbait flavored with strawberry, usually strawberry jello or kool-aid is used as the flavoring. A simple dough can be made by taking equal amounts of regular white flour and either white or yellow cornmeal and adding kool-aid or jello (in liquid form), then mixing it until it becomes a doughy mixture, then kneading it until it no longer sticks to your hands. You should now have a dough that can be molded into a ball and put on a hook like you would Power Bait trout paste or any other dough or paste bait. I usually make the koolaid or jello mix very strong (lots of powder to water ratio) in order to make a strong flavored bait. I also have good results with other flavors such as vanilla, maple and blackberry. Stinkbait Recipe Scott Jones from Burlington, Kansas sent me his very successful stinkbait recipe: 8lb bag gourmet speical kitty catfood 1 pound of fresh shad 1 can wardley shrimp pellets 1 box "knox" unflavored gelitan (small) 3 one pound tubs of chicken liver (blood only) corn starch cup of corn meal jar Get your liver cheerios out of the catfood and put it in a big mixing bowl (red cheerioes). Pour in the can of shrimp pellets......you now have two ingredients dry in the bowl. If you have 6 inches of ingredients...pour in 3 inches of water....and pour the chicken livers through a seive to get the blood.....mix it all up so the catfood is wet....DONT make it a paste...just add the water and blood and let it set in the fridge overnight. The catfood and shrimp pellets will absorb the fluid. Take your shad and put them in the jar in the sun all day...they're going to smell some kind of bad when you open that jar so you should do this outside. Next day...The catfood is mushy now because it has absorbed the fluid......put the shad in a blender and puree the dickens  out of it until its nothing but fluid...no big pieces or bones you want fluid. Now you're going to have to experiment with amounts and exact measurments...i dont know how much of what...i just "eyeball it". Ok mix the stuff together...REALLY GOOD!!!! You will have a mushy mess that WONT go on a hook now....that's when the cornmeal and cornstarch comes in. Add the cornmeal and let set for about three hours...allowing the cornmeal to absorb excess moisture. You're getting closer to the consistency you want....now just a LITTLE BIT AT A TIME....because it doesnt take much....add the cornstarch...a sprinkle and then mix it up...a sprinkle and mix it up...repeat until you have the doughy stuff you can put on a treble hook.....good fishin.........Scott Doughball Recipe Trevor Shofe from ?? sent me this rather vague recipe. He says it works really well for him: flour dry cat food (ground or crushed) vinegar  peanut butter garlic salt  mozzarella cheese According to Trevor; "measurements are whatever you have". This makes no sense to me so I would guess you should use just a tablespoon or so of garlic salt and vinegar and mix with the rest of the ingredients until you have a stiff dough. I haven't tried this so use it at your own risk.:-) June 4, 2007 Richard O. King (Indianapolis, IN) emailed this recipe: The best bait in town (catfish)   2004 164 catfish...........avg size 8lbs..............the big one 19lbs 2005 143 catfish...........avg size 7 1/2 lbs...........the big one 28 2006  297 catfish........avg size 9lbs.........the big one 33lbs 2007 87 catfish.........avg size 6lbs..............the one so far this year..........17lbs 1/2  cup of  chunky peanut butter (Jiff) 1/4 cup of sugar 2 snickers bars 2 tsp garlic (add more if you like) half cup of chicken blood Mix it all by hand in large bowl. Roll by hand (chill for four hours) wax paper. ( you have the best catfish bait) June 27, 2007-3 New Baits Chris from Tennessee sent these three: 1)  Super cheese dough 1 part macaroni & cheese powder from kraft or cheapo brand. 2 parts chedder cheese sharper the better 3 parts Jiffy biscuit mix 1 to 1 1/2 tbsp. of olive oil (can be substituted but it works well for me) mix all ingrediants to gether and add oil until dough is packable. keep refridgerated till day of use. 2) Penrose Hot sausage and Garlic w/ vanilla extract. 3 or 4   four inch pieces of Penrose Brand Hot sausage (in vinegar) 1 Tbsp. Minced garlic in oil from the jar (cheap brand) 1/2 tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. vanilla extract (not imitation) blend and refridgerate till day of use. I have accidentally left this one in the car for a few days and it gets stronger. 3) Nathans Hot Dogs Garlic cheese 3 hot dogs (cut into 1in. pieces) 1 pack macaroni cheese powder 1 tbsp. garlic powder 1 tbsp. olive oil let this set out of the fridge over night before you go fishing. January 14, 2008 Jeff Pierce from Wheatland California emailed this bait recipe: 1 pack of cheap hotdogs 2 packs of cherry koolaid 1 clove of garlic 1 medium sized jar Fill jar half way with water, slice the hotdogs into one inch chunks and the garlic into small chunks, add the garlic to the water then add the packets of koolaid unsweetend. Stir good then add hotdog chunks, put lid on the jar and wait 2 days at least, I go weeks. The hotdogs will be super bright red and channles love the garlic. I've caught a lot of 5+ lbers with this bait, it's cheap and easy. I use size 2/0 whisker sticker hooks or size 4-8 circle hooks.  April 8, 2008 Scott from Kelseyville, CA has an interesting bait system: My technique is very easy and effective. I use a three way barrel swivel, attach the terminal end to the top of,an eight inch leader and small hook to the side where you'll put a jumbo minnow, DON'T KILL THE MINNOW!, those things are a buck a piece, fix the hook through the nose to allow free movement without inflicting a mortal wound. Next,run an 18in. leader down to another 3 way, again an eight inch leader to the side with 2/0 hook where you attach a bait shop clam through the tough lip, then another 8in. leader to the smallest weight you can use for the situation. Leave the bail open if  possible, sit back, have a cold drink and wait for Mr. Channel cat to take off with the clam. They rarely take the minnow. You can use the same one for several soaks. The minnow draws 'em in but they usually slam the clam! Give 'er a try!   Scott, Kelseyville,CA The "Unusual Baits" section has grown to the point that it now has it's own page. Check it out for some interesting and in some cases unbelievable baits. Unusual Baits If you have a bait question or suggestion, post it on: Catfish Ed's Fishing Forum