Catfish can be caught using a very wide variety of bait – from the store bought, lure variety to homemade bait recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. When talking to any avid catfish angler there is nothing that he or she will be more adamant about than the integrity and potency of whatever homemade concoction that they use to catch catfish. Catfish are known to be very opportunistic eaters that will bite on just about anything edible and many baits that aren’t. It seems that half of the trick to catching catfish is getting their attention, so keep this in mind when you are making your own catfish bait. Catfish are known to attempt to eat many things that catch their eye and just spit them out when they realize that the item cannot be swallowed.
Plenty of catfish have been caught using store-bough stink bait, lures, night crawlers (worms), and crickets, which leads us to the conclusion that catfish can be caught on more traditional forms of bait. However, some of the more elaborate catfish baits that has been reported to be used successfully over the years include chicken breast, parmesan cheese, doughnuts, cat food, dog food, bacon, hog jowls, bologna, honey ham, rancid fish parts such as crappie heads, pork livers, cow livers, chicken livers, live gold fish, shrimp of all sizes, balls of bread dough, chicken gizzards, and cut up hotdogs.