Fishing with liver

[HuskerBen]

I butcher chickens, but can't get myself to give those tasty livers to the cats. Is there any other portions of the chicken to use, such as lung, intestines, maybe even the heart? I could part with that.

When I was a little kid learning how to catch catfish, my Grandpa taught me how to use the intestine as bait. It works great... stays on the hook all day, bleeds out a nice scent trail, and the smaller cats love it. Also, it was free, so it was Grandpa's bait of choice.

The key is threading it onto the hook, and we used a baiting needle. Get a piece of bailing wire about 9-12" long. Make a small loop, like the eye of a needle, in one end. That part slips over your hook point. Take out a piece of chicken gut (it should be said that this is NOT a bait for the weak of stomach), and run it up onto the length of wire. Hook the eye onto the hookpoint, and hold the wire up so that the gut slides over the hook and up the line. If you want the gut to stay stretched out, you can tie an overhand knot in the line or hold it in place with a split shot.

The stuff stinks to high heaven, especially after a full day of fishing in the hot sun. Thankfully, I was a little kid when I started catfishing, so I developed a strong stomach. To this day, if I catch a whiff of guts, I can't help but smile.

[zzammon]

Thanks Husker, great post. I will have to see if I can figure out that hooking technique. Butchering usually comes in mid June, perfect time for catfishing.

[mrklean]

i went out tonight and got about 10 the biggest being a 27x14, got really slow around dark though

[MidCoast]

Sweet I don't mind getting a little bloody, gonna go try this soon as those stubborn rivers go down. Crappies were bitin really good on Buffalo Lake yesterday when it was all overcast and nasty round 6pm definately gettin the itch!

Crappies are biting good on Buffalo? I must come check it out.. Thanks.

[Grant]

Livers are my "safety net" bait when nothing else works... I use the nylons thing too- the secret is to get some with no fragrances added- some of them have perfumes or the like applied to them; in my experience this kills the bait. I use a quarter to a third of a liver, laid on a square piece of the hosiery large enough to tie up like a little hobo sack(knot together opposite corners)then dunk it back in the blood in the bucket. if you can let the bucket ferment (and withstand the smell later, unlike Larry! ) it's a great bait to gather attention in a forage rich environment, as the rivers are in the spring with all the dead matter flowing downriver.

another thing- if you have crawlers, marinade them in the chicken blood a bit before using them, maybe if you have the wet paper worm bedding dump some blood in there. adds to the "appeal" a bit. works to spice up cutbait too.

something I haven't tried, but am meaning too- quite a few of the southern catters swear by anise and/or banana extract as a bait flavoring... might be worth a shot?

[mrklean]

i have smelled anise before, isnt that what they put in all those spray bottle bait attractants?