chicken hearts

[flatheadhunter87]

Any of you guys ever try chicken hearts as a diffrent kind of bait! I'm geting some tonight to try what do y'all think? And yes I have to butcher chickens in this nice weather!

[Lowblazah]

what a waste of good chicken hearts...those things are way to tasty to feed to the fish.

[bobbymalone]

chicken livers are a classic bait, I can't imagine that channel cats have a palate of such distinguished tastes that they would refuse.

i bet hearts hold on the hook better too.

[HuskerBen]

I have used chicken hearts on small rivers, and they are great bait. I prefer them to livers. They stay on the hook better, but the scent doesn't seem to last as long. Spleens work well, too.

And if you're butchering chickens, you really oughtta try the intestines as bait. That was the go-to bait when I was a kid. They're tougher to get on the hook, but here's the method my Grandpa taught me when I was just a little fiddler learning how to catch channel cats:

Get a piece of stiff wire about 10" - 12" long. Make a loop on one end that will just fit over the hook. Bend the other end into the shape of a J, small enough to fit through the gut. Thread a length of intestine onto the wire - the J end will hold the gut on the wire (usually...) while you slide the loop onto your hook. Grab the J end, and hold it up above the hook and let gravity pull the gut onto your line (you might need to guide it on a little). Take the wire off your hook. Then you can run the hook point through the last few inches of the gut a couple times. My uncle always ties a loose overhand knot in the gut a few inches up the hook, but I've never found that to be necessary. Sometimes I will crimp a split shot onto the gut to hold it on the line, though. Make sure you have a rag handy, as I'm sure you know.

That stuff stinks to high heaven, and lasts a long time in the water. The contents of the gut sorta ooze out slowly, leaving a nice scent trail.

The scent brings back memories, man. A margarine tub full of chicken guts in the bottom of my five-gallon bucket, sitting next to a quiet little river on a hot summer day, using Avon Skin-So-Soft and vanilla extract as bug repellant, yelling for Grandpa when I had one on the line... Those were the days.

[flatheadhunter87]

Ok so I got some chicken livers too, what's everyones favorite way to hook them or however you rig them up! Never used them before and I'm going Thursday and looking to try a new bait!

[pureinsanity]

  flatheadhunter87 said:

Ok so I got some chicken livers too, what's everyones favorite way to hook them or however you rig them up! Never used them before and I'm going Thursday and looking to try a new bait!

My favorite way is to fry the chicken livers in a wok and eat them. But I guess if you have to feed them to the fish I would put them into a cheese cloth so they last longer and stay on your hook. But the Wok is the best idea for sure!