Using chicken livers

[Gopher_Guy]

Yesterday I went out for cats using chicken livers. We caught a half dozen or so in a few hours. Nothing over 6 lbs. It was still fun though. I was losing a decent amount of bait though. I'm not sure if I was missing strikes or what. The chicken livers were tough to get on the hook, the meat was really tender and was easy to pull apart. Is it better to keep them more on the solid side (just slightly thawed)? They were frozen at the store and we left them out in the boat overnight to get a bit stinky and thaw them out. What about boiling them? Do they lose any effectiveness? I'd think they'd stick to the hook better that way.

Just a newb hoping to learn. Thanks!

[Dennis Steele]

Fresh (never frozen) stays on the hook a bit better. You can thread it on the hook several times without tearing the membrane.

The liver will also be hard to keep on the hook if you let it sit out in the heat. I keep it in a cooler with plenty of ice.

I have never used it boiled or cooked in any way. I beleive its the blood that attracts the fish.

[Derrik]

Like Dennis said, I try to keep the bait as cool as possible, it doesnt fall apart as easy.

I never really use liver anymore, I prefer cutbaits. I generally do better with cutbaits than liver.

[Ed Carlson]

You can wrap chicken liver in suragcal gauz and tie off the ball with thread. Then you can more easily use a single hook to fish for cats and skip the trebles. I hate treble hooks for catfishing and avoid it as much as I can...especialy on live/dead baits sets.

Try the gauz wrap...similar to a spawn sack wrap used by them goofy trout and samon guys.

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[Dan Thiem]

Awesome idea ED, I'm going to try that gauze thing this Friday night. Thanks for the tip!

[catman71]

i have tried chicken livers side by side against Blood flavor Berkely Catfish bait and Berkely won. You can't beat it for the convienience, that's for sure. I bought a little tub of chicken livers from a meat department at a store, is that what you consider fresh?

[freebledsoe]

Another thing to use besides gauze, is a piece of nylon stocking (yes, pantyhose). Works great, it is stretchy and easy to tie off and cut excess off.

[Wiskers]

I have found that magic string works awesome.. It holds the liver on the hook great. I got some from a friend out West, they use it out there for holding fish parts on the hooks. Pretty amaizing stuff.