Cuttin' Cutbait?

[smalls]

What is the preferred way to slice and dice your cutbait? I am a novice catman, so any advice would be appreciated.

Do you use the whole fish? What is your favorite fish to use?

I "accidentally" caught some cats on the red last summer, but I would like to actually target them this summer. Just another reason to spend time on the water!

smalls

[Mr Special]

smalls,
It really depends on the what kind of bait, size and how big of fish your targeting. I normally used for channels, say a large sucker minnow, I would cut them into 1"-1.5" cube chunks. But if I'm using a 3lbs sucker I would fillet it and then cut into 1.5" strips. Now I've seen others cut 3lbs suckers horizontaly into 2" wide chunks whole "Dennis". Then again he catches bigger fish.

Hope this helps

[fiskyknut]

Hey Smalls, accidentally caught a few Catfish on the Red eh? Plenty of willing catfish in there to snap up your bait thats for sure, some WHOPPERS too. Those Red river fish really like cut pieces of those Goldeyes. Suckers and Chubs are good for cutbait too. Cats will eat about anything they can fit in their mouthes, but I'll usually use a cut off of a fillet about 1x3 or so, sometimes a bit bigger, I like a strip shaped cut over a cubed piece cause it don't spin as bad in current. Live baitfish work good sometimes too, big minnows, frogs are a good bait live, though I usually poke these a few times thru the belly with my bait knife. I've caught a few big ones on small bullheads too, these may not be legal on the ND side though.

Have fun with those beast's!

fiskyknut

[Canuck]

Cutbait, my favorite for channels on the Red at Lockport.

I usually start the season off with suckers then switch to goldeyes about the 3rd wk of June then to frogs about the 2nd wk of Aug, (when they start to migrate from the swamps to the river) then finish up the season with tulibuees.

Frogs: I would recommend U try dead frogs. Why, well, a live frog can dig into the mud. What I do is keep the frogs alive until I am about to use them, then smack them in the head and poke a couple holes in the stomach to get the juices flowing. I take the hook down through the top of the head and out the bottom jaw then back up just before the legs. Our channels only like the small green leapord frogs. It doesn't matter how messed up they are. Have caught several cats on one frog.

For the other cut bait I steak them all do matter the size of the suckers. I start off with about a 1" piece of steak and if it is a rather large sucker I will cut the steak in half. Leave the guts in if U can. The air sack has lots of scent as well and should be put on the hook. I make sure I pass the hook through the backbone as that has a tendency to keep the bait on the hook better. Don't forget about the head as it has lots of scent. If the sucker is rather large I will even cut it in half and smash it as well to get the juices flowing.

One thing I find lots of guys forget about cutbait is to keep the bait as fresh as possible. If U can get it fresh that day all the better if not freeze. Also change your bait, I will not leave a stall piece of meat on the hook for more than 15 minutes.

Also watch your own scent. What I mean if U have anything on your hands like suntan lotion, bug spray, human food that has lots of scent this will pass on to your bait and can scare kitties off big time. If U don't believe me just try it.

[Dennis Steele]

Depending on what kind or size of bait I usually steak them up.Up to maybee 14 inch sucker,but I will go larger.Big suckers up to 5lbs or so its best to scale and fillet them.Then I cut the filets in half and cut them up untill I have 2"x3" chunks.Belly meat works best here.THe skin is the toughest and the meat is fatty.If the cats wnat something smaller I cut it in half or all the way down to 1"x1" pieces.I let the fish tell me what they want that day,starting with the larger pieces.
I do agree that you should keep your hands free of any bad smells...However cats must be attracted to beer and nicoteen!