Cutbait species

[Mr.Seaguar]

Do channel catfish show a preference for different species? I have been catching fish with a few different kinds but it seems chubs from the bait shop work the best. Which is nice because I can fish for 2 days for $6. Would suckers work much better? Because getting them would be more time and expense so a slight increase would not justify the trouble. Here we can use blugills also and they work good but the pond where I get them is out of the way. I could easily get plenty and freeze them. Would they take freezing okay? I am new to this cutbait game. Always used stinkbait in the past. Thanks

[HuskerBen]

I've found that channel cats do, on occasion, show a preference to a particular species. When they're real hungry, you could probably catch them on anything, but sometimes it's good to have a few different kinds of bait. Chubs, suckers, mooneye, shad, bluegill, whatever you have.

I freeze a lot of cutbait, mainly because I don't always have time to catch bait or go to the bait shop. Fresh bait works best (IMO), but frozen works better than nothing. I'd be willing to bet that bluegill will freeze okay. Just don't refreeze them, as they become mushy. I like to carry a small cooler with some ice, so that my bait stays frozen until it's time to use it. Another thing I've learned is to keep your bait fresh... no more than 15-20 minutes in the water. I even change the bait every 10 minutes if it's particularly hot out.

[goblueM]

My question concerning frozen bait is will the fish show an aversion to cold bait sitting in a warm river? I'm always worried that my recently thawed cutbait is going to scare them away because it is cold

[DTro]

That cutbait will thaw very quick. I wouldn't worry about it.

Also be sure to check state regs before using anything such as Bluegill or Sunfish.