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Unbelievable (but True) Bait Secrets

Finding the best fishing lures and bait is an art. 

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Fish and Cut Bait with These Strange Lures

Gita M. Smith
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For eons, we humans have raided our gardens, pantries, and tackle boxes in quest of foolproof fish bait. Read on to hear some truly unbelievable bait stories from the Deep South…

The Man Who Put His Heart Into Fishing

Find them a stack of Bibles, and some Alabama fishermen will swear that Toad Smith once used a piece of his own heart to catch a blue catfish. 鈥淲hen he had heart bypass surgery, Ol鈥 Toad asked the doctor to save a piece of heart that had been removed, 鈥 recalls John Phillips of Fairfield, Alabama, author of Masters鈥 Secrets of Catfishing. 鈥淲ell, Toad put it into a jar with some Berkley’s Strike, a real strong-smellin鈥 catfish lure. As soon as he was well enough, he baited up a couple of hooks with pieces of his heart, and before you know it, snap, a blue cat takes the bait. Toad bragged for years he was the only man in America to catch a fish with his own heart.鈥

Fish Tales from the Road

Have you ever run out of your usual fare while the fish were still biting? Take a hint from Danny Fields of Oak Grove, Alabama. Dejected but not defeated, he scooped up a dead 鈥榩ossum from the side of the road near his cabin, cut the freshly killed marsupial into bite-size chunks, and baited his lines. 鈥淒on’t you just know the 鈥榩ossum meat caught more and bigger catfish than any of his regular baits?鈥 Phillips says.

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Like Fields, highly-rated fishing guide Lomax Dunham found himself without bait one day on Alabama’s Lake Martin. 鈥淲e ran out of minnows and crickets, but I had a bag of marshmallows on the boat,鈥 Dunham recalls. 鈥淲e baited our lines with marshmallows and caught lots of fish.鈥 Dunham has been known to catch boatloads of catfish on unusual baits.

The Cleanest Way to Fish

Dunham is also a believer in Ivory Soap as bait. He says he  鈥渃ut it up in small cubes and left it in the water on our weighted lines overnight.鈥 But Mike Bolton, outdoors editor of The Birmingham News, says that Ivory Soap pales in comparison to Palmolive Gold when it comes to catching fish. Bolton went fishing with Jimmy Bedwell, a barber from Livingston, Alabama, who melts down whole cases of the fragrant golden soap in black, cast-iron pots in his backyard. 鈥淵ou have to get the soap soft enough to sink your hooks into it. Put out your lines, and when you come back the next day, they’ll be full of catfish,鈥 promises Bolton.

You must remember that there’s plenty of salt in the sea to take with the tales your fellow fishermen tell. 
鈥揓ohn Hersey, American author (1914鈥93)

What is your most unusual bait or fishing technique? Tell us below.

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About The Author

Gita M. Smith

Gita M. Smith is a writer, first and foremost. She writes short fiction and has won several awards. Read More from Gita M. Smith
 

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Larry Mcginnis (not verified)

14 years 1 month ago

A great and readily available bait for Catfish and or Sunfish and Bluegill. BACON!! Yes, a strip of bacon attached to your catfish hook will be as good a cut bait as you can get for Channel Catfish. Small pieces of the white bacon rind cut into small 3/4 inch strips on your bluegill hook work really well and many time you'll catch two or three fish before you need to re-bait. Fresh bacon works as well as stale or slightly rancid bacon.

Bob Sigman (not verified)

14 years 3 months ago

I use Tomato hornworms they are so tough skined that the fish have a hard time getting them off the hook...I have caught as many as 30 to 50 blue gills on one worm

Fabian Franklin (not verified)

14 years 3 months ago

I like to use red wasp larvae just before the wasps are ready to hatch. The problem is, the nest is covered in adult wasps at this time. So you need to knock the nest down quickly and leave the area quickly. Return when the bees have settled and get your nest full of larvae. Great smallmouth bass bait.

I like natural bait when available, crickets, night clrawlers, minnows =, mussels, grubs, grass shrimp, chiken parts, beef melt, brem heads or parts and even cut bait like carp or gaspar goo, the largest catfish I caught on a rod and reel was almost 70lbs using bream parts. Now go get um and if u can tell an old girl some tips on artificial bait...I might try something different, but chicken liver and such is so much cheaper on the pocket book for and old country girl.. Good luck and good fishing

Mary McKenzie (not verified)

14 years 8 months ago

I am a fisher woman! My father in law always depended upon the "farmers almanac" for the right day to fish. I have cat fish ponds and every time I try to fish, they are not biting. So I decided to check out the almanac. I hope it works out for me like it did for him!

SSanbeck (not verified)

11 years 3 months ago

I'd be interested in know if this worked for you Mary. While notable dates of fish activity could be useful there are so many factors that come into play when fishing. The effects that air temperature, water temperature, wind speed/directions and sun exposure can have on fish activity might make the almanac not as effective for this as you might think.

However, I could be completely wrong and sound like a goof right now! In any case if the you need help catching fish you might want to check out some of the fishing tips I've gathered and archived on the web.

Has anyone else found that using specific dates via the almanac for fishing to be useful?

yes the old farmers almanac is accurate about 76% of the time. Learned from my father his mother( my grandmother)

Yes! First year I used it and this is the best season I've had yet! 96% today y'all. Heading out soon myself, happy fishing!!!