Northwest Fishing Reports

I swear by using shrimp for catfish and my results speak for themselves but I have many people believe that liver or some other kind of cutbait is the best for mr wiskers. Give me your opinion on shrimp for catfish

I havent used shrimp for them here in Washington but I did back in Oklahoma and it worked pretty good.

I use night crawlers. Worms are so versatile. I tried the liver stink bait. All it did was to stink up my tackle box.

I really believe it depends on the kind of Cats you are after.

Bullheads are happy with worms, fresh cut bait, shrimp, etc., but don't seem to like stink baits or liver.

Channel Cats love live minnows, but don't use them in Washington. Still, worms work, fresh cut bait, like shad and Northern Pikeminnow, work well, and at times, liver and dead but fresh bait will work. I have never tried shrimp, but crayfish worked well for me. Stink seldom seems to work on Channels.

Blue Cats hate stink bait. I have caught more on lures then I have on stink.

Flatheads love stink, and everything else. In Kansas I use to use Limburger cheese, and that stinks like .............

OK, this is my experience, so good luck.

BLOOD CHEESE stink doe bait. The best I've ever used. Find it on line BPS or Walmart.com cheep!

Im around channel,bullheads,flatheads,and blues.
I have caught 3 out of the 4.
Blue catfish are slowly disapearing honestly.

Alright, heres what i think is honestly the best for each though (here in arizona)

Channel catfish are more of scavengers, they look on the bottom for dead fish, dead MEAT really.
Live minnows work pretty good as well, but i have caught alot more, and bigger, on dead shad.
If you are fishing for channel catfish, a good place to fish would be a dam located somewhere on your fishing spot. About 100 yards down from the dam.Ive caught channel cats on the following ; (from greatest amount caught, to least amount caught)


-Dead Shad
-Bluegill, with belly split open.
-Chicken Liver (beef liver, doesnt work at all)
-Shrimp
-Half of a water dog
-Minnows

Flathead Catfish arent so much scavengers like channels, to my expierence.
Most people think flatheads like that dirty, brown, yucky water. I think NOT.
I have caught WAAY more flatheads in clear cleaner water. Flatheads eat more so of live bait in my opinion.
I catch flatheads on live shad (2-2.5 inches) (4-5 inches) The size of the shad depend on where im fishing at.
I have caught flatheads on dead bait as well. But live bait is the way to go for flatheads. Good places to fish for these are at dams as well, buut fish right where the water is pouring out of the dam.
Ive caught more flatheads on these baits;
-Live Shad
-Live Bluegill
-Live Rockbass
-Live Minnows (largest you can get)
-Live Water Dogs
-Chicken Liver

Blue Catfish, ive never caught one, as i said above they are slowly disapearing.
I know people who have caught them, and this is what Ive learned.
Blue catfish eat more so bigger baits.
Big live water dogs, salamanders, frogs, or anything else similar to those.
Will work phenomenal ! 50-60 feet deep is what ive heard works real well.


Bullheads, just go simple, worm.

If you're targeting big channels i'd say herring, it's nice & oily and kicks out a good scent trail. For just catching some channels i like dough bait that kinda smells like sour milk & baby diapers (it's hard to find and it's a horrible stink to deal with but it really does do the trick).

In vegas Lakemead we used liver it was our go to bait also used dough bait for catfish I think it also has liver in it beef and chicken livers worked great for washington I have yet to even look up lakes that hold cat's in them. Oklahoma I used Liver and also in North Carolina Livers and Dough Baits with great sucess!

dicinu- I heard Killarney in Fed Way has the smaller brown bullhead cats but have never targeted them. I only know of worms for bait other than what I'm reading here so I'm the last person to ask as far as what to use LOL.

knotabassturd wrote:dicinu- I heard Killarney in Fed Way has the smaller brown bullhead cats but have never targeted them. I only know of worms for bait other than what I'm reading here so I'm the last person to ask as far as what to use LOL.

HMMMMM Good Info being that is in my back yard I will test it out this weekend see what I can come up with.