Stinkbait

[Drum Solo]

Any tips for handling this stuff while getting the minimum amount on you? I've tried several kinds of rubber gloves, the problem is that the gloves usually end up getting turned inside out and then you get the bait on you when you try to put it back on. I feel like what I need is something like those gas station hand protectors-basically a light quart-sized plastic bag with some (large) fingers to it. But I don't know where to buy those!

Short version: I had a good morning, but I STINK!

[G8rYakr]

I've never used any stink baits at all. There ain't much cheaper than chicken livers for bait, and they stink plenty. Use finger/toe size tubular gauze so you aren't losing your bait constantly and you'll never go back to pre-fab stink baits again imo. I'm assuming you're fishing for channel cats or bullheads? I mostly fish for blue cats these days and usually use chicken breast for those. Doctor it up a little with some olive oil, garlic powder and strawberry jello and I do well with it. Jello doesn't stain your hands up like coolaid does either.

[Drum Solo]

I've never used any stink baits at all. There ain't much cheaper than chicken livers for bait, and they stink plenty. Use finger/toe size tubular gauze so you aren't losing your bait constantly and you'll never go back to pre-fab stink baits again imo. I'm assuming you're fishing for channel cats or bullheads? I mostly fish for blue cats these days and usually use chicken breast for those. Doctor it up a little with some olive oil, garlic powder and strawberry jello and I do well with it. Jello doesn't stain your hands up like coolaid does either.

Yeah, channel cats. I'm fishing at a city-owned pond/small lake that's one of the ones that WRC stocks with channel cats. I think that there are blues in some of the other ponds that get overflow from the river, but I usually fish the one with the stocked channels. I have always been a saltwater angler only, but I started messing around with freshwater last year because I got really busy with work and couldn't get down to the beach like I normally do.

Honestly, I have tried hot dogs in Jello and chicken livers and not had much luck with either, whereas dough and dip baits produce consistently. I'd chalk it up to my inexperience, but chicken liver is probably the most popular bait that I see people using at this park, and it just doesn't seem to catch a lot of fish. The people who use prepared baits seem to do better, on average. I think it's because there's a feeder(since this is a stocked pond) and the pellets that are usually used in those things are about the same color as some of the flavors of dough/dip bait. Basically I try to "match the hatch" by mimicking the color and size of those pellets. That seems to work better than anything, even cut bait, on this pond. I've even noticed that different dough baits produce differently based on color. The best ones, in my experience, have been the ones closest to brown/dark brown in color. The lighter colored ones like shrimp and shad flavor just don't seem to do as well, and I think it's because they look less like the pellets. Although I did do really well on shrimp flavor last week after I ran out of the chicken liver/blood flavor.

Dough bait also has the advantage that it doesn't need to be refrigerated, so I can keep it out in the garage. The freezer on my refrigerator is pretty small, need to get a deep freeze in the garage.

[Fishin Technician]

Get some shrimp and let sit outside a while- it will stink a plenty and catch channel cats- all you want. I just rinse my hands in the lake, creek, whatever and then have some hand soap and towel for when I am done

[Drum Solo]

I keep meaning to try shrimp and haven't yet, just don't go to the grocery store as much as I used to because of COVID. I do have a bunch of Gulp shrimp that aren't getting used right now, I was thinking about trying those out. Although honestly, part of what I've found I enjoy about freshwater fishing is not having to handle shrimp. I have a fairly strong allergy to shrimp-not the keel over and die kind, but it's easy for me to get a headache that ruins the rest of day. I usually have at least a mild headache when I use shrimp as bait, even if I'm really careful and use gloves/etc. I try to stick to Fishbites and cut bait because of that. There's actually a freshwater Fishbites aimed at catfish anglers but I can't find it where I live and I don't like to buy Fishbites sight unseen because they can go bad.

[Yakkin]

My advice with stink bait don’t use stink bait

Worms, Minnows, shrimp are all 100x better baits than stinkbait for cats

[Drum Solo]

Went fishing yesterday for about 6 hours. Used shrimp, jello chicken, and stinkbait. Had one hit all day on the chicken, nothing on the shrimp, and almost constant action on the stinkbait. A lot of the time when I'd reel in to check my bait on the shrimp/chicken rods, I'd miss a fish on the stinkbait rod.

[WSanford]

I always wind up touching my face no matter what I'm doing. Usually a bug or something landing on my nose. So you can only guess why I stopped using stink baits.