bait

[CATFIST]

i have a few ? what type of fish can i use as bait at ut lake can you use bluegill or sunfish if they are dead ?
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]No bluegill, sunfish, or crappies for bait.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Legal to use perch, white bass, chubs, shiners, carp meat. You can also use "preserved" baits in bottles or packages but they seldom work well. You can also use salt water fish products...like shrimp, squid, anchovies, mackerel, etc.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]No suckers. With the June sucker recovery program in place you are not allowed to keep or possess any kind of suckers on Utah Lake.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[CATFIST]

are anchovies and mackerel good catfish bait
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]They can be very good bait. But seldom better than fresh natural bait common to the lake...like white bass, carp, perch or minnows.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]By the way, pieces of hot dogs work well too. And of course the everlovin' nightcrawlers. But you will usually catch more cats and fewer bullheads and white bass if you use the "meaty" baits.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[12inchlunker]

[fishon]
Everything TubeDude has told you works for me. I have had good success on shrimp and carp meat.
[signature]

[CATFIST]

thanks guys
[signature]

[fish_fear_me2]

I think white bass meat is hard to beat for bait. I am havent used carp meat much but I hear from a reliable source and resident UL expert its good too. White bass are also usually pretty easy to come by.
[signature]

[Springbuck]

In a hurry, I have bought preserved baits at the store, but I haven't had good luck with them.

I'd stop at the Great China market on 90th south just east of I-15. They have things like whole shrimp, frozen anchovies, and baby squid/cuttlefish, and it's cheaper than a bait shop.
[signature]

[Wasatch801]

I've caught plenty of cats in m time... but never used shrimp/prawns until last week. I caught a nice cat on it. Doesn't smell too damn bad either (for cat bait)! Look for the stuff that goes on special just before it's no longer salable (i.e. manager special), and it's not really any more expensive than buying minnows.
[signature]

[ruppy22000]

So does anyone use beef or chicken liver? Back in PA going catfishing meant stopping at the grocery store and picking up a tub of chicken or beef liver. It was that and nightcrawlers, we never used cut bait or the store bought "catfish bait". Just curious.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Some "transplants" to Utah still use chicken livers. I prefer to coat them and fry them...and then eat them while catching fish on carp, white bass or minnows.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Seriously, chicken innards seem to have a universal appeal to kitties almost everywhere. But livers are soft and hard to keep on the hook without wrapping with something. A strip of fresh natural fish meat from Utah Lake is both more effective (usually) and stays on the hook better.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[Wasatch801]

I caught my largest cat (~12 lbs.) from Clear Lake, CA on fresh chicken livers. I agree that they are tough to keep on the hook, but nothing a little thread or elastic and easy casting cannot fix. I'd only use this bait of course if I'm still fishing. The cut baits and shrimp are tough enough to drag around behind the tube or drifting boat.

Are crawdads ( dead of course) a legal bait only if caught in the same water where fishing occurs? Or since they are dead, can they then be used elsewhere as bait?
[signature]

[CATFIST]

i use cubs and had good luck and shrimp but i did livers once and spent a hour wrapping them and used them for a week and not one bite but at the same time you never know what they want biggest one i have caught out of utah lake was 13 lbs on shrimp and worm so it all depends
[signature]

[TubeDude]

"Are crawdads ( dead of course) a legal bait only if caught in the same water where fishing occurs? Or since they are dead, can they then be used elsewhere as bait?"

[cool][#0000ff]They can be used as live bait if used in the same waters from which you caught them. Strong laws against transporting them live so don't try it. Bad ecology too...even if there are already 'dads in the waters you will be fishing. But, there are no Utah waters I know of that restrict the use of DEAD crawdads...as long as any bait is allowed.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]The good news is that dead (or ripe) crawdads are great bait for cats almost anywhere. There are crawdads in Utah Lake, so they are a natural food when available. But the resident predators keep the populations pretty low.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]Howsomever, I sometimes do very well by dragging a piece of carp meat around until it is a bit "washed out" and then anointing it with a few drops of crawdad oil. There have been many times when I get my first bite in a long time within seconds after lobbing out the "sweetened" carp meat.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I also talked a couple of guys into using carp meat with crawdad oil at the Gorge last winter and they reported good success on the burbots too. [/#0000ff]
[signature]

[ifishutah]

I know of some good ole boys that used to throw chicken livers exclusively down and Gunlock before it was drained, never heard of too many people throwing them at UT lake.

Side note: There were some beast channels in Gunlock, 20+lbers. For some reason they didn't spawn well, but that's a different story altogether.
[signature]

[Wasatch801]

Pat, I remember as a kid fishing Clear Lake that some of the fellas chasing big cats used craw tails for bait. They didn't see much nibbling on their lines. But when they got a hit finally, it was always from a good sized kitty! Me thinks a sizable live clicker under a float set just above the bottom (to keep it from burrowing) would make an excellent big cat bait. Maybe put a little cut in his tail too for added flava! It sure would keep off the bullheads and whities too. And who knows, a big ol' bass or wallie might just decide to come for supper too!
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Ahhhhh. Clear Lake. I do miss that big pond. I always did well by stringing about a half dozen silverside minnows on one hook and then dragging it around.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I fished crawdads a lot in California. They were everywhere and easy to catch...and every species loved them. I caught cats, stripers, largies and smallies and sturgeon on them. I lived right on the American River in Sacramento so I could go diving in the holes and hunt up the softshell 'dads. Those were always money.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I have no doubt they would work well in Utah Lake, either dragging or under a bobber. But don't get your hopes up about keeping off the bullheads if you fish just the tails. Even fishing a big whole crawdad is an invitation to the mudders. They have super strong jaws and make short work of a hard shell on a crawdad. Oh yeah, carp eat them too.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I have tried trapping crawdads at a couple of places on Utah Lake and have never been successful. I know they are in there and have found "remnants" both in cats and in walleyes. I would hope that with the increased amount of shoreline greenery and flooded rocky structure that the crawdads have an increase in population.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[ruppy22000]

Well I must say I am glad to see that chicken liver is a popular choice away from PA as well. It was always a pain to keep on the hook but that was the difference between beef and chicken liver for us. Chicken liver was ALWAYS more productive than beef liver (we'd fish them simultaneously) but the beef liver STAYED ON THE HOOK. Also, and this is probably just coincidence, but I remember more channel cats being caught on the beef and more flatheads on chicken. A normal throw for us would be one rod with liver and another with good-ole-fashioned night crawlers. The combo made for some productive summer nights on the old Allegheny River.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I can pretty well guarantee you that NOBODY has EVER caught a flathead in Utah on chicken liver...or anything else. Lots of flatheaded fishermen in this state but no flathead cats.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Just goes to show you that conditions are vastly different around the country. Well, at least half vast. I have fished virtually all species of catfish in almost every state that has them. I never sneeze to be demazed at the ungodly things that people use to fish for them...and that they actually catch fish on. But I can't help believing that if the folks that stay awake nights dreaming up those rank concoctions would just use natural baits they would probably catch more and bigger fish.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[signature]

[ruppy22000]

Haha some of those prepared baits should actually be called preposterous baits because I've honestly never caught anything on them. I almost completely forgot that back home we also had freshwater muscles. We would catch 'em, crack 'em and throw 'em on a hook. Catfish loved them but so did the turtles. Maybe if I get back into fishing exclusively for cats (there are some big bullheads around right?) then I'll use some cut baits. Thanks for all the info TD.
[signature]