Catfish Jugging Bait

Don't fish for them. Get a cast net and catch them that way. I personally use shad. A 6' cast net and about 10 minutes work on a school of shad and I have bait for weeks. Also, a dip net, a ditch and some crawfish work well.

If you must buy, anything that stinks works well. Liver is one of the best, but doesn't stay on the hook very well. Beef melt works much better. Basically any cheap stinky meat you can find.

FWIW, I've caught them on chicken necks many times.

Purchase a throw net and you will load the cooler with cut bait quickly.

Or just use Soap

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shiners

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bingo

Find a small road side ditch that holds water and the water is a bit muddy and dip some small crawfish.

Cheap hotdogs work too.

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Every time I throw a cast net it gets stuck on the bottom.

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You've got to find a better place to throw your net...

Good idea, never tried it, but will soon.

Throw some small pieces of bread in the water, when the little fish come in throw the net, it shouldn't have to sink very far.

Now, this is something I know A LOT about being that's about the only way we ever fished for catfish. The short answer is it depends on where you're fishing and for what type of catfish you're trying to catch. If you're limiting yourself to ONLY what you will find in say, Wal-Mart don't waste time with any of the "ready made" bait like doughbait (especially) on jugs or "shiners in a bag" etc. We have used almost every one of them with varying degrees of luck, ALL mainly on the bad luck side. The frozen fish, like mackeral or cigar minnows, cut up would probably work better than anything in a bag, but even these don't compare to fresh cutbait when available. Your best bet, and what we've had the best luck with from what you can get in a store, would probably be good ole fashion nightcrawlers. Some of the best bait we've used in general is live crawfish, fresh shrimp, and live minnows/bream.

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A cheap fix for bait that falls off easily is to put it in a piece of panty hose, tie off the hose above and below the bait, and cut. It will stay on the hook for a LOOONG time.

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Man if I gotta go through all that trouble I ain't fishing.

Lots of good suggestions offered. I've fish jug lines quite a few times. Found Shiners (or even goldfish- as long as they're not gold), cut mullet is by far the one I've caught the most with. Cut off the belly then slice some steaks and put them on a hook.