06-01-2005, 12:38 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Hey Dawg, now you are bringin' back memories. I have also fished a lot of the slow moving and mucky waters of the midwest and southern states. I have fished with "catmen" who had inherited family recipes for catfish bait from several generations of catmen before them. When you got downwind of one of those guys, you wondered how the bloodlines ever got passed on, since most self-respecting females wouldn't get near them. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In those murky waters, the cats are not as visually oriented in their feeding habits as are the cats in many of our cleaner western impoundments. They rely more on their olfactory senses to help them find their groceries. And, they tend to ingest anything...animal, vegetable, mineral or anything in between.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fishin' is fishin' and fishin' is always fun, but somehow I just did not enjoy wearing a diving mask while annointing a gob of foam rubber with a stinky concoction that would qualify as hazardous waste in most states. Yeah, the fish fought hard and all that, but I also had a tough time taking any home for the pan. Couldn't get around the idea that if those fish ate what I was offering as bait, their flesh might be a bit suspect in terms of quality.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are plenty of clean water impoundments in the east and southern states where you can catch lots of big cats on more natural baits...like worms, minnows and such. But even those more sophisticated fish still accept "garbage baits". It's the nature of the beast.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I still think one of the wierdest baits that I have seen work consistently is Ivory soap. It is a natural product, made from fat and lye, etc. and catfish somehow have a fondness for it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In those murky waters, the cats are not as visually oriented in their feeding habits as are the cats in many of our cleaner western impoundments. They rely more on their olfactory senses to help them find their groceries. And, they tend to ingest anything...animal, vegetable, mineral or anything in between.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Fishin' is fishin' and fishin' is always fun, but somehow I just did not enjoy wearing a diving mask while annointing a gob of foam rubber with a stinky concoction that would qualify as hazardous waste in most states. Yeah, the fish fought hard and all that, but I also had a tough time taking any home for the pan. Couldn't get around the idea that if those fish ate what I was offering as bait, their flesh might be a bit suspect in terms of quality.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There are plenty of clean water impoundments in the east and southern states where you can catch lots of big cats on more natural baits...like worms, minnows and such. But even those more sophisticated fish still accept "garbage baits". It's the nature of the beast.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I still think one of the wierdest baits that I have seen work consistently is Ivory soap. It is a natural product, made from fat and lye, etc. and catfish somehow have a fondness for it.[/#0000ff]
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