dips, doughs, chum and blood

The Apex Jig-A-Cat Dipping Jig is a single-hook jig method for catching big blue and channel catfish with stinkbaits. Apex also offers the Dip Worm. Cat Tracker merchandises four styles of dipworms in a variety of colors: The Stick Worm is for lakes and average current flows in streams, Egg Worm is for heavy currents, Tubie Worm is for extra strong currents around locks and dams, and Tubie 2000 can be purchased with either a single or treble hook. Doc’s Catfish Bait Company sells the Super Catfish Worm in seven different colors and the Super Sponge Rig. Uncle Josh manufactures the Little Stinker Catalpa Tube Worm, the Mr. Catfish Dip Bait Worm Rig, and the Little Stinker Teardrop. They also offer the Mr. Catfish Honey Comb Worm Rig. Rusty’s Bait Company has three devices for dipbaits: Dipper Doodle Sponge Rig, Stink Hole Rig, and Sponge Hook Rig.

The Evolution of Stinkbaits

Doughbaits—concoctions that are kneaded into balls and pressed onto treble hooks—are the grandfathers of all prepared catfish baits. The first commercial doughs appeared in the 1920s. Dipbaits and punchbaits are the second generation of prepared catfish baits, more liquid to get flavor into the water faster. Dipbaits require the use of dipworms, foam hook covers, or other devices to absorb or hold this juicier bait on a hook.

Punchbaits are a southern alternative to dipbaits, an answer to the bait-liquefying temperatures common to a hot summer day in the South. Punchbaits contain ingredients that stiffen their consistency, making them less prone to puddling at high temperatures. Anglers use a stick to punch a bare treble hook into a tub of punchbait. When the hook is pulled from the tub, the glob of bait clinging to the hook is stiff enough to cast into the water, where it slowly dissolves to disperse scent and flavor.

Dip- and punchbaits have dominated the commercial catfish bait market in recent years. “The big challenge with dipbaits is keeping enough on the hook to satisfy the angler,” says Mark Mihalakis, Cat Tracker manager. “If they reel in their line and there’s no dipbait left on the rubber dipworm, they think it’s not working. But the bait was washed off when they pulled the worm through the water reeling it in. All the bait manufacturers are now trying to make the stickiest baits they can, so they stay on the hook but are still liquid enough to milk off and put lots of flavor in the water to attract fish.”

Doughbaits and preformed dough balls are popular with anglers who prefer not to deal with applying and maintaining dipbaits. Magic Bait’s number one seller is chicken-liver-flavored dough cubes. Catfish Charlie’s Blood Dough Bait is their top seller, too.

Berkley’s Gulp! bait technology incorporates meticulously researched attractants incorporated into water-soluble, biodegradable softbaits. “We’ve done extensive research with catfish in tanks as well as with wild catfish, and identified flavors and chemicals they respond to,” says John Prochnow, product innovation manager for Berkley. “We’ve created baits that not only have the attraction of chicken liver, shad, or other natural baits, but they’ve also got those extra fish attractants we’ve identified, in a formulation that disperses in the water better than real liver or shad. The result is baits that outfish liver or shad in many side-by-side field comparisons.”

Regional Favorites

There is no one-flavor-fits-all to catfish bait. Manufacturers are well aware of regional preferences. “In the Santee-Cooper area, we can’t get them to use anything except our Sewer Bait,” said Cat Tracker’s Mihalakis. “Here in the Midwest, it’s Wicked Sticky. Down in the Tennessee Valley Authority lakes region, they want shad-flavored bait.”

Magic Bait’s Hampton notes that anglers in Texas and Oklahoma prefer blood-flavored prepared baits, while California catmen opt for clam-formula Magic Bait. Hosch, with Doc’s, agrees that blood-based baits sell well down South, but says his cheese-flavored baits sell better in the Upper Midwest.