dips, doughs, chum and blood

The search to develop a universally popular catfish bait is the Holy Grail for bait manufacturers. Hootman, Mihalakis, and Frances Krull do regular and exhaustive “research” to test and develop new bait for their respective companies.

Krull is the receptionist, secretary, and overall Girl Friday at Doc’s Catfish Bait Company. “Some mornings, she’s late for work because she’s been down at the river fishing,” says her boss, Hosch. “She takes a lot of long lunch hours, and it’s nothing for her to walk into the office carrying a stringer of 3- to 5-pound channel cats. I’d name her chief of my Research and Development Department, if I had an R&D department.”

Berkley’s Prochnow notes that there are chemicals that could revolutionize commercial catfish baits. “Our research has uncovered a number of compounds that are attractive to catfish,” he says. “One, in particular, would make a revolutionary catfish bait, but the product is so expensive that no catfisherman would pay the price we’d have to put on it.”

Eagle Claw’s Lisa Villani says her company also has discovered a powerful but pricey chemical that they’d like to add to their Nitro prepared catfish baits. “Experimental batches of bait we formulated using that product outfished our current Nitro baits, and were three times better than any of our competitor’s baits in side-by-side, in-the-field testing,” she says. “But that secret ingredient is currently just too expensive to incorporate in our baits.”

So we’re back to secret ingredients, the core of any prepared catfish bait. When it comes down to the exact formulas manufacturers use to make their specific baits irresistible, they offer few clues. Catfish Charlie’s Buddy Holub, under pressure, finally conceded to helping curious anglers and competitors deduce his secret formula: “Taste it and tell me what you think is in it, and I’ll tell you if you’re right.”

THE DIPWORM DILEMMA

What’s the best size, style, and color of dipworm to use with dipbait? According to manufacturers of dipbait and veteran anglers who use it, the answer is: Never more than 1 inch in length, but never less than 4. The ribs on a dipworm should always be deep, except when they’re shallow. The color of a dipworm makes absolutely no difference, unless it makes a difference.

Confused? Don’t feel bad. Finding the best delivery system for the latest generation of dipbaits depends on a variety of factors and angler preferences. Here are some of the variables to consider.

Ribbed versus Surgical Tubing versus Sponge

“A dipbait worm needs to match the viscosity of the dipbait you’re using,” says Berkley’s John Prochnow. “If you have a thin, runny dipbait that dissolves easily in water, you need either a sponge worm or a tube worm. If the dipbait is thicker and stickier, you need a ribbed worm that sheds the bait easily.”