Secret Recipes for Stanky Homemade Catfish Bait

Catfish are truly exceptional gamefish. They grow to impressive sizes, fight hard, and taste incredible, all while being some of the most accessible species to target. Whether you’re pulling a hefty flathead out of a timber snag on the upper Mississippi, three-way rigging for monster blues in TVA tailwaters, or watching channel cats dunk your float in a quiet Carolina farm pond, catfish offer an angling experience that’s hard to top. What sets catfish anglers apart is their arsenal of tricks when it comes to catfish bait options, and, of course, their secret recipes.

While it’s hard to deny that cut bait and live forage reign supreme for landing trophy cats, there’s an almost endless list of creative bait options that can turn an average outing into a fish-fry-worthy success. Natural choices like crayfish and nightcrawlers are reliable, but there’s a long-standing tradition of using unconventional baits that catfish would never encounter in the wild. Why? For cats, bait smelling like food is more important than how it looks.

Catfish are highly underrated predators, but their one downfall is poor eyesight. To compensate, they’re equipped with ultra-sensitive barbels that help them navigate and identify food. Nostril-like nares positioned on top of their head serve as high-powered scent detectors, making their sense of smell the best among freshwater fish. The common denominator for all effective catfish baits is their potent scent, which helps catfish locate it, even in murky water.

With that in mind, I’ve put together a list of the best — and stinkiest — homemade catfish baits to help make your next catfish outing full of nonstop action. 

Hot Dogs 

Yup, you can catch cats with dogs; your favorite ballpark staple serves as a downright deadly catfish bait. While the majority of my success with hot dogs has involved bullheads and channel cats, I do know of plenty of folks who have managed to catch large blue catfish and even flatheads with them. 

The high levels of salt, fatty meat, and seasoning form a scent slick of sorts that gets to work fast and calls catfish in from long distances. In my experience, natural-casing hot dogs tend to stay on the hook better and also hold the scent longer than artificial casings or skinless versions. This isn’t the time to splurge at the butcher shop — stick with the cheapest hot dogs you can find. Lower-quality cuts and organ meats often have a stronger scent, which is more appealing to catfish — and guess why the cheap dogs are cheap.

How to Rig and Fish Hot Dogs

When rigging a hot dog, I cut it into sections about a half-inch thick, providing plenty of material to securely hook it. I typically use a circle or octopus hook, as treble hooks often get swallowed too deeply by catfish, making unhooking and releasing them more challenging. I also prefer fishing hot dogs on the bottom rather than using a float rig or a three-way rig that suspends the bait. 

Chicken Livers 

Throughout my catfishing career I’ve yet to find a bait as effective as a chunk of chicken liver. While they’re dirt cheap in most grocery store meat sections, I recommend stopping by a local livestock farmer on slaughter day. You can often score a bucket of fresh livers for free. Don’t overlook pig, cow, or sheep livers either; they’re just as effective, and far more durable. 

Similar to hot dogs, chicken livers have an extremely pungent, somewhat metallic odor that is impossible to replicate. Furthermore, most chicken livers come in a bath of blood and fat, which creates a scent cocktail that allows catfish to locate the bait quickly. 

How to Rig and Fish Chicken Livers

When I first started using chicken livers as catfish bait, I quickly became frustrated by how difficult they were to keep on the hook. No matter the hook style or the size of the liver pieces I tried, they always seemed to tear off. 

While many folks have luck wrapping livers in bait mesh or reinforcing them with elastic string, I do not like the idea of any unnecessary trash ending up in the water. Instead, I started hooking the livers as few times as possible with ultra-light octopus hooks between sizes #8 and #2. I also started to use soft, lob-like casts. Since then, I have been able to fish livers far more effectively. 

I’ve found the best method is to use zero added weight and simply let the bulk of the liver get the bait to the bottom or down in the water column if being fished under a float. 

Tip: For both bread balls and cheesebait – wearing gloves will help keep your hands clean

Bread Balls Baits

Bread balls are a stellar bait for catfish thanks to their ability to gradually break apart in the water. As they dissolve, they release a trail of scent and food particles, effectively drawing fish to your spot and keeping them in the zone for a long time. 

While bread alone carries some scent from its sugars and yeast, there’s always room to improve. Anglers often mix in additional ingredients to enhance its appeal, with favorites additives including anise oil, Kool-Aid powder, fish oil, or peanut butter. Essentially, anything with a strong smell will work, but everyone has a favorite recipe.

To concoct my go-to bread ball blend, start by cutting a few slices of budget bread into small squares. Cheap bread works best because it creates a stickier mix. Next, add a few scoops of peanut butter, a generous sprinkle of red Kool-Aid powder for added smell, and just enough water to make it pliable. Then, hand-mix everything until the ingredients are well combined and the Kool-Aid has fully colored the mix. I prefer to keep this mixture in a Ziplock bag and keep it in the fridge until it is time to fish. 

How to Rig and Fish Bread Ball Baits

For bread ball fishing, I recommend using small treble hooks between #10 and #6. They provide more surface area for the bait to cling to compared to single-shanked hooks. However, keep in mind that treble hooks can make releasing catfish safely much more difficult. Please keep this in mind if you are not planning on keeping fish.  

To rig the bait, place the hook into a plastic bag and pack the bread ball mixture tightly around it until the hook is completely covered. I prefer using an ample amount of bait to ensure plenty breaks off when the ball hits the water which gets the scent trail started. 

In my experience, bread balls are less effective in rivers or creeks since the current washes the bait off quickly. They work best when fished on the bottom, as suspending them often leads to the mixture pulling off the hook due to its weight.

Cheese Baits

Similar to bread balls, cheese baits use cheese as the base ingredient, giving anglers the flexibility to mix in all sorts of stinky additives to amp up their catfish game.

One memorable day at my favorite catfish lake, I met an older gentleman who was filling a cooler with perfect eater-sized channel cats faster than I could get a single bite. Frustrated, I asked about his bait and he handed me a container of what I can only describe as radioactive orange sludge that smelled worse than a bucket of dead shiners.

After some reverse engineering and trial runs, I landed on my favorite cheese bait recipe, which keeps it simple with just two ingredients. First, grab any soft, commercially prepared cheese product, think high school lunchroom-grade quality. Then, add a can of sardines packed in soybean or olive oil. Mash the sardines into a paste and mix them thoroughly with the cheese until you have a smooth mixture.

Beware: make only enough for a single trip. This is not something you want hanging around the fridge. 

How to Rig and Fish Cheese Baits

Similar to bread balls, when rigging cheesebait, it is important to make a mixture sticky enough to stay on the hook. If achieved, you will be able to pack the mixture around any style hook with ease. 

I prefer using float rigs with cheese bait as keeping the bait off the bottom helps it stay fresh longer. Over time, you will start to lose the bulk of your bait so constantly re-baiting is suggested. 

Soap

Yes, you read that right, a chunk of soap makes surprisingly effective catfish bait, and for good reason. Many popular soap brands contain strong-smelling ingredients like lye and tallow (rendered animal fat). When soap gets wet, it releases an oily residue, which is excellent for attracting catfish, especially when fished in moving water where the scent can disperse downstream.

Most brands will work, although I have seen the best success with Pink Zote Soap due to its high tallow content. 

How to Rig and Fish Soap Baits

One drawback to using soap as bait is its tendency to break and fall off the hook. To prevent this, I like to quickly dunk the soap chunk into the water and let it soften for just a second. This slight bit of cushion allows the hook to slide through. 

While you might be tempted to use a treble hook, I have found the three prongs to only increase the odds of the soap breaking off the hook. Instead, I would urge anglers to use small octopus hooks as they are slight enough to keep the bait in tact.  

Lastly, make sure you bring plenty of soap with you. In strong currents, soap will dissolve quickly, often lasting only about 20 minutes before needing a fresh piece.

Spoiled Shrimp 

Spoiled or slightly rotten shrimp makes an excellent catfish bait. Its strong scent of decomposition is highly appealing to catfish, and its texture closely resembles that of decaying fish, a common food source for catfish everywhere. 

I am lucky and have cultivated a close friendship with the local fishmonger and fortunately get an endless supply of shrimp that is past its prime. If you have not spent enough cash on tilefish fillets to be treated like a rockstar at the seafood market, no need to worry. Most grocery stores carry frozen farm-raised shrimp that are affordable. 

How to Rig and Fish Spoiled Shrimp Baits

Once you have purchased your shrimp, let them completely defrost, from here, you are good to go. For those looking to take things a bit further, letting the shrimp sit out in the hot sun for an afternoon will toughen them up and also, make the shrimp a bit more stinky. 

From here, I have not found a way to rig a shrimp that does not work. While circle hooks are great, I thoroughly enjoy the feeling of swinging on a big cat and use octopus hooks most of the time when I plan on keeping fish. The one key I have found is to always fish shrimp on the bottom as that is where catfish most often encounter decomposing matter. 

You Don’t Know Until You Try

A good catfish angler is always curious, constantly experimenting with bait choices. Whether you’re using pantry staples like hot dogs and bread balls, time-tested favorites like chicken livers and spoiled shrimp, or unconventional picks like soap and cheese bait, the key lies in potent scent. Next time you are on the water, don’t be afraid to try something new!