Cut bait/dead bait

[OldTimer]

Frozen uncooked smelt or herring will occassionally work. But check the regs on use of any sort of smelt in your planned waterbody.

In fresh water:

Good sized dead suckers, chubs or minnows are good for big pike. Fresh is best, with frozen then thawed being a close second.

In my experience for catfish - fresh just killed cut sucker is best.............. whole frozen sucker thawed then cut as you go is second best................ frozen pre cut chunks of sucker is third best. It's all about freshness and scent.

Large miinows follow this in the same roll down. Again - one should follow the regs on species selection.

I think the larger catfish find suckers more appealing than other minnows - since suckers do congreagate and spawn at the same time and location as the big cats - therefore it is a learned prefence or pased on species instinct.

In the salt is an entirely different story................... I'll save that for another thread................. or perhaps an article next winter...............