Bacon grease / Crisco Carp & Catfish recipe

Here’s another one that I’ve been toying with lately. It’s a pretty messy process to make, so I suggest investing in a pan from the dollar store or second hand shop. Also, if you can do this outside, do it. It can get smelly.  There’s a couple different ways to use and rig this – if you have dip bait tube rigs it will work great. Hair rigging requires an extra step.

here’s what you need.

1/2 can of cooking grease (bacon grease, etc. anything that comes off the griddle, and DON’T filter it.) Crisco (butter flavored) works well too. If you can find lard at the grocery store, that’s even better than crisco.

10 tablespoons +/- of garlic salt

2 tablespoons minced garlic

* ice cube trays for making water bottle icecubes (you can get them at the dollar store, and they look like half round tubes)

* very porous sponges (the cheap ones from the dollar store work great) or even cheap scotch brite type scrubbing pads. Cotton balls work as well.

The cooking is pretty simple. Warm up the grease slowly….and carefully.  You are warming up a lot of grease, and it’s flammable!

once the grease is a liquid, throw in the minced garlic and mix well. Then, add the powdered garlic. There’s no exact science to adding the powder, and the grease will start to get thick with all the “mix ins”

Here’s where the steps back differ based on your hook types.

1 – if you are using it with dip tubes or fuzzy hooks (or want to use it like dough-bait) pour the warm grease into the ice cube trays.  A little spray grease helps release once the grease solidifies also. Put the trays right in the freezer and let the mixture solidify, then take them out, cut them into the chunk sizes you want.

2 – if you want to make “bait balls” that can go right on the hook, or can be hair rigged, this is where the sponge comes in.  Cut the sponge into chunks just a bit smaller than what you want the bait size to be.  While the mix is still in the pot, dip the sponge balls (or cotton balls, etc) into the mixture and let them soak up as much goo as they can hold.  pull them out, and place them on saran wrap, or an old icecube tray again, to solidify. The cotton or sponge helps hold the grease in a ball and gives the hook something to bite on.

Grease and water don’t mix well, so it takes a long time for the grease to dissolve in the water, making the bait last longer! I suggest playing around with different mix in recipes as well. powders work best, but you can add blood and other liquid agents as well.  Just don’t add too much or the grease will re-solidify without capturing it.

happy fishing!

Trying another bait….

Well, the last recipe didn’t exactly work. We were fishing faster water than normal, and the bait seemed to be disappearing from the hair rigs pretty quickly.  We switched over to a powerbait liver and started getting strikes.  I might need to adjust the hair rigs a little bit too though and try different keepers. I’ve been using the plastic bar-bell type keepers from fishing store, but I think they are pulling through on the hair-rig. I might try a piece of yarn and see if that works a little better.

Tonight we are heading out again and going to try the ol’ garlic hotdog method.  This one’s a pretty simple and tried and true catfish bait…

2 cans of vienna sausage coctail weiners (or plain old hotdogs cut up into cubes)

about 5 tablespoons of garlic salt

2 tablespoons of minced garlic

* tablespoon of Anise is optional

Basically…take the hot dogs and put them in a mason jar, add 1/2 the powdered garlic salt and the minced garlic and shake for 2 minutes.  Then add the rest of the powder and garlic, and let it sit overnight in the fridge.

You can hair-rig these, thread them on the hook, or thread them on the leader, and they should stay on.

Another boilie recipe

I made a new batch of boilies this afternoon – haven’t had a chance to try them out, but the basic boilie recipe is

1/3 cup semolina

1/3 cup sucrose

1/3 cup rice cereal (in the baby food isle)

1/3 cup milled oats (also in the baby food isle)

tablespoon or so of kosher salt

about 1/4 cup of old Feta cheese that was in the fridge

1 packet of cherry kool-aid

3 eggs

Basically, mix all the dry ingredients EXCEPT the kool-aid, then add the eggs. When it’s a “slurry” add the kool-aid and keep stirring.

I like to put my mash in the freezer before rolling it for about half hour. Helps keep it a little firmer, and easier to roll into smooth balls (not that the fish really care though.)

Notice how I DON’T use oil in the mix……rather I spray my hands with spray butter before rolling the balls.  As with any other boilie recipe, roll them into the proper size ball for your water, and boil until they float. Dry and then put them in the freezer for storage.

Also I swung into Dicks Sporting goods this week – they have an 80 sized spinning reel that will hole 250 yards of 20# line, and an 8 foot reel for $40. Might pick one up tomorrow and give it a test this weekend. I’m a light-line advocate, but recently have been losing a lot of fish, line, sinkers and everything else due to snags, and busting off the lighter weight line.  Think I’m going to jump to 17 or 18# braid and see how it goes.

Shameless plug for my wife!

Anthony Gilardi will be at the 2010 Portland Women’s Show!

Sneaking up on carp. And why, versus other fishing techniques, it’s important.

By now you’ve probably figured out that I’m a carp angler. No, not crap angler, carp. Well, most bottom feeding fish anyway, but carp, cats and sturgeon are prevalent aroudn the Pacific NW, and I used to love catching monster carp back in Upstate NY on Conesus lake when I was younger. We used to cheat though and chum the water with whole kernel corn, a practice which is frowned upon in most states now. We had good reason though – carp like corn, and corn attracts carp. A benefit is that carp will burrow looknig for the corn, and this acts as a natural seaweed removal process. But I digress….why you need to sneak up on carp.

Some carpers will tell you that you have to wear camo, well, that I don’t agree with as I’m never close enough to them, but they are skittish fish moreseo than many species. They have incredibly good “hearing” of vibrations through the water. They’ll hear you walking down a dock, or even russling leaves on a tree if it’s touching the water. Once they hear you, they bolt. They can also see “Fairly” well, although I”m pretty certain that it’s based on movement, and they can’t figure out bait.

Carp can generally see in low light better than we can (hell they live in murky water) and most of the good carp fishing is at night, so you need to figure out how to sneak up on them. I generally fish rivers now, so this isn’t an issue, and am casting lead a hundred feet or so.

More on Hair Rigging

That’s a great picture of a hair rig setup from Buckeye Bob Bernowski at www.carpecarpio.com. Bob’s got some FANTASTIC tips and tricks, and I highly recommend going and paying his site a visit. His entire writeup is available here - http://www.carpecarpio.com/carptips.html

Per Bob – the number one reason to use a hair rig for (carp especially, but catfish are the same way) is that carp taste food first, spit it out, then decide if they want to eat it or not. Using the hair rig allows the fish to suck the bait in, taste it, and spit it back out, but gives the angler the advantage of having the hook stay in the lower part of the mouth. Even if the fish doesn’t like your bait, your chances of landing the catch increase.

Here’s a hair rig setup.

More on threading hair rigs…

Take a long shanked hook and straighten it out – then put the non-barbed end into a small piece of wood, or plastic, etc. to make a handle. Simply stack your bait (IN Bob’s pictures he’s got cornmeal and foam) onto the threader, grab the loop, and slide the bait onto it.

More on fishing with boilies – Hair Rigging

The following is from Wikipedia

The hair rig is piece of fishing tackle allowing you to present baits without them sitting directly on your hook, therefore improving its efficiency. They are mainly associated with boilies but also work effectively with most other baits. The hair rig became popular in the 70's and has revolutionised carp fishing. It has been experimented with by English anglers.

At the beginning, in order to link the bait to the hook they were using some natural wire (from a ponytail). This is why they called it the 'Hair rig'. This material was very discreet but it was a little fragile. The bait also didn't act natural enough. In tests the carp only took the free offerings and left the hook bait. It was a problem because sometimes they lost their baits while they were casting. With the appearance of braided thread, this problem has been solved. Indeed, this new material allows to obtain threads which are as discreet as natural ones but more resistant.

There is one main thing to remember with boilies – you need to have a method of attaching them to the hook or lead line!

I’ll get some pictures of this next time I make up a batch, but there are a couple common things to think about when making your boilies and hooking them.

One option with making your boilies is to form the ball around a toothpick, then boil them. This forms a hole right through the middle, so you can thread your line. Another option with boilies is to use a boilie needle to pierce the boilie for threading. Me, I prefer the first option as I think it works a little better. You can, if you are really creative, even thread braided line through the boilie, THEN boil it. I’ve also been experimenting lately with taking a package of hooks, and pre-forming the boilies right onto the hook leaders. It forms a smaller boilie  ball, but makes it easy in the field – you just swap on a new hook and leader, boilie and all.

The overall goal of the hair rig is to present the bait so that the fish will take it, then spit it back out, but allow the hook to get caught in the lower part of the mouth. you don’t want more than about 1/4 to 1/2 inch between the hook and boilie.

Now for something completely different, a friend of mine has been making his boilies by making round balls, and then stacking them on a coat hanger for boiling. This gives a nice round shaft-hole through the middle, which he then feeds a loop of line through. rather than tying a knot in the loop end, he takes a small piece of toothpick, slides it through the line-loop, and pulls the boilie up against it. This makes putting new balls on really quick, and I’ve yet to see one come off in a cast. I’m in the process of making a couple of harnesses with some monifilament and epoxy so they are ready to go. At the end of the day though, just experiment.

Fishing with boilies – carp and catfish

Boilies are quickly becoming my go to bait, many times not even having to pre-chum or pre-bait the fishing waters. They’re pretty simple to make, last a while, and don’t fall apart in the water like dough balls do. Once cooked, they are also a helluva lot easier to work with as they aren’t sticky like doughballs.  Just make sure you mark the package – there are stories out there of wives mistakening them for bon-bons!

Boilies are boiled paste fishing baits, usually combinations of fishmeals, milk proteins, bird foods, semolina and soya flour, which are mixed with eggs as a binding agent and then boiled to form hardish round baits which will last in the water. Additional flavourings and attractors are also usually included in the mix. The round shape allows the baits to be catapulted accurately when fishing at range^.

Boilies are now one of the most established carp baits, available in a huge range of colours and flavours. Boilies come in all different shapes and sizes, from tiny micro boilies (some even as small as eight millimetres) up to as large as 40 mm which are more suited to waters where 'nuisance fish' are present. This keeps the little fish from pecking at your bait, letting the preferred prey work their way up.

There are buoyant boilies, commonly known as pop-ups, that are used to make the bait sit just off the bed of the lake making them easier for the fish to find and take. Pop-ups can be used in various situations, where there is weed or silt present on a lake bed, or with a normal boilie to create a 'snowman' rig, the pop-up is generally smaller than the normal boilie, this creates what is known as a critically balanced bait, or neutral buoyancy, and makes it easier for the fish to take in the bait.^[

The carp angler has an enormity of types of boiled bait to choose from, some of which have added preservatives in them so that they can be kept at room temperature on shop shelves for a long time (shelf-life bait). Boilies that lack these added preservatives need to be refrigerated or frozen to stop them from going off; these are known as freezer baits. There have been many arguments discussing the pros and cons of both freezer and shelf-life boilies but the common opinion of many carp anglers is that due to the artificial preservatives in shelf-life baits they are not as nutritionally beneficial to the carp and therefore lack some attraction. Also, since in order to keep freezer baits fresh they need to be frozen soon after being rolled, not only will the ingredients used be of a much higher quality than in shelf lives but the ingredients used to make them will not lose much of their nutrients and attraction before being used in a fishing situation (much like frozen vegetables). Due to these facts freezer baits are often much more expensive than their shelf life counterparts.

The most commonly used set-up anglers use to present a boilie is a hair rig (knotless knot) which allows the boilie to sit off the back of the hook. This not only means that the bait will behave more naturally in the water (for example when disturbed by feeding fish) it also will often make the difference between a good hook hold and a bad one. Due to the nature in which a carp feeds the bait is blown out of the mouth soon after it has been picked up and the fact that the bait can move independently from the hook it allows the hook to stay back inside the mouth and find its way preferably into the bottom lip. Hair rigs will also quickly become your friend when bottom fishing.

More on catfish bait

This is Ed’s list from www.catfished.com – and I think it covers just about everything it should. He’s a northern california guy, but the bait ideas will hold up anywhere you are fishing. Catfish, carp and other bottom feeders will eat anything stinky. I’ve always found that homemade bait works better than storebought.

Crawdads

Crawdads (crawfish) are one of the primary food sources for catfish in Clear Lake. At times live crawdads are an excellent bait but more often the meat from the tail is the top producer. Just remove the shell from the tail of the crawdad and place the white meat on the hook. Crawdad tails are best used still fishing with or without a bobber since they don't stay on the hook very well. They produce the best results from spring to late fall when they are readily available to the catfish. You can purchase crawdads at several bait and tackle shops around the lake or you can catch your own with a crawdad trap.

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Shrimp

Shrimp or prawns as they are called in the fish markets are a perfect substitute for crawdads. Although I have never been able to get a catfish to admit it, I believe they taste just like a crawdad to them. Depending on the size of the shrimp and the desired size of the bait you can use them whole or cut them in half. You can use them with the shell on but most anglers remove the shell. Unlike the crawdads you can use shrimp in heavy current or for long vigorous casting or even drift fishing without fear of losing your bait. They can be purchased in most seafood sections of supermarkets either frozen or fresh. I sometimes soak them in crawdad scent oil but I can't really prove that it helps. They work best from spring to late fall just as the crawdads do.

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Cut Bait

The word cut bait covers a wide variety of fish baits. The most common ones that are used at Clear Lake are: shad, anchovy, sardines, mackerel and silverside minnows. Cut bluegill are rumored to be a deadly cut bait but since it is illegal to use them in Clear Lake I have no idea as to the validity of the rumor. Cut bait can be a fillet or a chunk, it depends on your preference. I use them primarily for drift fishing in deeper water since the cats are usually feeding on shad or silverside minnows when they go deep.

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Clams

Freshwater clams are another excellent bait for catfish at Clear Lake and can be productive year round. Fresh clams are more productive than the frozen or processed ones but if the fish are on the bite any kind will catch fish. They can be especially productive for pan sized catfish when fishing at night in the summertime.

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Worms

This category includes nightcrawlers, minicrawlers and garden worms. Most locals prefer a gob of garden worms or if not available then minicrawlers. They are highly productive in winter and early spring when the creeks and drainage ditches are pouring muddy water into the lake. The catfish lay in waiting for worms and other food to be washed into the lake with the muddy water. It is best to use just enough weight to drift along the bottom in the current to provide a natural presentation. Nightcrawlers and minicrawlers are available at all bait shops around the lake but garden worms must be dug up by the angler.

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Live or Dead Minnows

Live minnows, especially large or extra large are a good bait all year round. The only drawback (or maybe not) is that you will catch as many bass, or maybe more, as catfish. Most serious catmen kill their minnows just before they put them on the hook for this reason. They can be used under a bobber in shallow water in spring and summer as well as drift fishing in semi deep to deep water all year long. Minnows are available at only a few baitshops in the area so check my list of bait and tackle shops and call them to see if they're available.

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Miscellaneous Baits

I truly believe that a catfish (especially a channel cat) will eat almost anything that is animal, vegetable or mineral. Here is a partial list of stuff that I have caught them on; bread dough, salmon eggs, smoked salmon, corn, hot dogs, bologna, german bologna, salami, green peas, Berkely Power Bait Trout Paste, plastic worms and grubs, and even crank baits. Hot dogs are a very good bait for catfish at Clear Lake. Many fish in excess of 15 pounds have been taken with hot dogs. Another good catfish bait that deserves a mention here is cheese, just about any kind of cheese will catch catfish but orange cheeses like cheddar or american work particularly well. As I already mentioned, I have caught a lot of cats with plain bread dough so I'm sure a prepared doughbait will do well.

Bottom fishing tackle

You can fish the bottom of a pond, lake or river with pretty much any tackle, from baitcasters to spinning gear, or even the pushbutton type reels. Generally speaking, using a little heavier line than normal is probably a good idea as fishing the bottom causes more snags, and there’s always the possibility of landing a monster carp!

I generally use a spinning reel setup with about 10 pound line. I don’t have a personal favorite, any line will do (remember, we’re aiming at cost-effectiveness.) I don’t believe it’s worth spending money on ultra-clear line either – most bottom feeders can’t see very well, the waters usually darker and murky, and the line is more expensive, so I skip it. My pole are both 7 footer, light action for the NW fishing, and we catch normal cats and carp up to about 10 pounds or so. For east coast and heavy river action, I’ve got a 7 foot baitcast setup with 15 pound line. For early season, I’ve got a monster surf-casting setup with 20 pound braid line on it. The river is usually flowing fast though, so snags are common and you want to be able to pitch a line way the hell out there. Now that GI Joe’s is gone, Bimart and Walmart are were it’s at in terms of picking up equipment locally.

Generally speaking, longer rods = longer casting distance = more area covered. However, you are sacrificing action for area, and many times, bottom feeders are so “light” on the hook that you miss a lot of strikes with bigger gear. Besides, it’s more fun and challenging landing a 15 pound cat on 8 pound line!

The best part about bottom fishing is the rest of the gear is cheap. Hooks, sinkers, and a leader or two are all you need. No fancy hardware, no fancy (expensive lures) or any of that stuff.

Generally speaking, stink bait is just……

This is a series of recipes and ideas I’ve been using for a couple years now, but I’m working on a new one that is not dough or fish based, and seems to work wonders. And, my wife doesn’t like the idea of stinky doughballs stinking up the kitchen.

These are from Dan at askcatfishing

Everybody's got their own stink bait recipes and they all have a few things in common. First off, they're stinky (we discussed that) and second off, they have to stay together. That's the key to making stink bait. Later down the article, we'll look at some great stink bait ingredients, but first off, some indispensable stink bait making tools.

Dough Balls - This is a great method of stink bait preparation where you use flour, grains or some kind of prepared dough. You roll up all your stinky, rotten, smelly ingredients into one of these, and the dough holds it all together. It makes putting a chicken liver or something like that on your line much easier. Some guys I know even cook their dough balls just a little so it will all hold together.

Looper Rigs - These are a kind of hook designed especially to hold hard-to-hold bait. On the hook is a bunch of hooks, and soft materials like cheese and stink bait are easy to put on there. Some anglers swear by these for their stink bait.

The Blender - That's right, your ordinary household blender. You'll need this to mix up all your stinky ingredients into some kind of nasty mush that catfish will find delicious. Note - wash that blender before the misses finds out you used it to make stink bait. Better yet, buy her a new one and keep the old one for your stink bait experiments.

Now, on to the ingredients...

Chicken Livers - Catfish love them. They're hard to put on your line, though. But, pop a few into a blender with some other guts, rotten things, cheese and whatnot and you'll have a tasty delicacy that will stay on your line.

Cheese - Old, stinky cheese works great, and if you blend it into a mush with a bunch of other stuff, the cheese will help it all stay together. Limburger cheese works well, as well as any other smelly cheese from old Europe.

Raw Fish - No, don't spend any money buying sushi. What I'm talking about is regular, old store-bought fish. Even better, use something you caught yourself. Instead of cooking it for yourself, let it age somewhere in the depths of your fridge where it won't touch anything else. Before it starts to smell up the whole house, take it out and blend it!

Soap - Nobody knows why on earth they like it so much, but they do. Take an ordinary bar of soap, unscented, and cut it up into little pieces. You can blend it into your stinkbait, or cut it into smaller flakes and roll your dough ball or stinkbait in it.

Chicken Blood - Put some blood into your mixture and catfish will love it.

Sausages - Take any old sausages or hot dogs and cut them up into small pieces, or better yet, blend them.

Tuna or Sardines - These are really popular with catfish all over the world. Tuna has that distinctive fishy smell that smells like much of what they eat. The problem is that it's tough to get it on the line. That's why it works so well for stinkbait.

Shrimp - Frozen shrimp from the store works really well in stinkbait, too.

Now, we need something to stick it all together. This is the biggest challenge of preparing stinkbait. You have all this mushy stuff that you want to use, and you need it to be good and thick so it will stay on the line.

We already mentioned dough balls. There are also some things you can just mix in with your stink bait that will thicken it up so that you can use it. Here are some ideas (but of course, experiment too!):

Flour - This is the most simple and obvious idea. Roll your stink bait in flour in a mixing bowl until it gets to the right thickness. This may take some trial and error until you know just how much flour it takes.

Bran Flakes - Crush up some bran flakes and roll your stink bait mush into it. This will harden it up and make it easier to put on the line.

Crushed Saltines - This is a little tougher to do, but I've known some guys who swore by it.

Cotton - It sounds strange, but ordinary household cotton works really well for holding stinkbait together. This, too, might take some trial and error, but give it a shot.

And now the technique for making stinkbait...

Put it all in the blender, turn it into mush, roll it up into a dough ball or something to make it stick together... and that's it. Catfish will love your gourmet stink bait and you'll pull them in by the boat-full!