There’s a long-standing argument that takes place in every catfish circle: the great bait debate. The actual bait being debated might change based on the region of the country where the conversation is held.

Here in the north, the conversation typically includes white suckers, goldeyes or leopard frogs. I have joked at seminars that it is one of two topics that anglers will fight about. (The other being mono vs. braided line.) Ask the crowd what the best bait is, and you get ten different answers; and there are always a few people who dig in that their bait of choice is the only one that works. There is no wrong answer, but there is one thing that, through years of trial and error, has taught me: With the exception of leopard frogs, fresh bait may not be the best bait!

Catfish anglers spend a lot of time and money in search of bait, assuming that fresh bait is best. There is an entire industry to keep bait alive and fresh.

This is not a new topic for me. I have written many times that fresh, dead bait may be better in some situations. Over the past two years (2023 and 2024), I have been actively researching and taking notes on the topic. Some of the outcomes have been very intriguing.

I buy white suckers in bulk to ensure that I have supplies for my guide trips. When you keep live bait, there is always a dead one or two each day. I would always take the few dead ones, put them on ice, take them on my trips and just use them first, as they were still fresh and going to be cut bait anyway.

For years, I would use the first few dead suckers up before starting into the fresh live ones. We would start our days good, and the day would slow down during late morning or whenever the dead bait ran out. I just thought it was a midday slow down.

One time, I was out of bait and the bait shop received a shipment late, after hours. I went to pick my bait up first thing in the morning, right before a trip, to find out there was a malfunction in the aeration system and the entire shipment was dead. In desperation, I bought ten days’ worth of dead suckers and 100 pounds of ice to try to salvage enough bait to get to the next shipment, because a guide with no bait isn’t a successful guide. What happened was ten days of amazing fishing that never did slow down for that midday lull. At the time, I just thought it was a spectacular, spring catfish bite.

In the years since, through various bait tank kills and just experimentation, I now use virtually no live fish for cut bait. Rather, I kill the bait before the trip and pack it in a cooler. Over the past couple of years, I have determined that 24 to 48 hours dead seems to be the best overall dead bait. Some days, the fish will prefer even longer dead. The key is to package it properly and keep it on ice, as fresh as you can, until use.

What happens with fresh-killed bait is, when you cut it, the vessels are still open and filled with blood right at the cut. This causes the blood to run out quickly. If the fish is dead and on ice for a day or two, the blood will soak up into the meat. This will not make a blood trail as quickly when it hits the water, but it will hold the scent and last longer when in the water, allowing fish more time to find the bait. It also makes more of a difference when the water is warmer because warm water pulls and disperses the scent faster.

After this realization—and new aquatic nuisance laws for transporting bait water—I started killing my bait and packing it on ice the night before my trips. Within a year, I noticed that my catch rate went up by .3 fish per hour, which is a significant amount if you do that math over time.

Once I started paying attention to the age of the bait that fish preferred and killing it two to three days before intended use, I managed to get the catch rate to go up an entire one fish per hour. In trophy catfishing, a one-fish-per-hour increase is substantial.

Just grabbing some bait and throwing it in a bag is not how this works; nor is freezing it. Bait still must be cared for during the short term. The bait must be somewhat dry and packed in bags. I like some sort of zipper freezer bag for this. Pack them so they can be stored flat for more of the fish to be in contact with the ice.

Put a layer of ice on the bottom of a cooler, then a layer of bait, cover that layer with ice, and repeat until you have what you need. As ice melts, drain off the water and add more ice if needed. If water gets to the bait, it can degrade it. I find the best result is achieved using a high-quality, rotomolded cooler, such as a Big Frig or Yeti to maintain the cold and keep melting to a minimum.

The great bait debate will go on as long as people are catfishing, and so will my research on this topic. as I am convinced that it makes a huge difference in catfishing success.

If you enjoy catfishing, you’ll find suggestions for locations and techniques in every issue of MidWest Outdoors, available by subscribing on our website.