Serious catfish bait shortage

[EricM]

Folks, I am down to my LAST bluegill! I know a lot of people are seriously short of bait this year. If anyone has any ideas about where to find a good bunch of nice gizzard shad (I'd also like skipjack, but if anyone had any there'd be longer lines to get them than at Disney World) I would really appreciate it if you'd let me know. I think I might just have to fill the freezer with bluegill. I like them a lot for bait too, but one good skippie or gizzard is about equal to 4 or 5 medium 'gills. I know chicken ****s work well, but I just don't have the faith in them that I do in cut bait, and we all know that believing in what, where and how you fish has a real impact on your success.

I guess I'd better ask about good places/methods to get a bunch of panfish too. I've got a couple of spots that yield a few good size fish, but I'm looking for numbers now. If you don't want to post, please PM me.

I wonder, maybe we should set up a gillnetting for bait club? My guardian angel has expressed the opinion that dynamite wouldn't be a good idea anywhere near my boat emoEek emoEek , but I'm getting desperate!

 

[MrWiskers]

I have some skippies in the freezer. PM me and we can meet up and I will give them to you. </p>

 

[EricM]

Did anyone check on Michael to see if he was OK? He's offered to fish with me, use HIS boat, and now turn loose of some of those fish worth their weight in gold! PM on it's way!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

Eric, I have a bunch of froze yellow tails in the freezer, you are welcome to them. These are around 4 to 6 inches long, there are 30 to 40 to a bag and i have around 10 bags.

 

[WLG]

Cant help you on the skippies..but the bluegill are plentiful up at the intake wall. Just use worms under a slip float and adjust your depth as necessary. I usually catch them about 3 to 4 ft under the float. I would be willing to pay anyone who has some skippies they wanna get rid of!!! emoPoke emoPoke

 

[WLG]

EricM - 8/25/2008 10:58 PM

Did anyone check on Michael to see if he was OK? He's offered to fish with me, use HIS boat, and now turn loose of some of those fish worth their weight in gold! PM on it's way!!!!!!!!!

HE better be careful...he could get robbed that way!!!!! emoLaugh emoLaugh

 

[EricM]

Thanks Wade! I'm not sure if we can legally "buy" skipjack or not - but we sure can pay top dollar for the bag they come in! emoBigsmile

 

[EricM]

And thank you Gary, I'll give you a holler one day and meet you at the Nick dam to take you out as payment (for the bags).

 

[TAzGa]

While in Fla. last week... I saw ppl using some kind of pencil shaped spoon catching what appeared to be skippies emoScratch .... what would those things be like, compared to the skippies in the river?

 

[NRG]

Have any of you tried under CB Robinson bridge at night ? Years ago I used to fish off the pier there at night we caught tons of skippies, white and yellow bass under the big light that shines down on the pier, drifting white 64th oz jigs kinda like a drop shot rig but doubled up the jigs , cast up drift down, cast back up repeat .. we used to tear up some skippies under there .. we always just chunked them back in .. maybe some of you desperate cat hunters need to try that

 

[Southerncats]

I finally got a few Golden skipjack in the freezer......no Joke I was on the verge of buying some.... I know where to buy them for $6 a pound....but shipping is high as well......the ones i got came from Wheeler.

 

[EricM]

Mike, great to hear that you've managed to find some! It gives us hope..........

 

[SpurHunter]

Were there alot of them Mike? I know it was desperate for you to think about buying them...I know you dont even like frozen! emoLaugh

 

[WLG]

whos up for a trip to wheeler???

 

[polo-dog]

Are there no skippies at Chickamauga dam at the tailrace? This time of the year there should be lots there. The bait is so plentiful I would expect a bumper crop of them. Maybe they are just deeper this year for some reason.

 

[hoggerhead]

Maybe they got fished out??? They cant last forever ya know.

 

[Southerncats]

There's lots of them.....but getting them to bite is alittle tricky......there feeding on the tiny shad.......hopefully all this rain will make TVA generate alittle more water in the upcoming weeks, and maybe the skippys will come up river.

 

[deadeye531]

If anyone is interested in taking a now non boater out(just sold my boat) I will be going back to florida in a couple of weeks and last week I caught more than my share of hard tails, and ladyfish(skipjack) that I threw most of them back. But if anyone wants any I will load the cooler up and bring them back with me. Just shoot me a PM. Landon

 

[polo-dog]

deadeye531 - 8/26/2008 9:05 PM

If anyone is interested in taking a now non boater out(just sold my boat) I will be going back to florida in a couple of weeks and last week I caught more than my share of hard tails, and ladyfish(skipjack) that I threw most of them back. But if anyone wants any I will load the cooler up and bring them back with me. Just shoot me a PM. Landon

Which lake or tailrace were you fishing for the skippies? Just curious, I don't fish for them for the most part. I catch all of the "frier" catfish I want on threadfins.

 

[deadeye531]

It was in Pensacola Florida. On the beach