Channel catfish are omnivores and can be caught using a variety of natural and prepared baits including crickets, nightcrawlers, minnows, shad, crawfish, frogs, bullheads, sunfish, and suckers. Catfish have even been known to take Ivory Soap as bait [1]. Another method of catching catfish is using stinkbaits, which are prepared baits made of things such as dead fish, crawfish, garlic, blood, meat, cheese, dough, and even Kool-Aid powder. Sometimes these stinkbaits are prepared into a doughball and mashed onto a hook, other times they are smeared in special tubes meant to hold these baits, and fished slowly on the bottom. Grocery store baits such as chicken livers, shrimp, dog food and bubble gum will also catch plenty of channel cats.
When removing the hook from a catfish, be careful of the spines on the pectoral fins and dorsal fin. Catfish trapping is regulated in some states. Catfish traps include "slat traps," long wooden traps with an angled entrance, and wire hoop traps. Typical bait for these traps include rotten cheese and dog food. Catches of as many as 100+ fish a day are common in catfish traps. Catfish trapping, however, has recently come under media scrutiny due to the recovery process. The inherent nature of a trap means that the fish can be confined to small areas for, at times, up to twenty-four hours before traps are checked. The channel catfish requires a full range of motion in order to perform aerobic respiration, but since this is not possible in many traps the catfish suffocate.