TRI-LAKES AREA — Catfish love stinkbait, and every hard-core catfish angler has a top-secret stinkbait formula whiskerfish just can’t resist.
One old-timer told me, “There are more stinkbait recipes than there are food recipes, and not all of them have been invented yet. The fun part is experimenting. When you come up with a brand-new formula, you’re just as proud as you’d be if you made a delicious new barbecue sauce or a tasty marinade.”
After I swore on a Bible that I wouldn’t reveal the ingredients, this aficionado allowed me to watch as he mixed up a batch of his secret formula cat catcher. You’d have thought he was Emeril Lagasse preparing a sumptuous bisque. He whisked together a cup of this, a dollop of that, a spoonful of some top-secret ingredient. Then, like a bon vivant sampling the bouquet of an expensive wine, he lifted a cupful to his nose and inhaled. Tears streamed down his reddened cheeks, his knees quaked, and it appeared he might throw up.
“Holy Moses! ” he proclaimed, quivering like a headless chicken. “One whiff of that would kill a skunk. But it needs to be stronger.”
Indeed, stinkbait chefs believe the worse it smells, the more catfish it will catch. To make it so, they add some rank ingredients to t heir brews.
Decomposing fish, for example. Heads and guts allowed to ferment several days reek like a week-old sardine sandwich, and nothing makes a catfish lick its whiskers quicker.
Limburger cheese, too. Norma l humans can’t eat it without holding their nose. Stinkbait manufacturers and catfish love it.
When making a batch of his locally famous “Putrid Pudding” (that’s what he calls his rotten-fish stinkbait), one of my catfishing companions hides the container on top of his neighbor’s barn. This serves three primary purposes:
It keeps the raccoons and neighborhood cats from getting into the bait (and possibly dying as a result);
It allows the brew to ferment properly in the hot sun; and
It helps my chum avoid unnecessary exposure to the stinkbait’s toxic fumes. (The poor barn owner has searched unsuccessfully for years, trying to pinpoint the source of the horrific stench.)
To make Putrid Pudding, my friend puts two quarts of dead shad in a plastic bucket and allows them to decompose until only an oily residue remains. Then, on a camp stove outside, he boils the residue and stirs in one quart of soured milk, two packets of dry yeast and a half pound of Limburger cheese. He heats this while adding f lour and stirring until thick. The mixture is then carefully funneled into a plastic jug he plugs with cheesecloth. The jug sits on the neighbor’s barn for a week or two at least, bubbling like a witch’s cauldron. When my friend can detect the ghastly smell from home, he knows the stinkbait has properly aged and is ready to use.
Should the user get a drop of Putrid Pudding on his clothes, the garments must be burned. If it got on your skin, God knows what would happen. Great care must be taken to avoid contact.
My buddy handles the mix like it’s radioactive waste. He fishes it by pushing a hooked square of sponge into the goo with a long stick. The sponge absorbs the mess and stays on the hook when cast.
Does he catch catfish with it? Yes, indeed. And when he goes catfishing, he has his favorite bank-fishing spot all to himself. No one can stand to fish near him.
There are several types of stinkbaits, each with a particular consistency that requires a particular method of fishing.
Dip baits, like my friend’s Putrid Pudding, have the consistency of … well, dip — the kind you dunk potato chips in. (Be careful not to mistake one for the other!) They sometimes are called sponge baits because a sponged-covered treble hook is used to soak up the bait for fishing. Dip the sponge hook in the bait, squish it with a stick until it’s saturated then cast the weighted sponge rig to a spot that looks catfishy and wait for Mr. Whiskers to home in on the scent. Dip baits melt quickly, so dunk your lure frequently to keep it covered.
Doughbaits have pizza dough consistency. Many won’t stay hooked when casting, especially during hot weather.
Cloth doughbait bags and spring-wound bait-holder treble hooks are helpful, but it’s best to stick with thick doughbait mixtures that can be molded around a regular hook to form a firm ball that won’t fly off when casting.
Make your own doughbait by mixing f lour and water to form thick dough. Add a flavoring of your choosing — anise oil, blood and rancid cheese are favorites — then roll the dough into balls and store in a plastic butter tub or similar container. Cool in an ice chest before fishing to firm up the bait.
To properly fish doughbaits, move the bait very little. Give careful thought to finding prime catfishing areas; then after you cast, allow the bait to sit a half hour or so. Doughbaits must melt to lay a scent trail. If there are no bites in the specified time, relocate.
Chunk baits are solid grape-sized baits. They melt slowly, so a cat must be close to find your offering unless you have time to wait. This fact, however, makes chunk baits highly desirable for baiting trotlines, limblines and other set lines.
Make your own chunk baits by slicing inexpensive hot dogs into 1-inch pieces and putting them in a plastic tub. Add a package of strawberry Kool-Aid (unsweetened) and 2 tablespoons minced garlic. Fill the tub with water, and allow the wieners to marinate overnight. Hook. Cast. Fish. Catch.
As you can imagine, creating and fishing with stinkbaits is a smelly situation. To be a true catfisherman, though, you must give it a whirl sooner or later. It’s one sure route to catfishing success.
Secret recipes revealed
Secret recipes for proven stinkbaits are often passed down from generation to generation with explicit instructions never to reveal the ingredients. But a little hooch shared by a campfire has a magical way of loosening tongues. Following are some recipes thus collected:
Blood & Oil Sponge Bait
Pour blood from a carton of fresh chicken livers into a jar or plastic container. Add the oil from a can of sardines or tuna. Stir. Sponge. Fish.
Knock-Out Cheese Bait
Combine equal measures of pork or beef brains (or chicken liver) and limburger cheese in a plastic butter tub. Mash together, cover, poke a few holes in the lid; then place in a hot spot (on the roof of your neighbor’s barn, perhaps) for several days. Use as a dip bait.
Mr. Whiskers Dough Balls
Mix in a large plastic tub 1 cup yellow cornmeal, 1 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon anise oil and 1 tin sardines, packed in oil. Add small amounts of water to form a bread-like dough. Form dough into pieces the size of a ping pong ball and drop into boiling water for three minutes. Remove, drain on paper towels and allow to cool. Catch a cat with them.
Tri-Lakes, Pages 136 on 05/27/2012