Catfish are known for feeding on a variety of gruesome and stinky baits. However, in recent times, an increasing number of catfishers have found success with garlic. In low-visibility situations, catfish rely primarily on their senses of touch and smell to find food. Thus a flavor as potent as garlic is bound to attract a catfish’s interest.
Anglers are exploring how attractive the aroma of garlic is when incorporated into baits, and trying to add garlic scent to your baits could really help you attract some blue catfish and a lot of channel catfish.
Table of Contents
Garlic Used as Catfish Bait
Fishermen have been experimenting with different combinations and mixes in order to find the ultimate catfish flavor. The majority of the ideas are revolting and do not function properly. Garlic, on the other hand, is a tried-and-true fragrance that can significantly improve your bait’s attractiveness to catfish.
Garlic has a strong odor that, when put to chicken liver, hot dogs, and other baits, can attract catfish and provide a flavor that encourages them to bite and stay longer than they might otherwise. While garlic is a great ingredient to mix with other foods, just using garlic as bait may not be as effective.
Why is Garlic a Good Bait for Catfish?
Catfish are opportunistic eaters, eating practically anything “they can get their hands on.” The sense of taste in catfish is incredible; even the tiniest catfish has over 100,000 taste buds. Their ability to smell is equally extraordinary.
Inside their noses, channel cats contain more than 140 folds of sensitive tissue, opposed to only 13 in largemouth bass and18 in rainbow trout.
Other fish, such as trout and bass, utilize their sense of smell as the final line of defense when sensing food, but catfish use all of their faculties at the same time.
They prefer to find food using their sense of smell, and then determine whether or not to eat using visual signals and taste. That is why, when it comes to capturing catfish, the more aromatic the bait, the better. They’ll come up to your bait because of the smell.
Garlic is an excellent bait since it has a strong odor that attracts catfish.
What Catfish Species Bite Garlic Scented Bait?
Channel catfish, blue catfish, and flathead catfish are the three most common catfish species in North America. On channel catfish, garlic flavor works well. They are the tiniest of the American catfish species, and they appear to be the most receptive to specialist baits and flavorings.
Natural smells and aromas, such as those found in fresh-caught bluegills, shad, and clams, seem to appeal to blue catfish and particularly flatheads.
You’ll have the most success fishing for channel catfish if you coat your baits in garlic fragrance. You might be able to catch little and medium-sized blue catfish when fishing. Garlic, on the other hand, is rarely used by flathead catfish fishermen.
How To Prepare Garlic Flavored Baits for Catfish?
The best approach to include garlic into your bait is to simply sprinkle garlic salt or garlic powder on top of your favorite fishing bait. Just select a bait that is soft and meaty, such as raw meat, live worms, chicken liver, or hot dogs.
Put a generous amount of garlic powder or salt into a plastic container or baggie. Many fishers prefer to use a lot of garlic salt in their bait. The nicer the garlic seasoning smells, the longer you keep it on your bait.
Liver and hot dogs will absorb the garlic fragrance and flavor if you add it to them. That is an excellent option to find a lot of channel catfish.
When is the Best Time to Use Garlic as Bait?
Garlic can be used in bait to catch catfish all year, although many fishermen believe that summer is the greatest time to do so. That’s because garlic’s fragrance doesn’t go as far in cold water.
The scent of garlic might go longer in warmer water, attracting catfish. Catfish are also significantly more active in looking for food throughout the summer. They may go long distances in search of food and will be much more ready to follow the aroma of garlic to locate it.
In order to fish catfish in the winter, you must first find them, but they’ll find your bait on their own in the summer.