Bass and Catfish

Question
I fish in the Shenandoah River and i was wondering if u could give me some good types of bait for catfish and some good types of bait for bass?

Answer
Josh; I love the Shenandoah.  My brother used to live just east of Berryville about two miles from the river.  I have fished with him there several times.

Of course the Shenandoah is a smallmouth river.  We fished for bass using both live bait and artificials.  Live bait was somewhat difficult to get at that place because the nearest bait shop was across the mountain.  We used to take a small minnow net and catch small minnows and creyfish in the little streams flowing into the river or in the little pockets along the shore of the river. Of course when we could get them worms worked well too for both bass and catfish.

We mostly wet waded the river using spinnning outfits.  By casting a lip hooked minnow or a tail hooked crawfish upstream with just enough weight to cast and sink the bait we caught both bass and channel catfish almost any evening we went down to the river.

If we were fishing for bass mostly we used small plugs such as the rattletrap, or a rebel crankbait.  A tiny torpedo jerked on the top brought many strikes too.  Spinners also are good worked by casting upstream and just keeping them moving and off the bottom caught a lot of bass.
Another bait that I had never seen caught many of our bass on the Shenandoah and the Rapahannoc was a 6" worm hooked in a special way which I will describe.

The rig reqires two hooks size 1 better with the down turned eye.  Tie the line to one hook leaving a foot or so of line left over.  Tie the second hook about 1 1/2 inches behind the first and cut off the tag end of the line. Cut about 18inches of line above the hook and tie a loop knot in it.  Now put a small weight on the line above a snap swivil or take a bell sinkere and hang it on the snap.  This latter helps much in preventing line twist.
Take the line from the hook and fasten it to the snap swivil.
Next take a straight tail worm (one without any twirley tail) The scoundrel is the only one I have found that works well.
Now you have a rig ready to put the worm on in a very special way.  It is this little secret that makes this a deadly lure for smallmouth bass.  Hook the front hook through the nose of the worm bringing it out so that the eye is just at the nose of the worm.  Then take the second hook and hook the worm about one third of the way up from the tail pulling the worm into a "J" shape.  leave both hooks exposed.
When retrieved, this worm comes in spinning If it doesn't spin adjust the second hook and the shape of the "J" until it spins when retrieved at medium speed.  I know everybody says a worm must not spin but believe me this one must and it will catch smallies.  Cast upstream or across the current and reel just fast enough to keep the worm spinning.  I have had as many as four or five strikes on one cast because these smallies jump as soon as they feel the hook and often throw the lure.  I just kept reeling and another would get it and throw it etc.  Usually I would hook one of those and bring him in.  I have caught as many as 50 or 60 bass in one evening with this in the Shenandoah.

I now live way down here in south Georgia where we do not have smallmouth.  I miss them.  We have big bigmouths and they will also hit this worm rig but not as well as the smallies.

I mentioned only a couple of live baits but there are many more.  Grasshoppers or crickets will catch both bass and chennel cats. For the catfish you can buy or make yourself catfish bait.  I have seen recipes in fishing mags. although most keep their recipes secret.  Chicken livers make good catfish bait.  Certain cheeses are good for catfish.  I have even heard of people using soap.  Of course soap and cheese and most bought catfish bait need a special hook.  These are likely available in local tackle stores. They are usually a treable hook with a sort of spring around the shaft to hold the bait . You make a ball of the bait and press it on the hook so that the spring like thing holds it in place.  Some catfishermen take the cheese or bait and work some cotton fibers from cotton balls into the bait so that it will stay on the hook better. Others make little cheese cloth bags to hole bait on the hook.
Almost any kind of cut bait like a strip from the side of a bluegill or sucker make good catfish bait.  In fact a catfish will at times eat just about anything.  A bass is a little more picky but will still hit many things.  The key with bass is that they want their lunch to be alive or seem to be alive when they eat it.  Catfish don't care.

I hope this has been of some help.  Thank you for calling on me for your question.'
If I can be of further help please contact me on All Experts.

I am
Jack L. Gaither
Lake Seminole, Georgia.