# Best live bait?



## JesseJamesFlathead

my brother and i have been fishing the river in the dayton area from west carrollton to middletown. was wondering what the best live bait to use is, have tried gold fish izzy's bluegill and yellow belly catfish or bullhead catfish as bait i have cought 2, 5-7 pounders and 1 9-11 pounder on gold fish have been looking for the big flatheads want something that will bout break my 9foot rod lol. the brother and i know where to catch yellowbelly or bullhead about 7-11 inches all day getting the smaller ones is the hard part, had a good bluegill hole, and goldfish we buy em from a paylake and take em to the river we both bank fish no boat and know they generally hang in wood cover anyone know good spots or know the best bait please inform :B thanks yall have a great day. 


ps: looking for 20+ pounders we just fish for fun and fight catch and release style fishing attached a pic of one i caught couple weeks ago


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## pendog66

depends on the area your fishing on the baits.. And photo editing fixes people fishing your spot....


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## sbreech

I'm going to bet that chicken livers and "white uncooked medium shrimp" are doing pretty well right about now. I know people must be using them a lot, because I don't know how many empty containers I picked up today at a local lake I fish.


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## rustyfish

I tend to work "creek chubs" into all of my posts because they are a favorite bait for all large game fish. Most of the fish I catch are on chubs, if you don't use them then you should try. Easy to catch and they come in all sizes, but any size works because they are made for easy swallowing and tastieness. I've caught 3 pound channels on 6 inch chubs, and 20 pound flatheads on just their heads. Bass, saugeye, gar all love them some creek chubs.

As for finding spots, I like to find a really deep hole in the river and maybe a logjam. But I don't fish the hole, I fish the current (maybe near structure) up stream from the deep spot. This is not where the cats are spending most of their time but it is where they hunt. If you toss one out there and give them time a hungry one will find it. I feel this is a better bank fish plan. 

Don't get me wrong..... if you find where he lives or rest and you drop one in his face he might eat it. But this is for people with boats. Cause if he's not home then its time to move to the next log pile or deep hole not sit all night waiting for him to get home.


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## dinkbuster1

if you can find them Baby Carp and Bullheads are best.....


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## JesseJamesFlathead

ill i have caught flatheads on is goldfish , last night i accidently killed a goldfish hooking it and the paylake guy we buy our goldfish from told me try smashing the dead ones and it worked. we have a creek we can catch chubs out of and think i may have cought a couple baby carp, and had a question on that subject are the baby carp called izzy's ? have tried creek chubs but they seem to die too easy and die super quick in the bait bucket. also where are you hooking the chubs with out killing them? also wanting to try shad live shad anyone know some good spots to catch these guys i live in the dayton area. i appericate all the help yall can give! attached another pic of one i caught last night. Waiting on the big one  this one was decent size like 10+ i was guessing using 9 foot open face reel with bait switch with carolina rig 2 ounce banksinker and 7/0 hook 25 pound test 60 pound leader leader is approx. 6-10 inches seems to work wonders in some snag area's other than logs lol normally have premade rigs tho just incase. have tried chicken livers but seems turtles and channel cats mess with my bait hate channel cats after catching the flatheads


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## dinkbuster1

Izzy's may be a nickname for Israeli Carp commonly sold to the paylake crowd. way too expensive for my taste. used to have a couple ponds where they were stunted and i netted them. best live bait i ever used but the ponds were filled in. if your a paylake convert be warned the size fish you catch in the wild run a lot smaller. can catch lots of small ones at times but the bigger, 20+lb fish are harder to come by. GMR flatheads seem to top out between 35-40lb for some reason, unless you fish below the last dam in Hamilton. think its lack of food in the northern stretches.


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