# Catching catfish



## Lazy 8

I lived in central FL for around 3 years. I had the opportunity to talk with an ol boy who supplied a bunch of local restaurants with catfish. This guy would go out in the evening and set out his trotlines. He had these frames made out of wood and every so often there was a notch. He would wind his line I side these frames and the not hes was where there was a hook with bait. No here's where it gets interesting. Every other hook either had cut bait or Ivory soap on the hook. He'd put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave long enough to make it pliable. Then cut it up in little squares the size of dice.
This was this guys only means of an income, and he caught a LOT of cats. 
Every once and awhile, a huge largemouth. 
Has anybody ever heard of using Ivory soap?


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## slimdaddy45

Lazy 8 said:


> I lived in central FL for around 3 years. I had the opportunity to talk with an ol boy who supplied a bunch of local restaurants with catfish. This guy would go out in the evening and set out his trotlines. He had these frames made out of wood and every so often there was a notch. He would wind his line I side these frames and the not hes was where there was a hook with bait. No here's where it gets interesting. Every other hook either had cut bait or Ivory soap on the hook. He'd put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave long enough to make it pliable. Then cut it up in little squares the size of dice.
> This was this guys only means of an income, and he caught a LOT of cats.
> Every once and awhile, a huge largemouth.
> Has anybody ever heard of using Ivory soap?


Yes Ive heard of it but have never tried it they say it works


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## 1basshunter

Lazy 8 said:


> I lived in central FL for around 3 years. I had the opportunity to talk with an ol boy who supplied a bunch of local restaurants with catfish. This guy would go out in the evening and set out his trotlines. He had these frames made out of wood and every so often there was a notch. He would wind his line I side these frames and the not hes was where there was a hook with bait. No here's where it gets interesting. Every other hook either had cut bait or Ivory soap on the hook. He'd put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave long enough to make it pliable. Then cut it up in little squares the size of dice.
> This was this guys only means of an income, and he caught a LOT of cats.
> Every once and awhile, a huge largemouth.
> Has anybody ever heard of using Ivory soap?


I have used it for years and it does a good job


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## sherman51

i've used nightcrawlers, chicken liver, chicken gizzards, chicken hearts, treat lunch meat, spam lunch meat, live bait, we even cut up a gar we caught on dale hollow when we run out of bait. but i've never heard of using soap. but if I live another day I may learn something new.
sherman


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## pawcat

I have caught channel cats on soap. channel cats will bite on about any thing


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## Fish-N-Fool

The soap is to make a strong scent trail - commonly used in TN on lines as well. Not good for the environment, but WD 40 sprayed on the baits is also very effective and and in the day I saw that done as well. Sounds crazy I know, but it works.


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## DeathFromAbove

Ive seen WD recommended for walleye baits too . Theres no end to the usefulness of WD40


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## BuckeyeFishinNut

I have caught channel cats on pieces of yellow kitchen sponges dipped in Anise or Vanilla extract. At certain times of the year they will eat anything with a strong scent it seems.


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## Lazy 8

sherman51 said:


> i've used nightcrawlers, chicken liver, chicken gizzards, chicken hearts, treat lunch meat, spam lunch meat, live bait, we even cut up a gar we caught on dale hollow when we run out of bait. but i've never heard of using soap. but if I live another day I may learn something new.
> sherman


Shermie - not just any soap, Ivory bar soap. Remember, it floats. 
Stick it in the microwave to soften it before cutting it up in cubes.


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## sherman51

Lazy 8 said:


> I lived in central FL for around 3 years. I had the opportunity to talk with an ol boy who supplied a bunch of local restaurants with catfish. This guy would go out in the evening and set out his trotlines. He had these frames made out of wood and every so often there was a notch. He would wind his line I side these frames and the not hes was where there was a hook with bait. No here's where it gets interesting. Every other hook either had cut bait or Ivory soap on the hook. He'd put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave long enough to make it pliable. Then cut it up in little squares the size of dice.
> This was this guys only means of an income, and he caught a LOT of cats.
> Every once and awhile, a huge largemouth.
> Has anybody ever heard of using Ivory soap?


i've just got to ask but what size dice are you measuring with? LOL.

now on another note i've known guys that put cotton balls on treble hooks then put the cotton balls in a ice tray then fill the ice tray with chicken blood and freeze it. then when they went fishing they would put ice in a cooler and off he would go. he caught tons of channels this way. by the time the blood would thaw he would be ready to quit.
sherman


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## Lazy 8

sherman51 said:


> i've just got to ask but what size dice are you measuring with? LOL.
> 
> now on another note i've known guys that put cotton balls on treble hooks then put the cotton balls in a ice tray then fill the ice tray with chicken blood and freeze it. then when they went fishing they would put ice in a cooler and off he would go. he caught tons of channels this way. by the time the blood would thaw he would be ready to quit.
> sherman


Shermie, that reminds me of fishing inter coastal when I got to FL. What a trip that was for a hillbilly from WV. I quickly learned about fishing the incoming high tides. We would stop at the bait store and buy 3 dozen live shrimp and 1/2 pd of frozen squid. If you ran outta shrimp and the fish were still biting, the squid was usually thawed out and ready to use.
One time I forgot the squid in my van from Sat to Mon morning. It sat all day in the hot FL sun. One of THE WORST smell you ever smelled.


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## floater99

I read once where they would put eggs inside of balloons and let them sit in the sun a few days to ripen then put on hook ? poke holes in balloon to let scent out


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## Lewzer

Soap. Just saponified fatty acids, mainly stearic acid. Lots of free fatty acids left in the bar soap. Same components as the fat on a nice fatty steak.
Ivory soap floats as they whip it up with air before it sets up solid. Air is much cheaper to sell than the actual soap so it lowers their cost and increase their profits. It also differentiates them from other bar soaps 130 years ago when they started selling it.


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## Lazy 8

Lewzer said:


> Soap. Just saponified fatty acids, mainly stearic acid. Lots of free fatty acids left in the bar soap. Same components as the fat on a nice fatty steak.
> Ivory soap floats as they whip it up with air before it sets up solid. Air is much cheaper to sell than the actual soap so it lowers their cost and increase their profits. It also differentiates them from other bar soaps 130 years ago when they started selling it.


Thanks Lewzer. I had no idea about all you said but it all makes sense. I guess I'd never questioned it. All I do know is this ol boy made his living catching and selling those catfish. He swore by it.


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## sherman51

Lazy 8 said:


> Shermie, that reminds me of fishing inter coastal when I got to FL. What a trip that was for a hillbilly from WV. I quickly learned about fishing the incoming high tides. We would stop at the bait store and buy 3 dozen live shrimp and 1/2 pd of frozen squid. If you ran outta shrimp and the fish were still biting, the squid was usually thawed out and ready to use.
> One time I forgot the squid in my van from Sat to Mon morning. It sat all day in the hot FL sun. One of THE WORST smell you ever smelled.


thats something you want to do to some people you don't like. but you want to use salmon. we went salmon fishing in Michigan. we had a great trip. filled our coolers. my camper had a storage box in it. we bought a tarp and lined the storage box with the tarp. then put salmon in it with plenty of ice. got home and took the fish out. a few days later and the rotten smell almost knocked me down. I tried everything I could think of to get rid of the smell. the box was covered but that didnt keep the smell out. I owned the camper for a few more yrs. it was still smelling like rotten salmon when I sold it. it wasnt real bad then, but I could still smell them.
sherman


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## multi species angler

Back in the day I've caught channel cats on a soap called sweetheart soap.


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## sherman51

multi species angler said:


> Back in the day I've caught channel cats on a soap called sweetheart soap.


i've heard of people using soap for bait but i've never tried it. but I heard spam or treat was good for catching cats. we set trotlines with chicken livers and spam for bait. they both caught fish but I give the livers thumbs up over the spam. when things get tough i'll stick with livers to get channels to bite.
sherman


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## Lewzer

I'm currently reading a book on Ohio history and I'm in the part about the various industries of the different cities. Here's an interesting ad from P&G from 1884.


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## FlyFishRich

Save a piece so you can wash your hands at the end of the night lol....Rich


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