Zote soap. Big, pink bar of soap that has a high percentage of animal fat. I've been using chunks about the size of a sugar cube.
Where does one find Zote soap?
Walzmart
Is it really called zote soap?
Yep. Zote is a Mexican brand of laundry soap that come in 14oz bars. Pink stuff is what you want. They make flakes and a white bar as well.
It's actually a good soap as well, believe it or not
Yep. Cheap, strong, and if you look at the ingredients list it's just tallow (animal fat) lye, scent, and dye. Very basic. The theory is that the cats are attracted to the fat. Some guys mix blood or some other attractant in. My thoughts are I'd you're going to go through too much effort you're better off with cut bait or live.
I'll take some pics tomorrow. I'm not 100% where I want to be, but I have a pretty good setup I think
I had 2 cataulpa trees in the yard at house I lived in the last 2 years. I've tried them and never could catch much if anything on them. But more than once I'd have people stop and ask if they could pick them because they were the best bait ever.
If you have a lot of low hanging branches or acces to some pvc conduit you can run limb lines, unless you're dead set on a trotline. Buy some tarred nylon (doesn't have to be tarred), masons line works too. A few sinkers (weight depends on current or use no sinkers) I've used nuts, bolts or whatever I can tie on the line too for weight. Tie a loop in one end of the line with weight and hook on the other and about 12" leader. Make your loop big enough to fit your bait, hook and weight through. Make your lines arm spread length long or longer depending on branches/pvc pipe in the bank. Girth hitch your lines around the branch or pipe and I like to mark mine with some bright duct tape so I can see em (plus ours here are supposed to be tagged.) Springy branches or pvc are probably the best because they'll set the hook like a fishing pole but aren't necessary. Make sure the current won't take your rig down into a pile of branches and get all tangled plus it's easier checking em on the downstream side and going into the current. Tie on a swivel if you're getting into big cats or your line is wimpy. I use a pool noodle/pipe insulation to wrap my lines around for storage plus if I drop it off the kayak it floats and it's easy to retrieve. I use cut bait mainly but might give the soap a try for pan fryers. Good luck!
suckers are catfish candy. we put on the biggest ones we can catch whole and drop em down. hold on tight!
The river I fish is very similar, it's not that deep but just in a few spots, probably averages 5-6 ft. Best places to fish it are on the downstream side of a shoal. Right where it gets back 3-4 ft deep off that shoal is where we put our lines, running parallel to the shoal, usually try to tie off on roots or trees but sometimes have to drive a post in the bank. Hooks are 18-24 inches apart, drops are 6-8 inches from the line and the weights will be 12-14 inches from the line. Like the bait to be 6 inches or so off the bottom. Usually use goldfish or minnows, but beef liver, stink bait, hot dogs and soap all work.
