What do you feed perch or sunfish caught in a lake and what are some good catfish bait recipies?

Question

I know to bring home the lake water they live in and I know to keep container open to the air and cool, but what do I feed them? I need to keep them alive in a big ice chest for about a week to use as catfish bait the following weekend.

Answer 1

Here's a good catfish bait recipe, here's how ya make it: Get some chicken breast and cut it up in pieces (about the size for a hook). Then put it in a ziplock bag. Get some kind of red kool aid (strawberry or cherry) and poor the powder in the ziplock bag. Then shake it up real good to were all the chicken is red. Then put it in the freezer until your ready to go fishing. It really does work. Well atleast it did for me. Try it. And for the sunfish, It will probably be pretty hard to keep them alive for a whole week in an ice chest.

Answer 2

Feed them nightcrawlers

Answer 3

First off, if you're in the habit of keeping live fish for bait, I'd suggest buying a small air pump and an air stone to keep the oxygen levels up. The bubbles keep the surface disturbed and will dissolve more oxygen than surface exposure alone.  As far as feeding, niether are picky at all.  I've kept perch and sunfish of various sizes as pets and I've never had much trouble with feeding. Perch and bluegill will eat almost anything that'll fit in their mouths. Since they came out of the lake, you'll definitely have no problem with anything live like worms or guppies. If it moves, they'll hit it. Otherwise, you can try various fish foods like flakes and pellets but they may take a little while to figure it out.

As for catfish bait recipes, I'd say anything goes. All in all, catfish will eat anything so you can't really go wrong. I caught a handfull of decent sized catfish on leftover fried okra one weekend last year. If you can shop around a bit, something with plenty of scent like liver or even store bought stink bait is great, but those are best for situations where you're going to set the bait out and forget about it for a while such as trot lines. In any case, you're going to use treble hooks and lots of time. If you want to try and get something a little quicker, live bait like small to medium sized fish (1''-3''), crayfish, or water dogs (salamanders) are your best bet. The downside is that you need to pick good spots. Places with timber, deep rocky areas near dams, or undercut banks. Basically, you're counting on the bait moving around a bit and attracting nearby catfish. When I want catfish, I lay out a couple of strong, secure lines baited with liver around some timber with floats to keep the bait half a foot or a foot off the bottom or the weedbed. I leave them alone for a while (maybe even a matter of half a day). Then I go find a good deep place (like the aforementioned dam) and throw out waterdogs or small fish with weights to take them to the bottom. Just be sure to hook the bait carefully to avoid killing it too quickly.

Answer 4

Can't really give ya much info on the perch and sunfish feed without going into some discussion about it, but many fish feeders use sinking fish food pellets.

You should check your local and state regulations concerning keeping them as pets. And what it takes to humanely care for them.

Catfish bait- Got lots of them

Cheap hotdogs (not smokeys)

Cheese and bread- Mix one pinch of bread and one equal size pinch of sharp cheese to form a grape size doughball.

Any cut bait  (heads and all)

Liver- Chicken, turkey and beef

Garlic, anise, cayenne, vanilla extract- (Add any or all of these in any combination to the Ingredients above.)

Strawberry Koolaid- (add this to dough balls) Mix unsweetened strawberry kool aid with a little less water as it normally calls for and mix with flour and any other dough ball ingredients such as garlic cheese dough balls.

The stinkier, the better... If it makes you gag, catfish love it.

Answer 5

.Fish, like humans, need oxygen. They won't make it if you don't have some type of aerator.

Answer 6

I think you can feed them just regular fish food. That's what bait shop owners feed minnows so that should work. For catfish bait go and buy a container of beef liver. Chicken liver is also good but beef liver is better because it bleeds more, is more durable, and stays on a hook better. When you get the beef liver keep it in the container you bought it in and set it outside but out of the sun because the sun dries up the liver and makes it lose its stink. Then just cut it up into pieces small enough to put on a treble hook. Good luck and good catching!