- 1). Create the right environment. When baiting a catfish hole, presentation is everything. In the world of catfish, a presentable environment is one that smells horrible and has an abundance of readily available food. Catfish are a rather docile species, and if they come across such an area they will tend to stay there for awhile as well as accumulate in numbers. Keep this in mind when baiting your catfish hole.
- 2). Prepare the bait that you will chum your fishing area with. Chumming is taking some type of bait or fish attractor, and throwing it into the area you are fishing in an attempt to bring more fish into the area. The most common method for creating this catfish chum is by fermenting maize or corn. Take a five-gallon bucket and fill it with maize, leaving the maize about an inch from the top. Then fill the bucket to the top with water and leave it outside. The key to this process is fermentation. If the weather is warm and sunny, your maize will be properly ferment within a week; however, if it is a little cooler, it might be better to let it sit for another week. Some anglers add a couple bottles of beer to the mix to increase the odor and assist the fermentation process.
- 3). Chum the fishing hole. Some fishermen chum the hole the day before, which is a good idea; however, a hole can be baited sufficiently a couple hours before being fished. Take the fermented maize and toss scoops of it into you fishing hole (usually a channel or underwater tree stump). Depending on the size of the hole, it should only take four to five cup-size (eight oz.) scoops. To saturate the water even more, throw some dog food into the area as well. This increases the abundance of food and the overall pungency of the water. Continue chumming the hole with your maize or dog food catfish bait every half-hour while fishing.
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