Catfish Bait Test on New Water - Catfish Fishing on Lake Norman

[Music] well i decided to get out early this morning and go try out a new lake and see just how effective chicken is on some different water i fish lake watery and lake wally a lot with this bait also mountain island but uh lake norman i haven't spent that much time on trying it out since i began using it in 2020 so today we're going to see how strawberry jello chicken performs side by side with white perch on lake norman in north carolina all right guys so here's the deal lake norman is huge it's about 33 000 acres so i've got to narrow down where i'm gonna go i've got a good idea of what i want to try i've got a creek arm that i'm going to go into it's got several forks several branches off of it i'm gonna roll the dice pick one of them go to it and start out there oh y'all know what's in there don't you you know what's in there jello chicken with a few pieces of goodness out um we're going to try it up here on lake norman we're going to see if this stuff works here fishing a place i've never been to before in my life now i've been on the lake but i've never been in this cove this creek arm so i'm gonna give this a try and see if this stuff is universally good i don't know i do know one of my mentors mac byron has used chicken up here for years and it works he swears by it so i'm gonna give the jello combo a try let's see how it performs marked a few fish in here mark some bait i'm gonna see if there's any fish in here that will eat this chicken i'm gonna try this stuff out in some different places different lakes this would be one of them well guys i gave it about 45 minutes never had a bite never had a sniff never had anything on the catfish rodger or the perch rods so i decided to drop my trolling motor in the water i'm going to make a slow troll back through here i'm going even shallower in the back of this creek going to try this out before i make a move i just uh there's still a lot of stuff on the sonar so uh i'll drag some baits through here real slow it may just be a thing where you got to hit them in the face with it especially if they're inactive so give that shot for a while see what happens boom guys got one going right here boom hooked up hooked up baby hooked up it's gonna be a mess a chest got my rods out in a new location the back of the one creek arm i was in was not working i'm in a new place here trying to keep him out of this planer board my chest got in the water there we go there we go good fish good fish there he is there he is [Music] good fish good fish got one in the boat and guys that is on the chicken side just a little fyi a little fyi blue cat like norman blue he's gonna eat them that would be the one to eat right there guys for now it's going back well guys after a couple of hours of fishing that's the first fish i put in the boat i tried that one spot anchored for about 30 or 45 minutes i made a slow drag in the back of that arm of this creek and didn't get a thing came out to some deeper water but i wasn't marking a lot of fish so i came back into the other fork of this creek arm there's more fish back here and uh making a drag through here it looks like more catfish arches too so i put that one in the boat fairly quickly actually before i even got my other baits out so it was good to get one a good lake norman blue it came on chicken was on the chicken side of the boat so uh it's only one in the boat so far but i'm going to keep making this drag out of here wind's kind of intermittent uh it's it's on and off up and down nothing too bad so i should be able to maintain a pretty good drift through here right now pulling through about 12 to 14 feet of water uh pretty good bit of fish on the sonar there's some bait mixed in looks like some uh uh shad uh but it also looks like there's some cats in here so we keep trying this for a while let's see if we can put another one in the boat all right guys i think we got one on the planer ah yes sir hooked up hooked up my pretty good little pull here about 20 minutes since we caught that first fish getting to a little fork in the creek we got a bite got a bite i'll tell you a little funny story after i get this fish in about this little fork here this rod up here i am going to do this the easy way trying to lose the fish in the process keep that line tight you're okay i generally don't do that yeah let's see which way that one's got wanting to go this way are we going still wrapping well that made it worse what a mess that's a pain to get that undone decent blue that one came on perch guys he's a little bit wrapped let's see if i can get him in here in the middle between some lines maybe across the top of the drift sockets if he gets unwrapped he's gonna go nuts he's unwrapped now there he goes let's get over here happy to have it got him in the boat yeah about 12 pound fish that's a good one daisy hey say hey simmer down good fish happy to get him in there back alive boom all right so my funny story about this point a little bit earlier i called my buddy mike who lives up here i always like to call him when i'm up here and say hello see how he's doing he's one of the elder statesmen of the catfish community nationwide and if you've been around catfish world for any length of time you probably saw him on catfish one the old website and uh good guy lives up here on the lake fishes a bunch been a guide uh doesn't guide anymore but uh decided to give him a buzz and uh he asked where i was at and uh that's well i went to a place you probably ain't been into he said what made you go back there and i told him he goes well you're in a good place he said i was in there the other day and i caught some fish and he started telling me about this going up this creek this fork this point and he said when your right side planter board goes across that point you're going to catch fish and there's a fish in there and you know i just kind of laugh so that's good well guess what it's the blader board on that side coming right across that point so thank you mack byrom y'all check his channel out he's got a channel here on youtube matt byrom m-a-c b-y-r-u-m but anyway i got that one in the boat it came on um uh perch so that's two back here i'm gonna keep dragging this i may reset and go a little bit shallower back in there i don't know there's a couple of arms up here in this creek gonna try it no super duper wipers but i'm getting bit catching some fish marking some fish so i'm going to keep pulling through here covering water is the way to go we'll talk about that more in a minute guys i think after about three attempts at eating this bait the fish finally took it i'm getting way into the back of a creek now like about eight feet of water never been at this creek arm in my life but i got a fish likely going to be a channel catch just based on the head shake not on fire as far as the fishing goes today this one is on perch and yes sir it would be a channel cat good looking channel cat too look at that sucker nice digging i made a perch head oh i'm getting my perch head back fella sorry about that i hate to do that to you second lace there oh some sharp bristles dang that one's in there good roll that one out there nice healthy channel like alive that's only three fish guys three fish a long long bout of fishing here i'm gonna put these baits back i'm gonna put this one back out and drag this out just ain't just ain't on fire but i'm not quitting three fish two on perch all right guys there's number three in the boat my grand experiment here trying to find some fish uh i'm gonna pull this on into the back of this creek here until it pretty much narrows down into nothing it's getting shallow back here only about six feet not expecting a lot but just gonna check it out i'm gonna go back out and try the other side of that fork yeah the bite's not on fire i'm working a lot of fish don't know if it's bait i don't know if it's presentation don't know if it's time of day don't know if things have just closed down a bit it's pretty cold this morning uh we've got a pretty cool morning uh so not really sure what it is but i'm gonna keep on fishing keep on covering some water that's one of the things about trolling drifting dragging whatever you want to call it moving baits through the water with a boat it's a good way to cover water and try to figure stuff out and uh so far about the only thing i figured out is it seems like the backs of the creeks have done better than some of the deeper waters so uh that's it for now gonna keep experimenting see if i can dial it in a little all right guys i think i got one with the fish on it yeah sadly i think that fish is in about three other lines nature of the beast i guess yep it's at least in one maybe another one this was on the uh chicken side a little head shake [Music] all right i wonder he's coming in heavies all wrapped up there we go chicken just fell off he should be hooked good enough to get in the boat it's a good channel kit it's a good channel kit we'll take those all day long baby happy to get one number four two a piece two on chicken two on perch all right guys where do you start on a body of water this lake's 33 000 acres even in the fastest boat you can't cover it all in today so where do you start um i try to find an area that gives me a lot of options on this particular lake i went to a creek arm in the upper end of the lake uh generally this time of year springtime uh fish generally speaking we'll move to the upper ends of these reservoirs and up into these creeks a lot of it has to do with the migration of the spawn going in shallower water to seek out spawning areas a lot of fish make a traditional spawning run in the springtime and they go upstream so those are things that kind of make me lean in that direction not that there's not fish on other parts of the lake there always are but that's what i try to do and then i get into these areas trying to uh you know generally this time of year springtime fish are going to be shallow i'm not looking for the deepest part of these creek arms so today's deal i kind of started in the back and worked out deeper found that very quickly as i got out to that 30 foot water i wasn't marking anything on the stone arm i wasn't getting eat up in the shallow water but i was getting bit what's catching fish was marking fish so that's kind of my strategy kind of what i'm doing today uh and just kind of you know not all creek arms not all creeks are created equal for a variety of reasons everything from the water that runs into them uh the the oxygen the minerals the food everything they're all a little different so you may have to hop around that's kind of what it did today did some uh hopping around to some different places and uh so far i found a few that are body all right guys got one going on perch this time just got that other rod back out baited up had this one go it's not a monster it feels like it's probably gonna be a channel cat again but definitely seems to be something back here just happy to finally catch some fish i'm getting into shallower and shallower water back here it's only about eight feet deep yes sir channel catapalooza is he flippable yet there it is flipping like crazy flipping like crazy it's back and forth perch and chicken perks and chicken yes no blues though down back alive guess what some perch a bite on the perch not a good sign guys perch is winning here lake norman perch is winning god i hope mac byron doesn't watch this video he will be upset 30 pound andy monofilament line ripping lips super cat spinning rod and a pc fun chaos spinning reel got blue we got us a blue semi-simmer simmer simmer get off your fin exercise blue cat eater-sized blue cat there he is good-looking fish good-looking fish back alive well i made a move to uh the back of that other creek arm i was talking about i rode all the way into the back super shallow water and i didn't mark a lot so i came back out here where it opens up a little bit and i decided to make a pull through here and put that fish in the boat about 10 minutes into the drift so that's uh that's at least uh inspiring i guess uh i'm gonna keep making a pull through here there's fish scattered through here there's not as much bait but there appear to be more catfish arches down on the bottom so we will see if we can produce some fish here it's just dragging real slow about a half a mile an hour and uh you know a good spread equal baits out again with the chicken and the perch and uh chicken was doing pretty good for a while purse has kind of gotten to the lead that's okay i decided to fish kind of back in these creeks a little bit uh there's a lot of stuff moving back into the backs of creeks right now in the spring crappie perch uh bass other fish shad that are moving in here to feed and uh so are the catfish catfish will follow and feed on them so that's kind of the uh thought process on why i'm fishing where i'm at so i'm gonna pull this a little while longer see if we can pluck one more out of here before we're done let's check this planer board it was i caught that last fish it was kind of funky too big fish on it does not feel like there's any fish i'm gonna on sure though that it's cool with it sure we didn't have a hitchhiker on here nope no hitchhikers but it does look like my cork is blowing apart that's interesting i don't know if the fish did that or it got hung up in something kind of crazy at the end of the world we will just put the peg the bottom of it it'll be good to fish be honest with you sometimes that uh sometimes that wobble kind of i had a oop there there's a rod right there that wobble can be good for getting fish to hit that one's a good fish that's a good fish it's actually a better fish guys that one stays hooked up yeah sometimes the uh wobble to a cork it seems like i get bit on so i had one on for a while that i was catching a lot of fish on but to finally get snagged it up and lost it this sucker is going to the other side yes it's acting like a better fish guys and this one is on chicken red rail is a pc fun carnivore it's on that ripping lips super cat rod oh yeah it's a good blue good blue good blue good blue oh stood here baby all right guys i'm going to try to buga grip this fish oh yeah that's a good blue i might net him i think he's a little bigger than i thought oh i can get him with the bugger i can do it i can do it i can do it i think i can do it ah come here oh i'm gonna lose it i'm gonna lose him stop stop stop stop it's a good fish guys look right in the bottom of the mouth bam got him out oh yeah well into the teens nice fish guys that's a great one there look at that came on the chicken boys came on the chicken that would grip out he's losing some blood that whole bottom of his jaw started bleeding all of a sudden dead gun let's get him back swimming off good i thought i got that he was hooked in the bottom of the mouth and uh came out fine but sometimes they bleed best thing to do get them back in the water as quick as you can man that was a good fish right there it's a good bite uh came on the chicken biggest fish of the day on the chicken i think we may have i think we've got a total of about seven fish i want to say four came on the perch i think that's right i'll have to go back and add it up but the biggest one definitely on the chicken good slamming bite on that uh again i i think this stuff works pretty much anywhere where there's muscles in the water uh it just seems to me from the feedback i've been getting from people is that if you've got muscles clams any of that stuff whether they're natural or invasive stuff seems to work and i i think it has more to do with the fact that just the the chemical makeup of it i think that is what the attraction is and why it works but definitely works up here and uh definitely working today covered a lot of water there's some like i said there's some fish in here some good arches i wonder how this would have been earlier in the day had i been out here first thing early i spent a lot of time in that one creek probably shouldn't have but was just kind of doing some prospecting and honestly guys that's kind of what you have to do in a lot of these situations is uh you can ride around and ride around and try to find arches and fish um that's okay if you got time to do it but sometimes you just gotta fish because you never know some of the places without a lot of markings and a lot of you know arches and fish everywhere sometimes produce some of the bigger fish not always the most but you know it can happen so my point is sometimes you just gotta fish and that's what i did this morning should i could i shoulda shoulda coulda woulda you know probably could have wasted some time and done that who knows i might have looked in one or two places not seen a lot and left completely and never even looked in here so that is what it is uh you know you guys bank fishing is totally different animal you can't do that and i mean you look around me on this lake there's no place to bank fish unless you're in one of these houses uh there's not a lot of options for bank fishing so uh you're a lot more limited but yeah on a boat you can cover some water and move and check some stuff out definitely the the pattern i presumed was working with fish being in the creeks and the backs of creeks that's what's happening here and that's what's paying off so uh pretty decent day it was hard to get to this point had to work at it not exactly on fire but caught some fish and uh i'm not complaining you know one of the things i think people get confused about uh when they see me using this chicken for catfish bait and they they think it's a replacement for natural baits from the water such fish and it's not but it is a very good alternative in many places it's hard to beat natural bait from the waters you fish but if any baits ever done it it's been the chicken whether the strawberry jello has anything to do with it i don't know but it has outperformed natural cut baits repeatedly time after time and i'm fishing these baits side by side on this boat one side of the boat has natural cut bait i've tried it with perch i've tried it with crappie i've tried it with shad on the other side i've got an equal number of rods doing the exact same same thing so is this isn't guessing this isn't i think it's better this is side by te side by side test repeatedly not just one day not just one trip this is many many many trips uh probably i probably ran it on the last half of last year's guy trips there's probably 50 guy trips i ran in them uh but my point is i'm not saying don't ever use shad again don't ever use skipjack again those baits work great they're great baits but for you guys that may be struggling to get bait you can't throw a cast in it you've got an injury you can't throw you don't have a place to throw it don't have any shad where you're at uh you know where you have access to fish it's an alternative something you can get out there and fish with and something you can have a pretty good confidence in that you're going to catch fish and it's something you can at least start the day fishing with you may get to the water go oh i can net some shad i can catch some bluegill i catch some skipjack where i'm at great you've got that and you've got the chicken as a backup or as i you know a starter bait something to jumpstart so just a little uh info there so to make sure everybody understands the perspective on all this a lot of people get bent out of shape about it i i've had some some big time pro staff catfish tournament guys or like it's like their feelings are hurt uh that people are catching fish on it and uh shouldn't be that way should be happy to see people catching fish especially people new to sport new people to the sport of the future and uh the more we can get them fishing and most of all catching uh we all benefit from that well folks if you made it this far thank you for watching here are a couple more videos that i think you're gonna like i'd watch that one and then that one no do do that one first and then that one i just watch them both they're both good

Channel: Dieter Melhorn Fishing

Views: 8,355

Rating: 4.9433427 out of 5

Keywords: Catfish Bait Side by Side Test on Lake Norman, Catfish Bait Side by Side Test, fishing for catfish on Lake Norman, dieter melhorn, catfish on lake Norman, catfishing lake norman, catfish bait test, lake norman catfish, fishing for catfish, Catfish, strawberry Jello chicken breast catfish bait, best catfish bait, chicken breast catfish bait, chicken catfish bait, chicken for catfish bait, catfishing, how to catch catfish, catfishing tips, Tips for catching catfish

Id: 2XC0OchpDFc

Length: 29min 33sec (1773 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 21 2021