live bait Vs homemade baits

I mainly fish for carp but will catch a fair share of cats on certain baits. I make a good portion of my own baits and for carp I try to match whatever the food source on the lake is so will use fishmeal (ground bait) and other fishy flavors in my baits. I find that when the cats move in the carp soon follow or vice versa.

If your fishing for Flatheads live baits is the only way to go. I prefer creek chubs up to 6-7 inches, fat & lively.Flats are predators @ the top of the aquatic food chain, they want live fish for dinner. For channels it's more home made i guess....when your Flathead bait dies (creek chubs) step on it & run a hook thru ,your good to go.If your chub is too big you just got yourself 2 baits. Some times bass & gars will bash the daylights out of your chubs, don't throw em' away take them home & freeze them. They'll be ready made bait for your next channel cat trip.Also can't beat chicken livers for channels either, they freeze right in the container, adds ice to the cooler (helps keep beer & pops cold) , if frozen several times can get a little tuffer, they are less likely to spoil this way & can be used several times (less waste). Just remember to get them out of the freezer a little while ahead of time.I guess.... If your a chicken farmer they'll be home made.

if available ill use cut bait over just about anything out there...have caught monster channels and flats on cut bait. easier to deal with then live bait. 

good point
 

cut shad or skipjack. cant get anything better.

Hotdogs are hard to keep the turtles off of.  Many people think flats will ONLY eat live bait which isnt true.  Many of my flats in the prespawn come from cut gills or cut trout.  Usually its hard to catch flats on cut bait post spawn (when most people start headin out anyway).  On most of the river you can catch small and medium channels on livers, but its hard to catch bigger channels (over 7#) on livers.  Usually the big ones come from cut bait.