The Fort Worth Star Telegram ran an article on North Texas Catfish Guide Service and Redneck’s Catfish Bait Soap in the Sunday June 21st 2009 edition. Here is the text from the article.
Catfish bait business is sweet success for Saginaw fishing guide – and that’s no lye
By ART CHAPMANSpecial to the Star-Telegram
Bass fishing reigns supreme in Texas. There’s no doubt about that. Just wander through the aisles at any big sporting goods store and measure the shelf space for bass tackle against that for any other kind of fishing. It won’t even be close.
And over in the corner, probably on a lower shelf, there will be about a 3-foot space for catfish paraphernalia — some treble hooks, sinkers, a few corks, maybe, and stink bait. Yet fishing for catfish ranks second in popularity among Texas anglers, and it seems to be gaining.
“There’s definitely been an increase in interest in catfish fishing in the last four or five years,” said Chad Ferguson, a professional fishing guide from Saginaw. “There has been a heightened awareness about it; some of the bigger fish have had a lot of exposure. Look in the fishing magazines and you’ll find tons of exposure for the trophy blue cats and flathead cats.”
Bass get big in Texas, but you’re not going to pull a 30-pounder off the bottom of the lake.
The economics of catfish fishing are becoming important as well. As popular as bass fishing is, it remains a relatively expensive sport, especially if anglers decide to go the tournament route.
That requires a substantial boat with a fast motor to cover as much lake in as little time as possible. It is critical in bass fishing tournaments to be able get from one spot to another quickly.
“Bass fishing can be a lot of work, too,” Ferguson said. “It’s not easy standing up on the front of that boat chucking lures all day. Not everyone enjoys that. And they don’t enjoy the numbers game, either. Catching seven or eight fish a day bass fishing represents a phenomenal day, but at certain times a year, I could put 100 catfish in the boat in a couple of hours.”
Marketing is probably what keeps catfish behind bass when it comes to popularity. Fishing for catfish is a pretty simple endeavor that can be done from a jon boat or a riverbank. It can be done with trotlines, or jug lines, or with lines tied to overhanging tree limbs. You can sit in one spot and do it, or you can move from one channel to another.
There are limited products that can be marketed for catfish, Ferguson said. “I’ve been fishing for catfish all my life. I do it as a guide, and my tackle box is about the size of a lunch pail — some sinkers, swivels and corks, and a chartreuse slab. That’s it.”
But that’s not really it. Another unusual aspect about fishing for catfish is the long history of homemade baits. Normally, the idea of catfish bait conjures up images of nose-burning, stomach-churning stink bait. The recipe for stink bait is usually to find something that smells bad from the start, mix it with other bad-smelling things and leave it all in the sun until the container rots away. Then, dip a treble hook in it, yank it out and throw it in the water.
Another kind of catfish bait that has been around as long as stink bait is lye soap. Old timers swear by it, and they say Procter & Gamble used to make the best. They don’t anymore, but Ferguson does, and his bait business now occupies about as much of his time as his guide business does.
“I grew up fishing Possum Kingdom Lake and Eagle Mountain Lake — fished them all my life — with my father and grandfather. They used lye soap,” he said. “About 10 years ago, I found an old recipe and got to tinkering with it. I went through about 15 batches of bad bait before I got one to set up right. I threw out hundreds of pounds of bait, five pounds at a time.”
Eventually, he got it right and started using it in his guide business. Customers and friends wanted some, so he gave it away. “It was one of those things that got out of control,” he said. “It was never meant to be a business.”
Now, Redneck’s Catfish Bait Soap is a pretty good seller. He sometimes makes 600-pound batches in a week, using a “big tub and mixing it with a boat paddle,” and has a hard time keeping up. He’s looking into some new machinery that will allow him to produce 2,500 pounds at a time. “I used to wrap it up in butcher’s paper and a piece of masking tape,” he said. “Now, I’ve gone to Ziploc bags.”
It can be ordered online, or from a few distributors. He said Olsen’s Pro-Am Fishing Shop on Roberts Cut-Off Road is his oldest distributor. “She was the first one to sell it for me, and I always make sure she gets a supply,” he said.
Ferguson said he wants to make sure the bait business doesn’t get too big. “I do 95 percent of it myself,” he said. “My 10-year-old son, Lane, and my wife, Leanne, help me sometimes, and sometimes I get some of the neighborhood kids here in Saginaw to help. But my wife and son are the only ones beside me who know what goes in the soap.”
It’s not “rocket science,” he said. It is just lye and animal fat, but with a few flavors and seasonings added. Those additions are what make some baits work, and why some don’t.
It depends on the time of year also,” he said. “Spring and summer, when everybody wants to start fishing, I have a hard time making it. The weather has to be just right?…?too cold or too humid, and it won’t work. So, I make bait when I can, and I run fishing trips in between.”
Bass fishing in Texas is big, but the catfish business for Ferguson is pretty good, too.
For more information
Lye-soap bait: catfishbaitsoap.com Chad Ferguson’s fishing guide service: txcatfishguide.com
