You guys who catch over 100 coon a season. What is your prefered bait to take big numbers of coon? Do you switch up baits from earlier in the season to mid to late season???

Thanks for any info

Kevlar

I use the same bait all season. I have started running 70% blind set 30% baited set over the past few year though. This season I did change some things by making dirt holes for coons on pond levees. I took 4 big boar coons out of one dirt hole set using fox lure.

When you use baited sets what is your prefered bait?

KEv

Didnt catch 100 coon but carp and sucker was cheap,quick and easy to pop in a pocket set or dirthole.

All baited pocket sets in the fall with chunked carp or bullheads, my winter coni box line i run muskrat.

Fish, and muskrat. A fish oil trail will help alot.

I have used ground up ocean fish is pocket sets and baited 220 cubbies, but I have found a bait that I like better. It's called Blackie's Fatal Attraction, and it's a loud shellfish bait. For me it gets way better results... I've used it in a pvc set, a cage trap, and a pocket set. It might cost a litle more, but it doesn't take much at each set to get results, and the fur starts adding up. Just my opinion.

that fatal attraction is some good stuff. I like for the coon to see that big chunk of bait though, I think it makes them work the set a little better leading to better catch percentages, IMO. Espeacially in cold weather, you bein in MI and all we have close to the same weather, I believe big bait works well in cold when the coons are real hungry. Good luck.

puss-n-boots canned catfood is cheap, one can, can make quite a few sets, and it's put alot of coon up on stretchers for me.

This is the first year i ever got over a 100,The majority were caught in canine sets with fox lure.

Early I use ground carp suckers with acouple oz of sweet oil added to it such as persimmon or cherry or anise or a combo of two of them.Put your choice of oil in 6-8 oz of glycerine and dump in ice cream bucket of ground fish and mix up.
The other bait I use from nov 15th on is muskrat chunks in small buckets and dump in my favorite canine bait solution.This really hammers coon and works on mink and even an otter once in a while.This one has very little prep time so its fast and easy.

Mellows and Grizzers!

Cheepest bait around.

trout scraps from the local trout farm, then whatever muskrats get caught are used for bait also.

The problem I have down here is spoilage. I use to keep my bait frozen till I needed it. The problem with that is in a few days in the North Louisiana weather and you are catching possums. I read and article a few years ago in the T&P Caller about how this guy salted his bait to keep it through the season without having to freeze it. Well I tried it, and guess what. It not only worked to keep it through the season, but it keeps it fresh on the side of a tree, in a pocket set, or even a dirt hole. I did have problems this season with the fish from last year drying out to much and not having any or enough smell. I think it was because I put a lid on it and sealed it off to the out side air and humidity. I can shake the salt off and carry it to my sets in a small bag or how every. Once at the set all I have to do it dip in water and get it wet, the smell is back. Just make sure you use a plastic bucket.

Bullhead heads with a few drops of shellfish oil mixed together in ice cream buckets. Freeze them up and thaw out the night before you make sets. This will keep them fresh. I think coon prefer fresh bait over tainted.

over 100 coons this yr on nothing but lure,i like to mix it up with ringtail renegade,shellfish plus and skys the limit

What are yall calling bull heads? Down here a bull head is a mud cat catfish. I figure that this is the difference in the region. Just wondering.

Yes, I believe you are right.

Bull head, mudcat....same thing.

bullheads maybey a member of the catfish family, but they are different from a mudcat,bluecat,channel catfish--bull heads taste better IMO-they dont get very big as a rule, though i have caught a 5 lber when i was a kid
good luck

What the locals here in NC call a mudcat is a bullhead in New York. That's all I know

BTW..the taste just as good too!

All bullheads aren't created equal either...I don't remember which species..but the big ones I used to catch in Oneida Lake NY were no where NEAR as good as the little ones from the creeks!

Here's three different species of bullheads...

http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/fish/fishspecs/catfitxt.html#brownbullhead

...and here's pics of some good eating NC MUDCATS:

The trick to catching big #'s of coon is you have to be where there is a big # of coon.

caught 117 and worked my butt off to do it...used bluegills and salmon /shellfish oil for lure

ran out of gills and switched to salmon at the end of season...


GLEN is right,,if you dont have 'em . ya cant catch em

some very true comments on this post in northeast pa one would have a very hard time catching 100 coon weather and population are big factors up here i like to use lure only because i dodnt like to mess with bait when i run a mixed line but i dont catch nowhere near 100 coon 20-30 if i get lucky

i caught 50 this year on just bluegills crappie and muskrat meat with spiked fish oil as lure

Location is the key along with having the population to catch that many. Myself, I am almost a 100% lil griz user. I use big marshmallows along with Red O'Hearns coon bait #1, Blackies Fatal Attraction, Blackies Fur King and lots of times just marshmallows and no other bait. I took well over 100 with the griz this year, first time ever cracking that mark.

sardines

i didnt catch 100 only 67
i used a bait recipe that Rich Kaspar of RK trapline products gave me, you can get all the ingredents here:
http://www.rktraplineproducts.com/index.htm
he's caught 93 coon in one day, so when he gave it to me for free you better believe i listened!
makes 3-4 gallons
6lbs. ground ocean fish
1/2 gal. mineral oil (this acts as an antifreeze)
1/2 pint shellfish oil
1 gal fish oil
2 cups pickling salt (preserves bait and helps to antifreeze too)
mix in 5 gal bucket with 1/2" drill and a drywall paddle.
i ran it in pocket sets and baited bucket sets
i was really pleased with the way it worked.
i think cost was around $50
but when you consider how much some prepared bait costs, it doesnt seem all that bad.

Glen hit the nail on the head. You also have to be willing to work hard for an extended period of time, keep the traps on the move, use good quality lure and bait, and make good sets on the hottest locations, then pray for favorable weather. I prefer a prepaired paste type bait over chunk bait. the coon cant just run off with all the bait at once should he not be caught right away. A prepaired bait keeps him at the set longer. Mine is just canned fish flavored cat food, Jack Mackeral, Mollasses fortifier, Fish oil, Shellfish oil, and banana extract, and sometimes dry catfood as a filler. I have taken as many as 93 coon in one night with this bait and one of my lures mixed with fish oil.

I catch 200-300 coons every year and use nothing but a little shot (4 or 5 drops) of shellfish oil as lure with a little shelled corn on either side of the traps. Not nearly as messy as puss-in-boots or fish heads. BTW, we don't have a large population of coons here!

Hey Lufkin, Coon have very short attention spans. Your probably having some coon walk by for lack of interest. A smorgasboard of odors is needed to make most of the coon work the set rather than some. You could probably take 500-600 if you gave them a little more than a few drops and just corn. A buddy of mine traps Texas for 2 weeks and kills about 300 coon every year using a lot of smell.

No, Dave, I don't think even you could catch that many coon down here.lol I mainly set the small streams not over 3 or 4 feet wide, so I know if I miss one, I don't miss him by much.lol I really like my streams to be even more narrow than that.I don't know where your buddy traps, but he must not be where I am. If you can find where more than a couple of coons have walked a stream, you're doing pretty good.Then, again, maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about.lol

a couple drops per set? i squirt it all over mybe 2 oz per set

bwilson, my wife can smell one drop on me from 100 yards away, so I assume a coon that makes his living by smelling out the good stuff can smell 4 or 5 drops from a distance of 4 or 5 feet.You notice I said ASSUME.lol

My point was that shellfish is but one odor not several and it often takes several to peak a coons interest. If the coon are walking in the water how do you know if they are working the set or not? My buddy traps east texas.

I've never tried a bait that didn't get some walk-bys from coon....even when I am CERTAIN they can smell it. I trap mostly tiny creeks 1 or two feet wide, with one, two or three coon working them.

For me...it's not a consideration as I have a pathetic limit of 30 coon. I could catch that opening day if I wanted...so I don't bother with lure....

But...I think Dave is certainly on to something with his idea of many smells to keep their attention.

Dang, Dave, you're making me feel bad about myself now. I trap in east Tx.too, and I just can't seem to find them in those numbers. I am pretty good at seeing sign. I have been chasing these east Tx, coons for over 30 years and, trust me, I can tell you they aren't there in those numbers. Perhaps I'm trapping behind your buddy.lol

I know he isnt too far from the Louisianna line. Maybe he found a pocket where the numbers are better. Course hes part Irish and ya know the good luck they have. I'm sure your a top notch cooner, just saying that in my experience more smell and different smells mixed have far and away been more productive for me than less smell and only one but the water doesnt always flow the same under every bridge if ya know what I mean. LOL

use mainly blind sets here with a few SMEAR sets in high percentage areas

Thanks, Dave. I do still enjoy it, but I'm getting a little too old to keep up the pace anymore. I run a road line of 165 miles, but I can't do as much walking as I used to, so I am kinda limited to whatever is close to the road. We can't set within the right-of-way in Tx. so all sets do involve some walking.

Dang, your a hard work'in son of a gun. All my coon trapp'in is out of a boat. Not much walk'in involved. My hats off to ya for your tenacity and ability!!

from what I've seen in texas a guy ought to be able to run a line in and around a bunch corn feeders and catch about as many coons as he can handle. You would have to get permission on a bunch of deer leases, but after their corn bill went down I'm sure it would be easy to get permissions.

One night near Lake Jackson, I flicked on my hog light and counted 18 sets of coon eyes in the area around a corn feeder.

Hey Dave arn't you doing a coon seminar at the FTA?

Mike Maryshada's shellfuish Bait..I carry a pocketfull of craft sticks or popsicle sticks and put bait on stick and shove into ground in back of pocket or on a high bank I put it above trap. It stinks like shellfish and works like shellfish. I will lat a fish oil trail at times. One jar goes an awful long way, keeps Mike employed and out of the woods and streams so it helps conserve wildlife.....I think 3 jars for 12 bucks and it will last for a hundred sets or more my way...Mac~

Anything with fish in it. You can catch a lot of them late season on fox or coyote lures. I like baits, and have caught many with fish oil squirted on a bank that they are forced to go by.

If using bullheads for bait be careful Frozen bullhead fins become like razors, and will slash your hand open as you are getting them out of the freezer. Also when using them on the line, they will poke holes in gloves, etc. I would recommend you snip the fins off before you even freeze them for bait. Will save you some pain later.

EXPERIENCE TALKING