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Lake Elephant Butte

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Email Jake

Our Club Co- Founder, Fishing Partner, and WebMaster Jim
at Ski Apache
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Catfish Formula

Here is a sure fire way to knock out some good channel cats at Elephant Butte Lake or your home lake. When the water heats up in the summer we try our luck at baiting holes and fishing with a number one "Bob's Cheese Punch Bait", or shrimp. 
Chum Formula:
At your local feed store you can buy a sack of wheat which costs around $6.50 here. This 50# sack will do about 4 five gallon buckets. Take a five gallon bucket and fill it a little over half way with the dried wheat kernels. Fill the bucket with water about 2 inches over the top of the wheat. Add a cup of sugar and a can of beer to the bucket (the beer is not necessary but will speed up the process of fermentation). Close the bucket with the lid tightly. In 24 hours open the bucket and ad some more water, about one inch over the mixture. Close the lid tightly and let sit in the sun for about 3 to 4 days. The mixture will be fermented and will stink real good.
Fishing Formula: We pick two to four spots that we have caught cats in the past and chum an area. I like open water off long points this time of year in 20 to 25 feet of water. Make up a buoy of a small clear bottle with some line and about 8 oz of weight. This buoy will not be easily seen by other anglers.  Chum the area where the buoy is with the soured wheat. There are two techniques that I use to chum, I use a chum sock which comes in a roll and fill about 1.5 feet of the sock with the chum. Tie off both ends and tie it to the buoy and toss the whole mess (and I do mean mess, it stinks a bunch) into the water. Cast out about 4 cups of the chum mix around the buoy. If you do not have the chum sock then toss your buoy and cast out about 6 to 8 cups of chum around the buoy. 
Now go to the next hole and do the same. I like to bait about 3 holes. In about an hour from when you baited the first hole go back to that first hole and anchor up over the buoy and start to fish. I like Bobs bait and pealed shrimp as bait. If you use a stink or punch bait, use a #4 treble hook. If you are using shrimp, use a small piece of shrimp on a single hook. 
Drop your bait to the bottom and crank up just off the bottom and wait for a bite. Some times the fish are not in that area and you move on to the next. You will eventually find where the cats are hanging around and you will most always catch your limit. 
I hope that this helps you catch more and bigger fish and if you have any questions please email me at jjacoby@zianet.com
Good Catchin, Jake

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