Stink & Punch Baits
Commercial stink and punch baits are weaponized fermentation - cheese-and-secrets pastes that channel cats follow like sirens, applied with a stick so your hands survive.
Somewhere past chicken liver on the scent spectrum live the commercial stink baits - fermented cheese doughs and 'punch' pails you press a bare treble into with a stick (never fingers; the smell outlives soap). Undignified? Completely. But on a summer channel-cat river, the dip-worm-and-punch-bait rig converts scent into fish with industrial efficiency.
What it catches
Channel catfish (the entire target market) and bullheads; blues occasionally; nothing else will go near it, which is honestly a feature.
Getting & keeping it
Tackle shops and legendary regional brands; it keeps indefinitely sealed - and must STAY sealed in transport for reasons your car will explain otherwise.
How to rig it
Punch bait: press a bare treble into the pail with a stick, pull out coated blob, lob gently. Dip bait: a ribbed rubber 'dip worm' holds the paste. Slide-sinker rigs, downstream scent lanes, rod in holder.
When it shines
Warm water (the scent engine runs on heat), summer evening banks, stained rivers, numbers-of-cats trips where action beats size.
Field tips
Re-dip every 15-20 minutes as scent washes; fish the seam where current spreads the plume; a stick and rag are non-negotiable kit; trophy-blue hunters still carry fresh cut bait - stink is a channels game.
Common mistakes
Touching it (a week of regret), violent casts (blob departs), cold-water sessions where the scent barely spreads, and open jars in enclosed vehicles - a friendship-ending error.