Well, I've said it before, I only use fresh bait from the lakes or rivers that I fish in, To me ,(and this is just my thoughts,) ready made baits and store bought baits are only made to sell. But you can buy fresh baits at some bait shops and boat docks, Now "stink bait " thats is what it is, stinks up your rod and reels ,fishing tackle,  truck, boat, clothes,and everything around it.........again thats just my thoughts............

I'll just stick with live and fresh cut bait.

MADKATTER

its funny i just did the same thing...........................i went out and bought a bunch of the man-made baits to try here in ohio !!! i will let you know how they work for me here in ohio as soon as i get out !!! ive treid several kinds in the past and have NEVER caught a fish on them ..................in fact ive had very few bites on them around here !!! im hoping i can find ONE that works !!!

i got some danny kings..............strike king links................and some of the eagle claw baits ...............all in a variety of "flavors" !! i hope the heck one works i spent over $80 on these baits !!!

Crazy thing is Mellon.........................is that SOMEONE actually catches fish on it SOMEWHERE because it sells !! they really go through alot of it at the local walmart and they sell alot of that Rustys brand baits (the shad and livers) !!  :shock:

 as far as the baits  i bought.............. ive tried them twice now but had NO hits but i had no hits on anything else i tried either so i cant say  if they are gonna work or not !!!  :roll:

once last year we was at this local lake fishing i was using all sorts of baits like weiners livers night crawlers and even catalpa worms but the only thing i could get those fish to hit on was that stuff u get at walmarts its called Magic bait grasshopper and chicken blood flavor as soon as it hit the water 1 would grab it u couldnt even hardly lay your poll down un til u had 1 running with it the limit there is 4 channel cats per day we caught way more than that but we only kept 4 a piece we went threw a hole bag of that stuff and my friend went to walmart and got more that night and we used almost the hole bag of that 1 went back the next night and they wouldnt touch the stuff that just tells me that they have to be in the mood for it or they wont hit on it u have to givethem what they want but now if im fishing the rivers i most always stick with live or cut bait

just a update from here in Ohio..................ive tried the Danny Kings Punchbait and had a few very light bites on it .............no fish !! ive also tried the eagle claw nitro baits and the strike king links and had NO bites !!! im gonna keep on trying but so far really i have nothing to show for a bunch of money that i spent on these baits !!! im not gonna quit using my cut shad anytime soon thats for sure !!!

I am usally one for using natural baits but last year I got a tub of G&S dip bait from Mr. Dave Geary and it worked very well. I would fish live or cut baits on most of my rods and one rod with G&S, that stuff caught a bunch of channels and some were pretty good fish.
I also look forward to fishing with some of the Murphys cut baits. I had some buddies fish it this past winter and they caught the heck out of channels on it.
I too won't stray far from my natural baits though (their much eaiser to come by). Over all though I  believe that where you place baits and the location fished is way more important than the bait it's self.

Years ago I used to have excelent luck with the Bowkers orignal and the Cattrackers...the sewer bait and the Junies pole snatchers..once in a while i still see a new one and buy it wit the intentions of letting the kids use ut but like always forget bout it while targeting bigger fish with cut bait or live gills