Stinky bait passes smell test

The label on the white plastic container includes a concise warning printed in bold, green type: “Not for human consumption.”

Never one to argue with product warning labels, I had no plans to sit down and have dinner. But when I cracked the lid, it didn’t take long to figure out why the warning was included.

As the lid loosened on its threads, my olfactory system was assaulted with a stench so powerful that I felt certain my lunch was about to provide an encore. I couldn’t imagine who in their right mind would even consider eating whatever was packed inside — let alone actually do it. Then again, if there weren’t people in the world who sample their fish bait or other nonedibles, then the lawsuit leading to the creation of “not for human consumption” labels might never have been filed.

Perhaps the entire “not for human consumption” thing got its start in the days when we used actual food products to catch fish. Take Velveeta processed cheese food, for example. There was a day when a block of Velveeta had an honored place in the trout fisherman’s tackle box. It was soft enough to mold around a small hook and had such a good shelf life that a cooler wasn’t necessary. You could find it right next to the bottle of salmon eggs. Or is that caviar?

I never did try the salmon eggs, but when fishing was slow, the Velveeta was up for grabs. It was best when served with crackers, but a finger scoop was almost as good. Sometimes the Velveeta actually ruined your concentration because you had to keep an eye on your fishing partners or they would eat all your bait, which could be really frustrating when you needed a snack yourself.

Perhaps the best thing about Velveeta is it doesn’t stink, but that’s precisely why folks I knew didn’t use it to catch catfish. For some reason, they seemed to prefer bait that is a little on the smelly side.

Since it was whisker fish I was after, I fought to keep my breakfast right where it was and finished opening the plastic container. Inside was a full quart of Danny King’s Catfish Punch Bait, something that looks a little like raw meat stirred up in a blender and gives new meaning to the term “stink bait.”

Following the instructions on the package, I pushed a No. 4 treble hook into the sticky mixture with a stick and pulled the hook sideways. When it emerged, my hook was smothered with the smelly concoction. It didn’t take much imagination to figure out why you use a stick and not your fingers to bait your hook.

After threading a cut anchovy onto a second hook, I cast my bait into one of the coves near 33 Hole at Lake Mead and took a seat. After a rather crazy week, it was nice to just sit and relax without having someplace else to be. Within a half-hour, my line went straight, relaxed and went straight again as a fish took the bait. I set the hook, and the fish on the other end battled hard in a futile effort to get away.

This scene repeated itself a second time before I left for home. On both occasions, a catfish swallowed the punch bait but left the anchovy untouched.

A week later, I took my son, the “Wild Man,” with me to Lake Mead and conducted another bait test. I caught two more catfish, one that went about 3 pounds. Both fish took the punch bait over anchovies or night crawlers.

The Wild Man caught one fish and had several more bites, but he missed those fish because he can’t stay in one place longer than a minute. At one point, a fish pounded his bait and almost pulled his rod into the water, but when I turned to find him, the Wild Man was on his hands and knees digging his tennis shoes out of the mud. He missed that fish, as well.

Now it’s not stink bait I smell but rotting tennis shoes.

• WHIN BANQUET — Wildlife Habitat Improvement of Nevada will have its 17th annual banquet and auction June 14 at the Gold Coast. A Nevada mule deer tag will be on the auction block, so bring your checkbook. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. For tickets and information, contact Wayne Bliss at 736-4182.

Doug Nielsen is an award-winning freelance writer and conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His column is published Thursday. He can be reached at doug@takinitoutside.com.