Catfish or Carp in Massachusetts

[LipRipper978]

Hey guys,

 

I love to try new styles of fishing and working for new species. I have caught Cats before, but nothing of size (biggest maybe 2 pounds on a live worm on the bottom. I have never caught a carp, though I do see a lot of them around in various bodies of water.

 

No spots need to be given (unless you wanna PM me and help a guy out!), but I would love to know the basic set up for fishing for either species.

 

I will mostly likely be using 2 of my sea spinning rods in rod holders from the shore to cast out and do a bait and wait technique I was hoping someone could tell me the simplest rig they use for either fish.

 

I have heard carp go for corn and catfish will go for hot dogs or liver, but prefer alive or fresh cut gills. 

 

I have been panfishing and had a couple casualties so I have chunked them and let them sit, but never had anything take it. Any suggestions would be great.

 

My sea gear is tuned for stripers so I have no worries about being able to handle a large freshwater fish. Mostly looking for a rig set up and what baits have the most success. Looking to try out something new and enjoy the fight of a potentially large fish (state record for a channel is 26 with other species of Cats running much smaller, state record for Carp is 46....not that I'm going to be setting record or anything. But that will put a 5 pound bass to shame.)

 

Thanks!

[jimmyjoe]

   Yes, I used liver in those long-ago days when I fished for cats. I live 2 miles from the Mississippi river, and catfishing is a mania.

   Take a 4"x4" piece of 2-layer gauze, and lay it down. On it, put 1/2 the chicken liver, usually a tablespoon. Put a treble hook in, maybe something like a #1, to which you've attached a foot of whichever line for leader that you want. Put the other 1/2 of your liver on top the hook, and gather the gauze together like a little pouch. Tie the neck of the pouch with several TIGHT wraps of mono (I used 4 lb) and tie securely.

   Take your main line and slip a small split ring over it, then tie a larger split ring to the end. This way, the smaller split ring will slide. Tie your bait leader to the larger split ring. Tie an appropriate weight to a dropper line about 16 or 18 inches long, and tie that to your smaller split ring.

   When you cast out, keep some slack in your main line.

   When the fish try to nibble on the liver, they can't get it thru the gauze. They'll keep trying, because they don't feel any resistance from the weight (it slides).  Pretty soon, they take the liver, and WHAM .... you got'em!

  

   Chicken liver is OK bait, but the best bait is anything so dead, so rancid, so stinky, that you can't stand to have it near you. That's good catfish bait. Use your imagination.   ?   

   Don't know anything about carp fishing.       jj

[Boomstick]

You can catch carp on corn, but even easier you can just throw bread on a hook and carp will hammer it, which is cheap but tends to only stay on your hook for so long. I would suggest trying some plum boilies on a 4/0 or 6/0 circle hook, they will catch both cats and carp! Dick's usually sells Magic Bait Mulberry (https://www.magicbait.com/products/carp-panfish/mulberry) which is about as good! You can also tie them onto the hook by threading them through some 6lb or lighter mono that is tied to the hook but if you wet them before casting and they stay on your hook decently enough where if you only cast it out once, you should be good. You can also get Berkley Gulp! Catfish Dough, the Blood usually works the best followed by the Shad; avoid the chicken. There are various other punch/stink baits you can use that are effective, but beware, they call them stink baits for a reason. If you emptied a spittoon into a bedpan that wasn't emptied in a week, mixed it with spoiled milk, poured it onto a shag carpet and let it sit all July, that would probably smell better than some of those.

 

As for catfish, check your kitchen/bathroom cabinets. They will swallow nightcrawlers, live shad, cut shad, chicken liver (cure it so it stays on your hook -- and look up other tricks as well) spam, pickled herring or sardines (although that ultimately is a more expensive bait but you can get it at your local supermarket), french fries, ivory soap, hot dogs, mulberries and blackberries. Catfish are like goats and will eat about anything! One tip, try picking up Team Catfish's Dead Red Blood Spray and spray whatever you're fishing periodically to add scent. It doesn't smell too horrible but helps attract catfish. Also if you throw some chum in the water, it helps attract catfish, they're huge scent feeders. They will also hammer most bass lures if you get them at the right time, but it's a much less effective way to fish for them. Catfish tend to be much lazier than bass, and hang around in deeper water, so they're less lightly to chase on action alone.

 

Here are some other catfish bait recipes:
https://oldschoolfishingsecrets.com/catfish/catfishfishingbait.htm

 

As far as locations, I know of two places in Massachusetts you can reliably catch channel catfish -- although there's often a few hanging around in odd lakes here and there. There is Metacomet lake in Belchertown MA, which all the shoreline is residentially owned so you need a boat to fish and then there is the CT River (I wouldn't eat anything I catch out of there for the record). Look up the Oxbow in the Northampton, MA area where people catch them from shore.

They really like structure, much like smallies, and often tend to be in slightly deeper water as well. Look for a hill off the shoreline -- likely that hill extends beneath the water. And because catfish are such scent feeders, should you not get a bite in 20 minutes (at least in the morning or evening), try a different spot. The same is generally true for carp, they tend to reside in deeper waters as well and for the most part, if you see carp then that's probably a good spot for catfish as well. Although carp are also more likely to hang out in shallow crevices on the shallow side of the lake where if there's not quick access to deeper water, don't even bother trying to catch a catfish.

Being from the western half of the state, I have to drive to the Connecticut River, the Hudson River or Great Sacandaga lake to catch catfish. There is a dam up in Rutland VT people catch some decent sized channels at which I plan to try one of these days -- plus I have a friend up there. But either way, it's a bit of a haul.