Expert: Marc Wisniewski - 6/30/2009

Question
hi, i fish in the wisconsin river in central wisconsin and i generally catch walleye. i usually use a bucktail (roostertail) and on that i sometimes also catch gillies and crappies. i know there are a lot of carp and channel catfish on the river where i fish, i also have seen people catch smallies . i just go right offshore and lately i have been using crawlers and letting them sink to the bottom trying to catch a carp or catfish so far my only luck was a crappie i snagged by the tail. am i doing everything rite and using the rite bait. i also cant use a boat

Answer
Hi Jace,

You will definitely want to be on the bottom for cats and carp.  A slip sinker rig is very simple and lets the fish take some line before you set the hook.

A ball of crawlers may work for both cats and carp, but there may be a few better choices.  My two favorite catfish baits are chicken livers or cut-bait.  By cutbait I mean a chunk of a fish.  I would have the bait shop save me dead chubs or suckers and then I'd cut them into chunks.  You can do this right at the stream if you can catch a bluegill, crappie, or perch.  Catch a little one and sacrifice it for bait (Note: to be legal, you must count that one you use for bait in your 25 daily bag limit).  For carp I really like corn.  Regular old frozen corn from the supermarket.  Put about six pieces on a hook and put it out on the bottom.  I'm guessing that you are dealing with channel cats.  But, for flatheads a live bluegill is a great bait.  

Both of these fish feed by smell, it is important to leave the bait alone when you have it in a good location.  Let them hone in on the scent.

Both cats and Carp can really pull hard!  Be ready with stout tackle.

Good fishing,

Marc