Fishing for Catfish

Hi Everyone,

My son wants to go fishing for catfish (thanks to River Monsters on Animal Planet). I am looking for a good spot that we can do some shore fishing and hopefully catch a catfish or two. I was thinking about taking him next weekend.

I am close to Boston, but I do not mind doing a little bit of driving if it means he has a better than average chance of catching something.

Any help will be appreciated..

Also, I am looking to fish the Charles River. Can anyone recommend a spot that is good for Bass?

Hi,

You can try for cats in the "duckpond" area of the Charles just off of Rt.30 Auburndale. There is also a Charles river canoe rental location off of Rt. 30.

I did read a write up of this area where it was reported that the catfish like popcorn because the people who feed the waterfowl in this area feed them popcorn.

Please keep in mind that fishing for catfish is usually Bait, Bobber and sinker fishing. Which can be slow if you are "calling" the fish to your hook with stink baits and such. If you water reading skills are good then you can make your presentation to where the fish lie, which will greatly speed up your chances of hooking a fish.

Here is a link from basspro on catfishing basics:

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPage?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&&mode=article&objectID=29703&cat=Fishing&subcatID=15&objectType=article

Thanks for the info.

I will try that out this weekend.

I also heard "cumming" the water with wet cat/dog food (grab a can, poke some holes, and tie it to some line) works well to get the fish over to our fishing area.

Does that actually work?

I have tried the chumming technique with a can of cat food before as a kid and really the only thing it did was attract snapping turtles to my bait faster than usual and well, if you've ever caught a snapping turtle before you'll know why this isn't a desirable outcome.

As a kid the most success I had catching catfish came in the form of a piece cheap hot dog on the end of a hook with a sinker. I would cast out about 4 rods and begin the waiting game. Those were the days...

If you dont mind taking the ride up to Middleton, there's a pond up there absolutely loaded with catfish (or at least it was back in the 90's when I fished it). We called this pond "the bog" as kids. When the bass weren't biting we would throw something down to the bottom (I think it was just regular live worms) and we would catch literally dozens of catfish, all day long. Nothing big, but it was very consistent.

We would catch them off the dam. If you copy/paste this address into google maps you see where I am talking about and how to get there, its right off Rt 114.

185 lake street, middleton, ma

If you do end up there some time be sure to let me know how it goes! there is some decent bass in there too.