I couldn't sleep so I went out to the public boat ramp to do some night fishing. Caught an eater blue cat, a small drum, and had several bites that my drowsy brain didn't manage to set the hook on. It's now 2am and I'm seeing cattails all over being thrashed around, and hearing a squelching noise which sound a lot like somebody spitting out a mouthful of water forcefully or stepping in very thin/runny mud. I've thrown minnows, shad, jigs etc at the moving cattails with no luck. I have the suspicion that it's carp but have nothing to fish for them with. Can anybody relate to this squelching/splashing noise on the edge of thick cattails? If so what do you think it is?

Update: saw a couple of carp or buffalo in the shallows, I'm definitely leaning toward them being what was making noise.

Most likely as you saw. Probably carp. You might want to go out there and chum the area with a bunch of canned corn or range cubes or both. Put several pieces of corn on a small strong hook and fish the chummed area. For the best results, chum the area for a couple of days before you try to fish. The ranges cubes will pull in carp,buffalo, and catfish. Have fun..

That's exactly what I was thinking about, I'm planning to take some range cubes and pack bait out there soon. I've been wanting to catch some carp lately but didn't want to drive to my carp spot since it's 3x as far... Thank you Curt!

+1. Tight lines and wet nets!