Shall your profile says you never go to commercials ?
Your basic Carp outfit will see you land the majority of the Cats in UK waters, you will need a big landing net and a long unhooking mat too.
Have a read of the Catfish social threads, as there were a lot of first timers to the cat world asking all the same sort of questions. It will be a real eye opener for you im sure.
Lets us all know how you get on.
Maybe you would like to join us at the Catfish social in July if you like it.