drifting for catfish

This weekend I tried to drift for catfish on the Ohio river. This is something I have never tried before. This is something that I always wanted to try though. We ended up catching 1 12lb. blue cat and that was it. I am not so sure we were doing a lot of it right though. Do any of you guys have any experence with drifting. I tried many different leaders and weights and still got hung up some. there wasn’t a dull moment in the boat the hole time. Any ideas, suggestions, or even a comment will be fine. This is something that every cat man should try.

Jeremy,

Most drift fishing is done on resevoirs. On the river there is not too many places where you won’t get hung up. I do have a nice weed edge that has uniform depth and few snags that I drift once and a while. I use no snag sinkers like a lindy. Just a little bit heavier.

I was wondering about applying a drift technique on Lake Pepin after catching a bunch of nice channel cats out on the lake around the flooded willows a few weeks back during the high water. When you catch 3 – 4 fat channels on a shad rap or rattle trap a guy has to figure they’re pretty well stacked out there in the lake in some areas. Might be fun to get a boat out there with some cut bait and drift some shoreline breaks just to see what one would come up with.

Interested in doing this some time Dirk? We could get Vick to “donate” his pontoon and really have a go of it!

I have heard of people drifting live bait on the rivers before too. This is something that I am definitly going to try soon also. I will let everyone know how I do.

Whiskerkev,
What kind of hooks do you use when you drift. I was using circle hooks and regualr shank hooks just to try to find out which one was better.

Jeremy – The In-Fisherman video, “Classic Catfish” has a good segment on drifting for cats. They were fishing an Iowa reservoir in the very early spring during a cold water period and it was very effective in that situation. They were using a drift sock to control their drifts. They were using circle hooks on their drift rigs. I have been wanting to try some of the techniques from that video on some parts of the St Croix that are more like a reservoir than a river. There are some nice long flats just off the main channel that I think would have some catfish hunting on them. The trouble I have is all the big boats and the huge wakes they make. It makes drifting hell during the day. My plan is to work these flats early in the morning before the boats become active. I also know of a long shallow flat on an inside river bend that I know the cats hunt in the evening and I want to try drifting them. It is in a “No Wake” zone so it should be productive and easy to fish regardless of the boat traffic. Let us know what kind of luck you have drifting!!.

When I do it, which isn’t often, I use the largest circle hooks I can find. keep the boat pointed up stream and I run big honking bobbers. I keep the boat drifting slightly slower than the current down stream. It really helps to have a buddy along to either mind the baits or man the trolling motor. I have also done this a few times below the dam without the bobbers. Timing is everything. If you know a weed edge is prime hunting ground for a big daytime holding area and you know about what time you get bit normally. You can drift it and pick off the active ones. For some reason when your doing this they really slam the bait suspended a foot or two off the bottom. Especially a bully that is struggling to get to the bottom.

The only “drifting” I’ve done is jigging. You can drift the rip rap in the river and pick up some cats. You can also drift tailrace areas and pick up flatheads certain times of the year.

I’m in any time Mr. Holst. I wonder if we should hold off a while till after the spawn??? Not sure.

I’m thinking later in July too. I’m busy as heck the next couple weeks so that would be about right for me. And I would imagine the fish should be largely done doing their thing by then, yes?

I used to catch channel cats on pool 2 using a jig and a minnow, like Dirk suggested. I’d just drift with the current and pump it up and down, touching bottom every few feet. I remember it was very hot out so I’ guessing that this was working during July and August. The flat areas between the wingdams were good spots. We found quite a few 8-10# fish, real nice. With Bass-sized tackle it would be quite a battle to get them to the boat. Cats can pull!

Rootski

I drift once in awhile.I use a jig with cut bait cut into strips.There are certain areas that will produce better than others and I concentrate on these areas.Current edges,breaklines and in high water even righ along the bank.Being able to control and drift the boat over structure is key.Aimlessly drifting down the river does not produce as well.THe best stretches seem to be where the depth varies a lot or basically there are a series of humps.
When I can’t find cats in the wood,drifting usually produces some fish,and when you drift deeper water structure,you typically find some bigger fish.