Shore dragging for cats

Fishing from shore limits my access to most areas I’d like to fish. This is something new I’ve been trying for the past few weeks. I’d cast out as far as I can into the current and let it take my 75% of my line downcurrent. My line would eventually end up in slower water far down to where I can’t access from land. Then I’d leave it there for about 5 min then reel about 5 times then stop. If there’s a nibble I’ll let it sit for 20 min. I did notice that at certain stops in about the same area were the nibbles and bites. Made a mental note of where exactly it is . Just thought I’d share this.

I thought you had a boat Mox, what happened? What you were doing is called drifting bait on the bottom around here. Heres an idea,,,When the water goes down try floating a bobber with a big minnow, shrimp or a small piece of chicken liver under it and just off the bottom, its a good idea for catching catfish. Channel catfish don’t just lay on the bottom, flatheads eigther, they suspend just off the bottom though and feed from there to the surface very often. We,ve been catching all of ours just a few inches under the surface, day and night but late afternoon and all night has been better then during the day.

My old man and I when I was a kid used to wade out into the middle of the river and float pencil bobbers with shrimp as bait and we would walk out with a stringer full of nice channels. A guy tries to make a mental note of all the wheres and whens of where he’s fished but its impossible to remember everything.

Here’s something you could do. Get yourself some willow poles, willows grow next to water and wet areas. Take all the limbs off and leave the last spit from the branches when trimming the limbs. Get them about 6′ too 8′ long. Take a line and tie it too the end and just long enough so the bait just enters the water. You stick them back into the bank a good foot or more so the bait rides the surface or just under it, you can wrap the extra line around the end of the pole. Your allowed 5 poles like that here in Iowa and if you leave them in the water fishing, they have to have your name and address on them. I just print out my information and laminate it between two sheets of plastic. I then punch a hole in the corner of the plastic with a paper punch and hang from my poles with a string or wire down around the bottom. Their a good way to fish here in Iowa if your looking for meat for the dinner table. Check them atleast once a day. You have to move them up and down with the raising and lower of the water, but its fun to fish that way and get something to eat. I’ve been using no. 1 Eagle claws with baitshrimp and doing well. Good luck.