Blue and I headed out towards the main channel in the middle of the pool 8 at 4:15PM Wednesday evening hoping to find some fish willing to hit cut baits being dragged past there pie holes. This was my first trip to the main channel for sometime and I didn’t know what kind of shape the Miss’s was in. The channel always looks different from the 6th floor of a building than it is in reality putting your butt right in the water 
We found a good flow at 55,500 with the river stage at 8ft. The surface temp was at 80 degrees and covered with some grass mats floating around. The grass wasn’t pleasant but it was manageable.
The first drift was between 2 wing dams producing maybe a couple bumps, at the least. The drift took us past the second wing dam and on to what would normally be a clam bed. The clams where not there either because of flow or depth, not sure myself, this drift produced nothing but a little relaxation and the first barley pop 
The next move was made to an undercut bank and bottom at 12-20ft cluttered with wood on the outside bend of the main channel. The first drift was pretty much just trying to read the water. After the drift Tom and I noticed an eddy and current seem and now knew where we needed to focus our efforts. The second drift produced a loaded up rod with a fish on for seconds after taking Blue’s weightless rig. The third drift had Blue tangling with a 25.5inch Flatty willing to gobble up the cut bait drifting past…..cool beans, Blue was on the board and the first cat drifted up of the season was a dandy.
Long story short the spot died, the next spot created my first good slam only to be a bait stealer. Just before dark it was time to head to a side channel to see if we could slow the drift down some. Well, it was a good thought but the flow still has us moving a little faster than I like but, we knew there was fish below us as we would get short hits or just robed of our baits. Once the sun was set and the bats came out my exact words to Tom “This is not the time to set your pole down” It was the witching hour. Just minutes after the words rang out Blue had a fish on. Not a piggy but a good channel cat. The cob webs were shook out and things were looking up 
….and yep, that was it 
…..oh well
What a blast Blue, we have a great starting point for the next trip 
Drifting with the weightless rigs is as relaxing as it can get. And I’m fortunate enough to have great friends to share the time with on the water
PS: But the gloves come off Saturday Blue 
Good Luck Fishing Cat-Man-Do’s
