Try Power Drifting for Catfish

For the past three years I have searched the internet in vain, looking for information to help me master the art of drifting for catfish. I have been guilty of eavesdropping on fishermen's conversations in an effort to glean a tidbit or two. I have even come right out in the open declaring my ignorance by asking successful catmen how they drifted. Sometimes all I got in response was a chuckle and a wink. Usually, not even that much.

In the past years I have worked hard dragging lines trying to perfect a drifting technique, logging hundreds of hours on the river. No matter what I did, what rig I chose, the results were disappointing.

With my binoculars, I watched a local catman during a drift as he tended two lines, barely getting one baited up and back in the water before the other rod would go down. I studied this fisherman, trying to glean every detail of his actions. Just what was this distant catman doing that I was not... beside the obvious. He was catching a lot of fish!

I launched my boat and started drifting. I was at the mercy of the wind. I deployed a drift sock to slow down the drift, but the wind was blowing too hard and from the wrong direction to drift the boat where I wanted it to go.

Then my thoughts went back to the fellow I had been watching earlier. He was fishing straight down. That meant that his boat was moving VERY slowly in the wind. How did he do that? He was drifting without an anchor. Magic?

I had to do some more thinking.

When I got home, there was a package waiting for me... a set of 12 Driftmaster Rodholders. It took me a whole hour to install them. I was ready to go back and drift some more.

The next morning, I began drifting straight down using the Driftmasters in 30 feet of water. I was able to set the exact depth to maintain the bait at a level just above and below the level of the baitfish showing up on the depthfinder.

The results were improved, boating several smaller blues to 2 pounds. They were unique in that they all were stuffed so full of shad that they appeared bloated with distended bellies. I still had not found the whole answer.

The next day, I studied my records and came up with the idea of locating the drop-offs from the flats into the channels, targeting flats at 15-20 feet. In theory, it should have worked... in reality, it was a flop. The wind was coming out of the wrong direction... at almost right-angles to the channel. When I drifted over the drop-off, I'd get a hit. Then I'd have to power up the boat back to a position where the wind would push the boat back over the drop-off. There had to be a better way.

While warming back up at the house, my feeble, half-frozen brain produced a single magnificent idea. The secret of the other drift fisherman was right there in front of me, but I just did not recognize it.

Here's what I came up with.

First, I had to net some shad. I'd locate the school and drop a net. Very simple. But then, I'd move to find a nearby ambush point where the blues would be resting. This is a dropoff, pile of submerged timber, rocks, jetty, or anywhere that the blues could rest while digesting a large load of shad. Seldom did I ever mark a catfish by passing over it. I target the preferred cover. If there is a large school of shad located there, It will not work as well.

I set my lines to bump the sinker on the bottom occasionally. The rig is a Carolina rigged 2/0 to 5/0 circle hook on a heavy 36" leader at least as strong as the mainline. A small float is pegged about 6" to 12" above the hook with the leader tied to a swivel. Another swivel is threaded on the mainline and the mainline tied to the leader swivel. The preferred sinker is tied to a lighter leader than the mainline and tied to the slide swivel.

Now for the big secret...

Direct and control the drift with your trolling motor. Do not use a driftsock. Slowly drift directly over the cover using the trolling motor to control the drift. I started catching catfish! Big blue catfish! but the best bite came when I controlled the drift in the opposite direction of the normal flow, but maintaining the speed at less than .2 mph on my GPS. Now, that's SLOW!

Another Catfishing Secret is divulged to the public! Practice a "power Drift the next time you are out catfishing. Adjust your depth, rig, and bait to target other species.